Research On Jamesian Studies Within Anglo-American Academia

Henry James(1843-1916)maintained productive through his whole literary career.What he has left for readers is over one hundred novels,a dozen of plays,numerous critiques and articles,and thousands of correspondences.As an Irish American expatriate who lived in England for long,Henry James even became a British subject before death,for which reason he cannot be simply classified into the tradition of American literature or British literature.He is a writer of English-speaking world.As for his writing theme,James’ s works are usually initiated by the encounter of America and Europe,dealing with the moral and cultural confrontation between the two continents.In view of these facts,both James’ s creative behavior and the content of his creation are cross-boundary.His multiple cultural backgrounds and profound texts provide a solid ground for the study of comparative literature and world literature.Since the first time that Henry James was introduced to China in 1927,Chinese scholars have made rich achievements in this field,where however there is still a gap compared with the accomplishment of Anglo-American academia.On one hand,Chinese translations of James’ s works are insufficient,and many significant texts have not been translated yet.Their literary value is to be explored.On the other hand,the views and paradigms taken by Anglo-American scholars are inspiring and worth learning.This dissertation takes Henry James as its research subject,delineating the panorama of his reception,the criticism he received and the interpretation to his works in Anglo-American Academia over one and a half century.Originality is underscored in this dissertation by the selection of research content.It chooses those directions and materials with great values and influences that have not yet attracted much attention of Chinese scholars.On this basis,the dissertation dives into various monographs,periodicals,newspapers,and thesis produced by Anglo-American academia to sort out clues.From the critical feedbacks on his early works to the tribute to the one hundredth anniversary of his birth,from the second half of the 19 th century till now,different stages and fields of Jamesian studies of Anglo-American academia are basically included in this dissertation.In order to avoid repeating existing findings,most of the citations are collected and translated by myself,which aims at providing new references for China’s research as far as possible.The main body of this dissertation consists of six parts.Chapter One revolves around Henry James’ s untranslated fictions.More than half of Henry James’ s novels have not been translated into Chinese yet.After a general review of the thematic features,creation phases,and critical reception of his fictional works,this chapter chooses Princess Casamassima,The Spoils of Poynton,and The Awkward Age as specific study objects.They are written in different times,with various focuses in terms of their themes: as one of the two “social novels” created by James,Princess Casamassima are usually studied in comparison to The Bostonians;The Spoils of Poynton is a successful practice in combining theatrical techniques and novel writing style which displays the author’s concern of inheritance and heritage;The Awkward Age portrays the family relationships of British upper class,which reflects James’ s concern of moral issues in the transitional period of English society.Each section is arranged according to their characterizations,themes,and historical backgrounds,attempting to arouse Chinese academia’s attention on James’ s untranslated novels.Chapter Two revolves around Henry James’ s untranslated plays.Play writing is an important episode of James’ s literary career,which exerts a direct influence on the style of his late novels.There is no Chinese translation of James’ s plays by now,and relevant studies have been blank for so long.Therefore,this chapter summarizes the three stages of James’ s drama creation,which is followed by a brief introduction to all his 17 plays.Guy Domville,Owen Wingrave,and The High Bid are discussed from their backgrounds,plots and theatrical feedbacks,to analyze what caused James’ s failure,and to examine the influence of the experience and skills acquired in theater on his subsequent novel creation.Chapter Three focuses on Henry James’ s fiction theory and critiques.Except for being a writer,James is also famous for his outstanding theory and critiques.After the description of James’ s whole career as a critic,the practical reasons why he is engaged in theoretical construction and literary criticism are explored.James’ s basic view of fictions is concluded through his discussions on “cultural determinism”,“the multiplicity of reality” and “the mystery of imagination”.Then,this chapter takes the prefaces to New York Edition and Hawthorne as examples to investigate James’ s critical practices that are directed by his own theory.The prefaces have dealt with some significant topics of novels such as the crafts,narratives and so on.They are the most far-reaching contributions James made to the art of fiction.Hawthorne is James’ s sole monograph of criticism.It presents James’ s attitude towards American literature and even American culture in association with other three critiques.Chapter Four is organized from the perspective of comparative literature and world literature.Based on the abundant materials and records in Anglo-American academia,this chapter studies the influences or literary associations between Henry James and Ivan Turgenev,Oscar Wilde,Ezra Pound,and H.G.Wells.The second half of the 19 th century is a crucial time for the formation and development of world literature,and Henry James played an important role in the arena of Euro-American literature during this period.Their exchanges form a network of influence study.The discussions of this chapter include various types of literary relationships,including indebtedness of influence,variation in reception as well as the debate of one same concept.The figures mentioned above have been well studied in China already,but their connections with Henry James have not been fully explored.Chapter Five re-examines Henry James’ s life and works from the perspective of multiple critical theories.Resorting to diversified themes and rich content,James’ s works provide a vast space for the practices of western critical theories,which establishes a well-rounded system of Jamesian study.This chapter discusses the interpretive possibilities of James’ s texts from the perspectives of post-colonial criticism,psychoanalysis,feminist criticism,and queer theory.It tries to reveal the real “James” behind his works: is he an ambivalent imperialist,a psychoanalyst who is interested in subconsciousness,or a bashful homosexual who is hesitating in love?Through the application of these theories,this chapter is expected to offer some new approaches to interpret Henry James and his works.Chapter Six centers around the new trend of Jamesian studies in Anglo-American academia,namely the novelization of his image and film and television adaptation of his works.Even though it has been over one hundred years since his death,the image of Henry James is not strange to readers and audience.His controversial style,his insightful analysis of human psychology,and his transatlantic life keep inspiring contemporary writers.He is turned from a real novelist in history into a fictional protagonist in literary works.Meanwhile,his works have been widely adapted into successful movies and TV plays.This chapter analyzes the societal and historical reasons of Henry James’ s popularity on the cultural market,and investigates the variation of his image.The Conclusion gives a general review of the entire dissertation,reflecting on its research findings,and looking into the future Jamesian studies in China.