A private life of Henry James : two women and his art / Lyndall Gordon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gordon, Lyndall.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, Henry, 1843-1916--Friends and associates.

James, Henry.

Woolson, Constance Fenimore, 1840-1894--Influence.

Woolson, Constance Fenimore.

James, Henry, 1843-1916--Family.

Temple, Minny--Influence.

Temple, Minny.

James, Henry, 1843-1916.

Woolson, Constance Fenimore, 1840-1894.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Families.

Friends and associates.

Authors, American--19th century--Biography.

Women--United States--Biography.

Women.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

pages cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, 1999.

Summary:

Henry James's cousin, Minny Temple, was the "heroine" of his youth in New England; he saw her as a free spirit, "a plant of pure American growth." The writer Constance Fenimore Woolson was a friend of his middle years in Europe, a solitary, mature woman who pursued her ambitions with an intensity that matched his own. Both had an extraordinary impact on James, even (perhaps especially) in the wakes of their premature deaths.

In this beautifully written and eye-opening biography, Lyndall Gordon gives us a remarkable portrait of two strongly individual women, both ahead of their time, and their creative intimacy with Henry James: "ties more intimate than sex, closer than those of family and friends." Through these women we see some of the most protected aspects of the man more clearly. As Gordon writes, "James invented himself, but he could not have written as he did without partners -- female partners, posthumous partners -- in that unseen space in which life is transformed into art."

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0393047113