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Literary Criticism General

The Grasping Imagination

The American Writings of Henry James

by (author) Peter Martinus Buitenhuis

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Dec 1970
Category
General, Books & Reading, Semiotics & Theory
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802062253
    Publish Date
    Dec 1970
    List Price
    $32.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442651067
    Publish Date
    Dec 1970
    List Price
    $35.95

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Description

There has been almost no study of the American writings of Henry James, that is, the fiction, essays, and travel literature with an American setting. The great bulk of Jamesian criticism deals with the international novels, particularly his late works.

This study places James’s career in a new perspective by discussing its American aspect. It gives the critic an opportunity to come to grips with the evolution of James’s technique from his second short story to his penultimate, unfinished novel, The Ivory Tower.

About the author

Peter Martinus Buitenhuis (1925-2004), English Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University (SFU), was a prolific scholarly writer and literary critic. His academic career—which included teaching positions at Yale University, University of Toronto, McGill University, and University of California at Berkeley—saw the production of numerous books, articles, and reviews, including works on Henry James, E.J. Pratt, and Hugh MacLennan. Buitenhuis also conducted research and wrote on various topics pertaining to propaganda and World Wars I and II.

Peter Martinus Buitenhuis' profile page

Editorial Reviews

‘Unsensational and eminently readable, it brings the best kind of “key” to a reading of James: a lucid intelligence and knowledge illumined by personal insights. It is [the author’s] contention, amply documented and convincingly argued, that the more obvious international aspect of James’s fiction has overshadowed its equally distinct American aspect. In charting that course for the first time, Mr. Buitenhuis does more than enforce James’s American roots, which have so often been questioned; he also helps to clarify and heighten the dramatic confrontation of the Old World and New, which was the central concern of his fiction.’ 

<em>The New York Times</em>