Henry James论文.doc

Henry James’ Social Position in 19th Century ---Reasons of Henry James’ Unpopularity in 19th Century Abstract: Compared with Mark Twain, Henry James seems to gain less fame in 19th century. Several reasons attribute to his unpopularity. This article analyses these reasons from internal and external facets. And we can see Henry James’ personality in his masterpiece The Portrait of A Lady, which is the internal factors bound to unpopularity. Otherwise, the influence of his family, his experience to Europe, as such external factors also make contributions to his unpopularity. Key words: Mark Twain, Henry James, unpopularity, internal, external, personality. Ⅰ. Internal reasons: 1. Henry James’ personality: In most of Henry James’ novels, he depicts females successfully. Female perspective can be manifested obviously. His novels are highly refined and insightful. With a large vocabulary, he is always accurate in word selection, trying to find the best expression for his literary imagination. Besides, he is one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction, and he conducts the conscience-of-science. Then, we doubt why he is shameful in his period. From The Portrait of A Lady, we can see Henry James’ personality attributed to his unpopularity. In fact, Isabel’s image is Henry James’ uppermost reflection. Isabel herself is paradoxical in the pursuit of freedom. On the one hand, Isabel doesn’t want to begin her destiny with marriage, but it seems the woman’s unavoidable destiny which involves her with the constant suitors. Henry James shapes the figure so lively. So that we are likely to confess that James tends to be emotional and sentimental. These characteristics are not allowed in the field of literature, people don’t appreciate sentimental feelings much at that time. 2. James’ treachery to America: As we all know, Henry James is an American. However, he changes his nationality into English because of his dissatisfaction toward American behaviors