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The Haunts Of Language: Superstition And Subterfuge In Henry James's Stories Of The Supernatural, Lloyd Spencer Thomas

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

My dissertation presents the comic and catastrophic results of James’s characters’ mania for verbal deception. By focusing on the humorous ingenuity of James’s fictional presentations, my study illuminates the literary artistry in each story. Traditional interpretations of James's short fiction often overlook his satire, equating “The Master” with his finicky fictional personae. Thus, critics even more misguided than James’s own characters see Spencer Brydon’s search in “The Jolly Corner” as a “return to the womb” or a fictive vindication of James’s decision to live in Europe rather than America. As is especially evident in novels like The Awkward Age …