Monopolizing the Master: Henry James and the Politics of Modern Literary Scholarship

270 Pages·2012·3.019 MB·English

by  Michael Anesko

Monopolizing the Master

Monopolizing the Master
HENRY JAMES AND THE POLITICS OF
MODERN LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP
Michael Anesko
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2012 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University
Press.
This book has been published with the assistance of the College of the Liberal Arts and
the Department of English of The Pennsylvania State University.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anesko, Michael, author.
Monopolizing the Master : Henry James and the politics of modern literary scholarship
/ Michael Anesko.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-6932-7 (alk. cloth)
1. James, Henry, 1843–1916. 2. Authors, American—Biography—History and
criticism. 3. James, Henry, 1843–1916—Criticism and interpretation—History—20th
century. 4. James, Henry, 1843–1916—Archives. 5. James, Henry, 1843–1916—Family.
I. Title.
ps2123.a66 2012
813'.4—dc23
2011022751
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 9/15 Palatino
This book is for
Warner Berthoff Dan Aaron Bernard Bailyn
Teachers, Colleagues, Friends

Contents
List of Figures ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
1 Cornering the Market 1
Legacies of Mastery 1
Sovereign Immunities 17
Notes of a Son and Nephew 34
2 Custodial Conflicts 46
Remains of the Day 46
From Keyboard to Ouija Board 61
The Queer Case of Percy Lubbock 73
3 Modernist Ventriloquism 109
In Memoriam 109
Passionate Pilgrim—or Pariah? 120
The Art of the Novel 127
4 The James Revival 134
Documentary Monumentalism 134
Partisan (Re)views 144
From Archive to Industry 153
5 The Legend of the Bastard 158
Policing the Archive 158
Dr. Edel and Mr. Hyde 170
Chairman of the Board 182
Afterword 193
Sources and Abbreviations 197
Notes 201
Index 241

Figures
James family tree xviii
Sketch of the James family, by William James 36
Henry James III 49
Percy Lubbock, Howard Sturgis, and Arthur Christopher Benson 58
“Little B.”—(Theodora Bosanquet) 65
Henry James, by Alvin Langdon Coburn 101
“Editor’s Easy Chair,” manuscript and text from
Life in Letters of William Dean Howells 113
Portrait bust of Henry James, by Derwent Wood 165
Portrait bust of Henry James, by Hendrik Andersen 165
Leon Edel 188