The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James provides, for the first time, a scholarly edition of a major writer whose work continues to be read, quoted, adapted and studied. While Watch and Ward has long been dismissed as an early apprentice work, it marks an important stage in James's development as a fiction writer, building upon the stories he wrote during the late 1860s and pointing, at the same time, to the works he would write during the ensuing decade and which would secure his reputation, including 'Daisy Miller', The American and The Portrait of a Lady. Extensive explanatory notes enable modern readers to understand the novel's historical, cultural and literary references.

"The Complete Letters of Henry James" fills a crucial gap in modern literary studies by presenting in a scholarly edition the complete letters of one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters reflecting on a remarkably wide range of topics--from James's own life and literary projects to broader questions on art, literature, and criticism--this edition is an indispensable resource for students of James and of American and English literature, culture, and criticism as well as for research libraries throughout North America and Europe and for scholars who specialize in James, the European novel, and modern literature.
Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias have conceived this edition according to the exacting standards of the Committee on Scholarly Editions. This volume is the first of three to include James's letters from 1872 to 1876.

The eighteen essays in this collection show Henry James (1843-1916) in a new and unexpected light--as a political commentator and social reformer. His acute powers of observation, his unerring feel for social nuance, and his abiding interest in the news, conversations, and controversies of the moment make these essays a witty and entertaining illumination of American, British, European, and colonial society in the years from 1878 to 1917. Included are writings on British politics and diplomacy, on the language and manners of Americans, on the possibility of an afterlife, and on the heroism and human costs of the First World War. Among the subjects that interest James are France's infatuation with the Prince of Wales, the trumped-up excuses for war in Afghanistan, the brutal frankness of Bismarck, the parliamentary games of Gladstone and Disraeli, the rise of Zulu power in South Africa, the use of "yeah" and "yup" for the American affirmative, the fearlessness of American women and their immunity from criticism, the effect of chewing gum on the discussion of opera, the sufferings of Americans at the hands of store clerks, the proper degrees of gratitude for roadside bicycle repairs, the work of the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps, the use of the dash, the tyranny of the newspapers, the sinking of the "Lusitania," and the conditions in military hospitals.

Containing letters written between September 2, 1879, and May 14, 1880, this second volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878-1880 documents the full establishment of Henry James as a professional writer and critic on both sides of the Atlantic, as James publishes the novel Confidence and the literary biography Hawthorne and begins work on Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady. James also visits Paris, Florence, Rome, and Naples; begins his friendship with Constance Fenimore Woolson; and deepens his attachment to London and to his friends and acquaintances there.

Containing letters written between October 3, 1878, and August 30, 1879, this volume of "The Complete Letters of Henry James" reveals Henry James establishing control of his writing career and finding confidence in himself not only as a professional author on both sides of the Atlantic but also as an important social figure in London.

In this volume of 114 letters, of which 58 are published for the first time, we see James learning to negotiate, pitting one publisher against another, and working to secure simultaneous publication in the United States and England. He establishes a working relationship with Frederick Macmillan and with the Macmillan publishing house, cultivates reviewers, basks in the success--and notoriety--of his novella "Daisy Miller," and visits Alfred Tennyson and George Eliot, among others. James also produces essays on political subjects and continues to publish reviews and travel essays. Perhaps most important, James negotiates terms for and begins planning "The Portrait of a Lady."

This critical and scholarly edition presents the complete letters of Henry James, one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters and addressing a remarkably wide range of topics, this edition is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of James, of the European novel and modern literature, and of American and English literature, culture, and criticism.

Written between December 1876 and December 1877, the letters in this volume trace James's departure from Paris and his arrival and domestication in London, where he would live at least part of each year for most of the rest of his life. In London, James quickly becomes immersed in the social and literary life of the city and of the nation. He is invited as an honorary guest to the Athenaeum Club; dines with Lord Houghton, William Gladstone, Alfred Tennyson, Heinrich Schliemann, and "half a dozen other men of 'high culture'"; and continues his friendship with Turgenev, who lives in Paris. In addition to his regular production of critical and travel essays, he completes "The American," contracts with Macmillan to publish "French Poets and Novelists," revises "Watch and Ward" for book publication, and travels to France and Italy.

Recipient of the "Approved Edition" seal from the Modern Language Association's Committee on Scholarly Editions The Complete Letters of Henry James fills a gap in literary studies today by presenting in a critical and scholarly edition the complete letters of one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters and addressing a remarkably wide range of topics, this edition is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of James, the European novel and modern literature, and of American and English literature, culture, and criticism. Written between November 1875 and November 1876, the letters in this volume find James settling in Paris; befriending Ivan Turgenev and mixing company with writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Emile Zola, and Alphonse Daudet; publishing travel essays and critical notices as well as the novels Roderick Hudson and The American; leaving Paris and settling in London, where he would live for much of the rest of his life.