Enacting History in Henry James: Narrative, Power, and Ethics

The Jamesian mode of writing, it has been claimed, actively works against an understanding of the way truth, history and power circulate in his texts. Enacting History in Henry James argues instead that James' writing promises an experiential type of knowledge, one that is attained by actively participating in the power games and moral dramas that unfold within the text. Reading James thus requires not just an emotional responsiveness, but also an ethical assumption of responsibility for the act of reading. This book places James' work in a fresh theoretical context and throws new light on this most enigmatic of writers.