3. The James brand

‘The James brand’ examines how, during the period when he was introducing his brand to an Anglo-American public, Henry James honed his signature subject: plotting the fates of Americans abroad. If James was not the inventor of the international novel, he was certainly one of its most important proponents and developers. The first of James’s international novels, The American (1877), focuses on the mind of a woman; Portrait of a Lady (1881) reveals it to be an ideal register for the deep psychological transformations that became his trademark. James also wrote a major essay on literary criticism during this period, “The Art of Fiction” (1884).

Creating New Meanings and Understanding with Postcolonial Texts: Teaching Purple Hibiscus in a Grade 10 Classroom

This article invites readers to share the experiences of a teacher and his Grade 10 students as they read and discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Nigerian novel Purple Hibiscus. The novel was selected as part of a national action research study in which literacy researchers and teachers select postcolonial literature for the classroom and develop new pedagogical strategies for teaching the texts. The article suggests that contemporary international novels such as Purple Hibiscus have potential to raise complex questions of social justice in the classroom and to create new understandings of a changing world.

Depicting the Contrast between America and Europe through Symbolic Characters in The Portrait of a Lady

Henry James is one of the most prominent American novelists. In spite of a great novelist, he was also one of the important theorists of the novel whose theories were effective in the field of novel. He is mostly famous for his international novels through which he practiced the international theme of ‘America versus Europe’. Through this international theme, James depicts the contrast between America and Europe in his works, while it was defined as the duty of American writers of his days to write about this contrast to show America as separated and distinguished from Europe. The Portrait of a Lady is generally accepted to be James’ masterpiece. In this novel James practices his international them professionally through his common basic pattern of bringing an American young lady into a European society to show the contrast between America and Europe. This American lady in this novel is the heroine, Isabel Archer, who comes to Europe in the search of a better life and a high culture, but finally is deceived by sophisticated Europeans as the result of her innocence. Actually one of the main contrasts shown in this novel is the conflict between American innocence and European sophistication or high culture. This study is going to discuss that one part of this conflict is represented by James through some symbolic characters in this novel. The study is going to focus on Madam Merle and Ralph, and aims to discuss that it is through Isabel’s interaction with these symbolic characters that one part of the contrast between America and Europe is depicted.

Practicing the International Theme of America versus Europe through Depicting their Cultures, Characters and Settings, in The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Henry James is the most prominent American novelist who practices the international novels which deals with America and Europe. Among the subjects and the themes which James wrote about, his international theme is the most recurrent theme in his work, in other words we can say that James‟s international theme is the main an the most important subjects of his literary career. James‟s literary career is divided into three periods and the international theme is the main subject of the first and the third period, so its importance is obvious. This international theme is called in other words the issue of „America versus Europe‟ through which James tried to show the contrasts which he believed to exist between America and Europe. In the days of Henry James it was as a defined duty for American writers to represent the contrast of America and Europe, because they were exhausted to be looked as a second-hand European. While in those days Americans looked themselves as inferior to European, so American writers defined to write about their contrast with Europe to be separated from Europe and that illusion. The Portrait of a Lady is James‟ most well-known masterpiece; this novel is again an international novel in which James practiced the international theme with a high proficiency because all parts of this novel, including its characters, settings and events are used skillfully like a chain to show the contrast between America and Europe.

A Study on the International Theme, as a Prominent Subject in the Works of Henry James

Among the subjects and themes which are found in the works of 19th American great novelist Henry James, the international theme of America versus Europe is the most recurrent one. Actually Henry James is well-known based on his international novels through which he uses his own experiences as an American in Europe and wrote about the adventures of Americans abroad, mostly in Europe. Actually through his international theme he deals with America and Europe, he practiced this matter so well in his works that he is in some degree known as the master of international novel. James through his international novels or better to say through his international theme of America versus Europe wanted to show the contrasts between America and Europe and between their societies, cultures, ideals, conventions and characters. Indeed Henry James is the most merited novelist to write about these contrasts and conflicts because he had the experience of living both in America and in Europe for a long time, so he was completely familiar with the societies, cultures, conventions, ideals, and the characters of both America and Europe. This research is going to first discuss international theme in its general meaning and then the international theme of Henry James and the reasons which caused James to practice the international theme through his works.

The Innocent American Girl in Henry James’s International Novel

In his international novels, Henry James used the idea of innocence and loss of innocence in connection to his American characters, especially American girls, as opposed to the personality of the Europeans. He explored the differences between the two civilizations and the effect that these have on the identity of the innocent coming from the New World. Being presented by the author as childlike, unaware human beings, Henry James’s heroines come to Europe to learn something of ‘life’, but they can’t preserve their innocence as they are forced to recognize that the world is ambiguous, divided. Their drama is a result of their resistance to acknowledging the foreignness of the Other.

The Portrait of England in Henry James’s International Novels

In his international novels, Henry James builds the image of England through the eyes of the American characters that travel in this country. London is the perfect setting for his international novels, as it becomes an integral part of the person or the action he is narrating.