| Henry James is a very important writer in the modern literaturehistory of Great Britain and American. He is famous for his initiation ofthe introversive creation and new style. At the same time, there was a greatdeal of dispute about him. He was not accepted or understanded by hiscontemporaries because of the modernity in his composition, but he hasgained a good reputation since the scholars and critics evaluated hiscomposition from new aesthetic standard. This paper is trying to expoundthe reasons, the contribution, and the defects of the introversive creation ofHenry James. James initiated his composition from the transitional period of thetraditional and the innovational in the literature history of Great Britainand American. The traditional realism novel paid attention not to the formor psychology , but to the content and plot. James valued the form of thenovel and experimented with it both in theory and creative practice. In themeanwhile, he turned to the subjective inner world of people from theoutside objective material world, thus he initiated the introversive traditionof novel. It's the most important contribution to the modern novel. There are many reasons for James' introversive creation: James didn't like communicating with others and was full of illusionin the childhood, this offered the first inducement for his introversivecreation, and the injury on the body from a fire enabled him lose thegeneral normality on the physiology when he was 18 years old. Since thenhe formed a kind of exceedingly melancholy and introversive naturegradually. The nature is very helpful for him to portray the heart activityand probe the inner world of people in the future. His father paid close attention to the thoughts of the inner world ofpeople. This has greatly influenced him. At the same time, he regardedEurope as the representation and symbolization of the human culture and 36civilization because of his residence in Europe for many years. So, hewanted to describe the gentle tradition of the noble and exquisite culture.It can't be described with the general art form for its' complication anddelication. So it needs the novelist to transfer from the external worldneeding action to the inner world fulling of problems. Then, his creationbegan to be persistent in the exploration of the inner world. James has pored over Britain's great classical works since thechildhood, and began to settle down in London in 1875. This was helpfulfor him to accept the influence of English literature tradition. Leavis thinksthat the great tradition of English literature lies in the strong consciousnessto the human nature and morality, and James has the honor to be listed inthe list of great novelists embody this great tradition , because he has akind of pious attitude and a serious heart when he faces the life. In themeanwhile, he can understand people's psychology clearly and catch themost concealed and delicate thing in human soul. That is to say he is notonly a novelist but also a psychologist, and the consciousness to thehuman nature and morality offers angle and courage for his deeppsychoanalysis. In James' view, the real experience and realization of the life is thequestion the novelist should care. It is the complexity of the psychologicalreason that can make the novel become a brilliant art form, so thenovelist's task lies in expressing out people's inherent spirit with thecharacters through the exploration of heart. With such advocation, thecenter of his works is not narrating a succession of incidents or displayingthe personage's behavior, but representing the personage's heart andannouncing various kinds of thoughts and psychological contradictions oftheirs. The traditional writers only paid close attention to the outside relationof the things and objective social reality, James was very different fromthem. He turned to subjective spirit fr... |
PDF Full Text Request