Henry James, The Birthplace

Hazel McNair Hutchison (University of Leeds)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1903

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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Henry James's short story “The Birthplace” (1903) is an ironic tale about the crassness of literary tourism. However, it also engages closely with artistic issues which James found problematic, especially in his later years: the difficulty of communicating with the public; the perils of literary biography; and the relationship between author and text. Although William Shakespeare is never mentioned in the story, James gives a number of clues that invite the reader to identify the fictional Birthplace with the timber-framed house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, owned and managed by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust since 1847. Therefore, this tale can also be read as an exploration of James's attitude towards Shakespeare and the controversy surrounding the authorship of the plays…

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1759 words

Citation: Hutchison, Hazel McNair. "The Birthplace". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 March 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20112, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Henry James, The Birthplace

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