Henry James: Complete Stories 1864–1874

by Henry James, Jean Strouse (Editor)

This Library of America volume, the first of five of Henry James’s short fiction, brings together his first twenty-four published stories, thirteen never collected by James.

Encompassing a wide range of subjects, settings, and formal techniques, they show the first explorations of some of James’s most significant themes: the force of social convention and the compromises it demands; the complex and often ambiguous encounter between Europe and America; the energies of passion measured against the rigors of artistic discipline.

By his mid-twenties, James was a regular contributor to the most prestigious and popular magazines of his era. He is equally at ease writing historical tales, such as “Gabrielle de Bergerac,” a love story set in pre-Revolutionary France, as he is exploring contemporary events, as in the three stories that treat the effects of the American Civil War on civilians.

James’s psychological acuity is already evident in “Master Eustace,” a study of the ruthlessness of a spoiled child, and in “Guest’s Confession,” where the comic portrayal of an arrogant businessman hints at his cruelty and self-absorption. In “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes,” and “The Last of the Valerii,” James begins to work with the supernatural and fantastic motifs that would continue to surface in his work. Early examples of James’s lifelong fascination with art and artists include “A Landscape Painter,” about a young painter’s attraction to a seemingly simple family living in a desolate coastal town, and “The Madonna of the Future,” where an aging artist avoids the unveiling of his masterpiece.

Adumbrating later triumphs and compelling in their own right, these stories reveal and accomplished and cosmopolitan young talent mastering the art of the short story.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, 19th Century, Classics, American, Civil War

975 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1874

About the author

Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."

Reviews

[Ulysse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty-four stories:
twenty-three cool-looking stones,
one common pebble.

[Brian Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sui generis, Henry James emerges in these stories as the Venus from the head of Jove. Or at least he would express it somehow in that manner if he was without modesty.

This first of five collections in the Library of America series would, odds on, perhaps reveal the cracks in the armor of James as a developing fiction writer. Not so. Though the vast majority of these stories were uncollected and only available in this collection, they express a maturity and natural genius that James would develop throughout his life. The vast amount of the collection make the reader think, reflect, and absorb without repetition of subject matter or thematic concerns. The voice of James is already here. The style? Yes, he is eloquently verbose and his prose contains long sentence and paragraphs. This would not change. However, James is inviting us to dive into the depths of these stories and immerse ourselves in the life decisions, characteristics, leverage decisions, and consequences of these characters. It's a remarkable achievement because James seems to be wise beyond his years. How does he know so much about the turning points of lives? It's a phenomenal question.

None of the stories disappoint. All rank amongst the highest achievement of literary art. All of the embryonic material for longer literary works are present here (that would come in the time frame of Volume 2). Human nature is on full display and James's narrative style foreshadows modernity and stream-of-consciousness; James just didn't quite get there. A master, and a masterful display. On to the next volume.

[Paul Jellinek · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the earliest of Henry James's hundreds of short stories, and while not all of them are classics, a number of them are--and all are highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable. James's complete command of the genre and the depth of his insight into human nature are all the more remarkable when you consider that he was still a young man in his twenties and early thirties when he wrote these stories.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 4 out of 5]

What impresses me about James's early stories is how competent and professional a writer he was from the very beginning. There really isn't a "bad" story in this collection, though you do notice as you work your way through them that he gets better and better as the years progress. His first story publication is a decent tale, obviously modeled on some of the stories of writers such as Poe who specialize in trick (and mildly macabre) endings. However, as he published more and began to stretch his legs a little (and lengthen the extent of his stories; most of the works in this volume would technically be called novelettes or novellas, i.e. longer stories of about 30,000 to 50,000 words: some are, indeed, short novels) he really makes this genre his own. Many of the early stories take place in America, which makes them interesting simply because they display his views on his home country and its culture in contrast to much of what he later wrote as an emigre in Europe. Some of the stories he wrote after his first travels in Europe are marred by prose that is almost akin to travel essays (far too much minute description of small Italian towns and their tourist attractions and artworks); once he merely uses the terrain as a setting (though still often integral to the plot) this feature of his writing improves and the stories themselves become the focus of interest. My favorites include "The Story of a Masterpiece," "A Passionate Pilgrim," "The Last of the Valerii," and "Adina." "Madame de Mauves" is interesting because I read it as looking forward to _Portrait of a Lady_, though his handling of the plot is much more unsophisticated and blunt in the story than in his later great novel.

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LIKE THIS BOOK.

[Philip Sussman · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book in the wonderful five-volume Library of America edition of the complete stories of Henry James. Great reading for the patient reader!

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The portrait lack certain harmonious finish, that masterful interfusion of parts which the painter afterward practiced; the touch is hasty, and here and there a little heavy; but its splendid vivacity and energy, and the almost boyish good faith of some of its more venturesome strokes, make it a capital exampke of that momentous point in the history of genius when still tender promise blooms--in a night, as it were--into perfect force."--p. 769

[Jonathan Scheuer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tragedy of Error
A Landscape Painter
The Story of a Masterpiece
Osborne's Revenge
A Passionate Pilgrim
The Madonna of the Future
Madame de Mauves
Adina

These eight stories, along with Professor Fargo, from volume 2 of the LOA series, are the best of Henry James's fiction up to 1875. The Story Of A Masterpiece and Osborne's Revenge are, I would say, as good as any of James's later stories or novellas.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this first volume of Henry James stories on the day Alice Munro received the Nobel Prize. In my opinion, if there is anybody who outdoes Henry James in the short story - it is only her.

[Scott Sperling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's hope the next volume won't take as long to read...