Henry James Research Paper

I. Henry James was born in New York on April 15 1843, into what was to become one of the top intellectually influential families in America. The second son of five children born to Henry James, a theologian, and Mary Robertson James, and he was the younger brother of William James (born 1842), who later grew to become a famous psychologist and philosopher. Henry James made his first of many visits to Europe in the years 1843 and 1845. Then from the year 1845 to 1855, the James family lived in Albany (New York State) and New York. He later spent the better part of five years living mostly in Geneva, London, Paris, Boulogne and Bonn, while he took to visiting America during the years 1858-9. By the Fall of 1860, James had settled back in America.

The following year, Henry James attends Harvard Law School and a year after his tenure, he publishes his first story, “A Tragedy of Error” in 1864. Henry James was travelling Between European cities on several stints. The bachelor never married and it was thought that he traded a steady life of marriage for devotion to his art, however it was also speculated that he was homosexual, under circumstantial evidence. In the year 1898, “The Turn of The Screw” was published and Henry James was at this point a world renowned author. James had passed away on February 28, 1916. Over the course of his life, Henry James proved to be one of the most pleasant people to strike up a conversation with, a great brother to his siblings, and one of the greatest fiction writers of all

It is essential to understand Henry James’s influences in order to comprehend his works. Born American, in death as a British subject, Henry James was claimed as either country’s writer. In reality, James was equally a son of America as he was to Europe, piecing together culture and life from both sides of the Atlantic. First and foremost, Henry James frequented Europe numerous times throughout his life, from it, gaining perspective on the old world and the feel of the renaissance. America was viewed upon as the new world with only new towns and a new wealth to offer. These influences translate to the corruption of new or young innocence by an old and experienced iniquity. Particularly as to why Henry James favored writing fiction focused on ghosts was due to the unbridled interest in them during the time. To note, his father was interested in spiritualism and things of the nature. Not to mention his brother, William, who was ardently researching and active in the world of apparitions, so far as to be a member of the American branch of the Society for Physical Research, and president of its parent society in Britain in the few years prior to the release of “Turn of The