The Complete Writings of Henry James on Art and Drama 2 Volume Hardback Set

Henry James's writing extensively shows how art and drama influenced his life and work. Indeed, many of his novels and stories dramatise the circumstances of the artist's life, and are filled with allusions to art. He also experimented continuously with the 'scenic art' in his fiction, and wrote plays himself. This complete collection of essays and reviews presents the observations of a major author whose critical judgments have become central to an understanding of late-nineteenth-century art and drama. Readers will find James's texts as they first appeared, with a wealth of editorial support, which evokes the colourful world of the art scene in Britain, France and America, and of late Victorian theatre. Many of the items included have not previously been available in a scholarly edition. The editorial apparatus includes general introductions, chronologies, textual variants sections, and biographical guides to artists and actors.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1: List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; A note on James's texts; Chronology: Henry James's life and writings; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Henry James's writings on art; Glossary of foreign words and phrases; Textual variants; Biographical notes on artists; Select bibliography. Volume 2: List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; A note on James's texts; Chronology: Henry James's life and writings; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Henry James's writings on drama; Glossary of foreign words and phrases; Textual variants; Appendix: 'Coquelin'; Biographical notes on actors; Select bibliography.

About the Author :
Peter Collister is the author of Writing the Self: Henry James and America (2007), and the editor of Henry James's A Small Boy and Others (2011) and Notes of a Son and Brother and The Middle Years (2011). He has published a wide range of essays on nineteenth-century English writers and Anglo-French literary links in refereed British, European and American journals.

Review :
'Collister's remarkably detailed annotation cross-references James's fiction, and his solidly informative Introductions (and other editorial matter) will help all of us better appreciate the broader cultural and historical contexts out of which the Master's creative work emerged …' Michael Anesko, American Literary History Online Review Series (www.academic.oup.com) '… these two volumes finally bring together all of these essays and reviews [on art and drama], offering an indispensable resource for understanding of James's aesthetics. Collister, who judiciously edited James's autobiography, brings the same exemplary scholarship to this collection. … Essential.' Choice 'Peter Collister's collection of the novelist's art reviews is a work of great scholarship (its companion volume, James's complete writings on drama, is equally good) and will be of inestimable value for students of the subject … In his volume of James's art criticism Peter Collister writes an incisive general introduction and further prefaces to each piece, for which he provides meticulous notes, biographical notes on the artists mentioned, a select bibliography and a useful index. …' Jane Martineau, The Burlington Magazine