Decadence in the Late Novels of Henry James

the long version

Decadence in the Late Novels of Henry James is a study of the novels of 'the major phase', taken as a cumulative, coherently evolving corpus. Anna Kventsel addresses these novels as a finely calibrated exploration of fin-de-sïcle experience, revealing how they invoke familiar western polarizations of spirit and matter, mind and body, subject and object, in order to grapple with a psycho-cultural impasse caused by increasing rigidification of these polarities. Through detailed close readings of The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl, this significant new study presents a fresh account of late-Jamesian subjectivity.