Henry James and the Philosophy of Literary Pragmatism

Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-349-95532-9
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, 261 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 361 g

This book examines the interdisciplinary foundations of pragmatism from a literary perspective, tracing the characters and settings that populate the narratives of pragmatist thought in Henry James’s work. Cultivated during a postwar era of industrial change and economic growth, pragmatism emerged in the late nineteenth century as the new shape of American intellectual identity. Charles Peirce, William James, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. were close friends who founded different branches of pragmatism while writing on a vast array of topics. Skeptical about philosophy, William James’s brother, Henry, stood at the margins of this group, crafting his own version of pragmatism through his novels and short stories. Gregory Phipps argues that James’s fiction weaves together the varied depictions of individuality, society, experience, and truth found in the works of Peirce, Holmes, and William James. By doing so, James brings to narrative life a defining moment in American intellectual and material history.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Phipps, Gregory

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Einzelne Autoren: Monographien & Biographien
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Amerikanische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Table of Contents

Introduction: Henry James and Literary Pragmatism                                                

Chapter 1: “A Sort of Loosely Compacted Person”: Charles Peirce’s Protagonist and the Institutions of the American Community                                                                                    

Chapter 2: Milly Theale and “The Practical Question of Life”:Anticipating Doubts and Saving Beliefs in The Wings of the Dove                                                                                          

Chapter 3: Cash Flow, Railways, and Gunshots—for the Good: William James and the Dialectics of Emotion and Action                                                                                                    

Chapter 4: Maggie Verver’s “Vast Modern Machineries and Facilities”: The Art of Love and the Passion of Evil in The Golden Bowl                                                                                           

Chapter 5: “The Habit of the Public Mind” in the Battlefields and Marketplaces: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s Pragmatic Judge and His Fellow Combatants                                                          

Chapter 6: “The State of the Account Between Society and Himself”: Hyacinth Robinson’s Soldier’s Faith in The Princess Casamassima                                                              

Conclusion: The Cast of Characters in Literary Pragmatism                                    

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Gregory Phipps is an Independent Scholar based in Canada. His numerous articles have appeared in publications such as TheHenry James Review, Textual Practice, Philosophy and Literature, and Literature/Film Quarterly.