James, Henry (1843–1916)

US novelist, who lived in Europe from 1875 and became a naturalized British subject in 1915. His novels deal with the social, moral, and aesthetic issues arising from the complex relationship between European and American culture. They include The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), What Maisie Knew (1887), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904). He also wrote more than a hundred shorter works of fiction, notably the novella The Aspern Papers (1888) and the supernatural/psychological riddle The Turn of the Screw (1898).

James was born in New York City and studied law at Harvard. In 1864 he began contributing reviews, sketches, and short stories to various periodicals. His first novel Watch and Ward (1871) appeared in serial form, and his first volume of short stories was published in 1875. He moved to Paris that year, then to London in 1876, where he stayed for over 20 years. In 1898 he moved to Lamb House, Rye, Sussex, and remained in England for the rest of his life. Initially a master of psychological realism, noted for the complex subtlety of his prose style, James became increasingly experimental, writing some of the essential works of early modernism.

Other major novels include Roderick Hudson (1876), The American (1877), Washington Square (1881), The Tragic Muse (1890), The Spoils of Poynton (1897), The Awkward Age (1899), and The Wings of the Dove (1902). He also wrote travel sketches, including The American Scene (1906), which records his impressions on returning to the USA after 20 years' absence, and literary criticism, including Notes on Novelists (1914). Collections of short stories include Terminations (1895) and The Altar of the Dead (1909). Two works, The Ivory Tower and The Sense of the Past, unfinished at the time of his death, were published in 1917.