A COMPARATIVE INTERPRETATION OF HENRY JAMES’S NOVELLA <i>THE FIGURE IN THE CARPET</i>
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Published:
Jun 20, 2020
Keywords:
Henry James, literary hermeneutics, comparative literature, plot, story, narratology
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Abstract
This paper focuses on the interpretation of Henry James’s novella The Figure in the Carpet (1896) through a series of interpretative models. In the first part of this paper we place the writing of this novella in the context of James’s autobiography and his Notebooks. In the second part we read The Figure in the Carpet, from the author’s view on textual strategy, mainly from the aspect of the construction of the story and the plot (by applying Peter Brooks’s theory of narratology), and also by James’s use of language as a medium for seduction and delay of meaning and sense (with the help of Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s and Tzvetan Todorov’s comments). The novella is read in constant dialogue with James’s remarks from his Notebooks
and his Prefaces from The New York Edition of his works. In thethird part we place The Figure in the Carpet in a comparative perspective; firstly, in the context of James’s other works, and secondly, in the context of influences, mainly from French writers, especially from Flaubert. Moreover, some naïve readings are detected, mainly as a counterpoint to our reading of the novella. In the conclusion we position James as a liminal figure functioning as a bridge between the literature of the 19th century and the one of the 20th century.
and his Prefaces from The New York Edition of his works. In thethird part we place The Figure in the Carpet in a comparative perspective; firstly, in the context of James’s other works, and secondly, in the context of influences, mainly from French writers, especially from Flaubert. Moreover, some naïve readings are detected, mainly as a counterpoint to our reading of the novella. In the conclusion we position James as a liminal figure functioning as a bridge between the literature of the 19th century and the one of the 20th century.
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How to Cite
Dizdarevikj, Vedran. 2020. “A COMPARATIVE INTERPRETATION OF HENRY JAMES’S NOVELLA <i>THE FIGURE IN THE CARPET</I>”. Journal of Contemporary Philology 3 (1), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.37834/JCP2030137d.
Section
Literature
Copyright © 2014 Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje
Journal of Contemporary Philology (JCP)
Современа филологија
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Blackmur. R. P. (1934). Introduction. In James, H. The Art of The Novel: Critical Prefaces by Henry James, vii–xxxix. New York: Charles Scribners’s Sons.
Bosanquet, T. (2006). Henry James at Work. Ann Arbor: The University Of Michigan Press.
Brooks, P. (1984). Reading For The Plot: Design And Intention In Narrative. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Brooks, P. (2005). Realist Vision. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Chesterton, G. K. (1913). The Victorian Age in Literature. New York and London: Henry Holt and Company.
Ford, M. F. (1945). The Old Man. In Dupee F.W. (ed.). The Question Of Henry James: A Collection Of Critical Essays, 47–53. New York: Henry Holt And Company.
Lubbock, P. (1945). The Mind of an Artist. In Dupee F.W. (ed.). The Question Of Henry James: A Collection Of Critical Essays, 54–69. New York: Henry Holt And Company.
Beach, J.W. (1945). The Figure in the Carpet. In Dupee F.W. (ed.). The Question Of Henry James: A Collection Of Critical Essays, 92–104. New York: Henry Holt And Company.
Edel, L. and Powers, H. L. (eds.). (1987). The Complete Notebooks of Henry James: With Introductions and Notes by Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers.New York and Oxford:Oxford University Press.
Edel, L. (1963). Henry James: University of Minnesota Pamphlets on Great Writers No. 4. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Felman, S. (2003). Writing and Madnasss: Literature/Philosophy/Psychoanalysis. California: Stanford University Press.
James, H. (1984). Literary Criticsm: French Writers, Other European Writers, The Prefaces of the New York Edition. New York: The Library of America.
James, H. (1996). Complete Stories:1892–1898. New York: The Library of America.
Hocks, R. A. (2003). James and the Art of Short Fiction. In Wonham, H. B. (ed.). Tales of Henry James: The Texts of the Tales, The Author on his Craft, Criticism. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company.
Kermode, F. (1986). Introduction. In James, H. The Figure In The Carpet And Other Stories, 7–31. London: Penguin Books.
Matz, J. (2004). The Modern Novel: A Short Introduction. Main Street, Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Nabokov, V. (2018). Lance. London: Penguine Books.
Todorov, C. (1992). Dva načela pripovednog teksta. In Biti, V. (prir.). Suvremena teorija pripovedanja, 116–129. Zagreb: Globus.
Woods, J. (2008). How Fiction Works. Ferrar, New York: Straus and Giroux.
Nebula Awards: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Nebula Rules. [Online]. Available from: https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/ [Accessed: March 6th, 2020]