ABSTRACT
Henry James was an American born in 1843 into a famous family of philosophers. In his thirties he settled in Europe and in 1898 went to live in Rye, Sussex. He was awarded the O.M. (after becoming a naturalised Briton) and died in 1916. He is well-known for short stories, novels and criticisms of which the best known are The Turn of the Screw (a short story), Washington Square (popular in its dramatic adaptation), The Awkward Age, The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, Roderick Hudson, The Europeans and The Golden Bowl. He is famous as a stylist. His long convoluted sentences seem difficult at fìrst but gradually exert a hypnotic effect. His critics say he is too effete, too remote from the preoccupations of ordinary men. He had an interesting correspondence with H. G. Wells (q.v.) on this subject. Two more dissimilar authors could not be found.
