Henry James

Tells of the psychological impact of European culture upon a spirited young American girl named Isabel Archer when she becomes torn between three very different men and falls prey to the schemes of a sophisticated older woman.

The story of a young American woman traveling in Europe who clashes with American expatriates in Rome.

Sent by his fiancée to seek her son who has run away with an entrancing Parisian woman, Lambert Strether finds himself nearly as bewitched by the culture and women of Europe as his would-be son-in-law. Strether gets chased or dragged across provincial France by a slew of influences intent either on drawing the pair of bachelors home to Boston or showing him the world, and winds up testing his patience along with his own illusions.

A self-made American goes to Europe to enjoy his fortune and becomes engaged to a French widow from a noble family. Depicts the contrast between American and European culture.

An innocent young girl who is caught between her divorced parents attempts to understand life and its injustices. Shuttled between her parents, who value her only as a means for provoking each other, Maisie is drawn into an entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal.

The Beast in the Jungle is one of James' finest short novels touching upon such universal themes as loneliness, fate, love and death. The story can be interpreted as a confession or parable about James' own life. He never married and possibly never experienced a consummated sexual relationship. Although he did enjoy a thorough experience of aesthetic creativity, it is possible that he still regretted what he called the essential loneliness of his...

This early work by Henry James was originally published in 1879 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. One of thirteen children, James had an unorthodox early education, switching between schools, private tutors and private reading.. James published his first story, 'A Tragedy of Error', in the Continental Monthly in 1864, when he was twenty years old. In 1876, he emigrated...

"The Coxon Fund" is an 1894 short story by Henry James. Frank Saltram is a man who apparently has a towering intellect, but one that manifests itself only in sparkling table-talk. He has a real and powerful gift to delight with his conversation, particularly when intoxicated, but other than conversation he produces nothing. Saltram also recognizes no obligations or duties, is ungrateful and utterly unreliable, and is apparently prone to immoral acts....

He sank upon the old yellow sofa, the sofa of his lifetime and of so many years before, and buried his head on the shabby, tattered arm. A succession of sobs broke from his lips -- sobs in which the accumulated emotion of months and the strange, acute conflict of feelings that had possessed him for the three weeks just past found relief and a kind of solution. Lady Aurora sat down beside him, and laid her finger-tips gently on his hand. So, for a...

The Diary of a Man of Fifty first appeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine and Macmillan’s Magazine for July 1879. Returning to Florence after 25 years of military service, a man finds himself haunted by memories of a thwarted love affair that took place on the banks of the Arno during his youth. On inquiring after the erstwhile object of his affections, he encounters a young man in amorous pursuit of her daughter. Eager to spare his young friend...