The Telegraph - 28 February 2016 •
One hundred years after his death, the life of Henry James remains a study in contradiction, says Bernard Richards
Faced with a towering genius of literature, there may be a tug of war between America and England as to who should claim Henry James for their pantheon. Yes, he had American roots and many of his habits of mind had an American tincture but he lived in England for a long time, and dealt with English society in much of his fiction.James, who died 100 years ago this week, would have hated the fascination his devotees have for his life. He regarded the work of a writer as more important than the life, and a number of his short stories about writers emphasise this point, including the classic case of The Aspern Papers, where the quest for relics of an early American writer who lived in Venice threatens to obscure the writings themselves MORE
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