Generous mistakes : incidents of error in Henry James / Michael Anesko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anesko, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, Henry, 1843-1916. Portrait of a lady--Criticism, Textual.

James, Henry.

James, Henry, 1843-1916. Ambassadors--Criticism, Textual.

Ambassadors (James, Henry).

Portrait of a lady (James, Henry).

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xix, 133 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press 2017.

Summary:

"By combining the techniques of textual criticism and the insights of close reading, 'Generous Mistakes' offers new perspectives not only on two of Henry James's major novels (The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors) but also on the process by which they became the books we know-or think we know. Through a better understanding of the conditions of production that affected James's author function, we achieve a deeper appreciation of the historical contingencies of his artistry. Closely examining new forms of evidence (even fingerprints), 'Generous Mistakes' contends that authorship is a hybrid construction, a sometimes unpredictable sequence of different forms of practice, each of which contributes meaningfully to the texts we read and analyze. Offering a sustained examination of the 'textual condition' of James's work-going beyond the relatively familiar ground of authorial revision-this study brings into sharper focus the complex and sometimes arbitrary factors that contributed to the making of two masterpieces of modern fiction and to the legend of the master who wrote them."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Textual Monuments/Crumbling Idols: The Material Form of Jamesian Fallibility 1

2 Self-Reluctance: The Alienated Modesty of Henry James's Rejected Thoughts 17

3 The Infinite Hope of Never Doing Anything Wrong 29

4 The Textual Condition of The Ambassadors: A Revised Scenario 55

5 "A Kind of Inevitability": (Mis)reading Types in The Ambassadors 91

6 "My Fair Henry?!" 107.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-129) and index.

ISBN:

9780198794882

0198794886

OCLC:

955313506