The Complete Plays of Henry James [Hardcover]

Henry James (Author), Leon Edel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0195043790 | ISBN-13: 978-0195043792

Originally published in 1949, The Complete Plays of Henry James revealed how the novelist, after repeated attempts to succeed on stage, used his dramatic experience to create his major novels written after 1900. This masterful new edition by prize-winning biographer Leon Edel now charts James's posthumous success in the modern media. Through examination of the plays themselves, Edel brings to light the irony of James's dramatic novels--novels that achieved the kind of success in video and film that James had desperately sought in the theater of the 1890s. Corrected and carefully updated, this pathbreaking collection thus completes the story first told four decades ago, and includes additional data that has surfaced in recent years.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mr. Edel has done a magnificent editorial work. Why should the word 'painstaking' carry implications of dullness? Here every pain has been taken and every pain has its reward. Each play has a separate factual preface of extreme readability; particularly fascinating is the long preface to Guy Domville which traces the disastrous first night almost hour by hour."--Graham Greene

"Edel gives a swift and fascinating account of what was probably James's most hideous hour, the first night of his play Guy Domville."--James Thurber, The New Yorker

"A new edition of a triumphant work of investigatory scholarship....Edel's thick book still seems as fundamental and irreplaceable as a primary source."--English Literature in Transition

"Jamesian aficionados will be delighted by the republication of Leon Edel's edition of The Complete Plays."--American Literary Scholarship

"In typical Edel fashion, this is the definitive work on Henry James as playwright."--Stanley Weintraub, Pennsylvania State University

About the Author

Henry James (1843-1916), son of Henry James Sr. and brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author and literary critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent much of his life in Europe and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for novels, novellas and short stories based on themes of consciousness and morality.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 872 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 10, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195043790
• ISBN-13: 978-0195043792
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,223,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Henry James (1843-1916), the son of the religious philosopher Henry James Sr. and brother of the psychologist and philosopher William James, published many important novels including Daisy Miller, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, and The Ambassadors.