There could have been a more thematic and symbolic portrayal of religious rites, a neighboring spinster's life and the nearby abandoned premises. Racial issues are barely touched upon in the description of the father's respected, if superstitious, servant and I would have liked more information about the daughter's current living situation. With its lonely dwelling places and country roads a mysterious scenario is created to capture the nuances that exist between human actions and their psychological consequences. The daughter is an attractive women whose fiance has not welcomed by her father.Īlludes to the parental obligations and grown children's freedom to pursue their own lives. He becomes aware of Captain Dimond's story from tales told by the local inhabitants. The narrator is a young man who is studying at a nearby divinity school. Focuses on overbearing male behavior and women's rights. His theatrical work is thought to have profoundly influenced his later novels and tales.ĭepicts a father (Captain Diamond)/daughter duet haunting each other in their abandoned house during the early 20th century in the Massachusetts area (Medford). An extraordinarily productive writer, in addition to his voluminous works of fiction he published articles and books of travel writing, biography, autobiography, and criticism,and wrote plays, some of which were performed during his lifetime with moderate success. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable narrators in his own novels and tales brought a new depth and interest to realistic fiction, and foreshadowed the modernist work of the twentieth century. James insisted that writers in Great Britain and America should be allowed the greatest freedom possible in presenting their view of the world, as French authors were. His method of writing from the point of view of a character within a tale allowed him to explore the phenomena of consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting. His plots centered on personal relationships, the proper exercise of power in such relationships, and other moral questions.

He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the encounter of America with Europe. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. Henry James, OM (1843-1916), son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author, one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction.

Ghost stories by henry james