ABSTRACT
Son of Henry Sr., a Swedenborgian philosopher, and brother to William, founder of pragmatism, Henry James dedicated his life to belles lettres and the pursuit of European aesthetics. Born in New York City, Henry benefited from an excellent education and much travel abroad. He not only abandoned the traditional law education at Harvard to pursue his writing but left his homeland to establish himself in Europe. By 1871, he had set up residence in London and proceeded to become one of the greatest practitioners and theoreticians of English fiction. His sympathy for the Allied cause and his anger at American isolation led James to assume British citizenship in 1915.
