Henry James's The Princess Casamassima: A Bibliography of Primary Material and Annotated Criticism

Abstract

Henry James’s The Princess Casamassima: A Bibliography of Primary Material and Annotated Criticism Dorothy B. Holton Reception of The Princess Casamassima was a great disappointment to James. Yet in a limited study of contemporary reviews, mixed to be sure, one finds appreciation and recognition for the novel. Some critics complained that there was no story, whereas others congratulated James for telling a real story at last. The English reviewers were mainly negative. Most critics admired the minor characters, particularly Millicent, the vivid Cockney girl. Rebecca West and Pelham Edgar, writing in the early years of the century, praise James’s efforts. Critical interest quickened in the 1930s. In 1934 Richard P. Blackmur reprinted the Prefaces to the New York Edition in The Art of the Novel. The Preface to TPC has had a considerable effect on the critics. Many have adopted James’s views on the novel, his themes and intentions, even though so many years had passed between the novel and the commentaries. In the 1940s critical interest in TPC was given considerable impetus by Daniel Lerner, Oliver Clinton, and, most of all, Lionel Trilling. In addition the 1940s saw the publication of the Notebooks of Henry James, edited by F. O. Matthiesson and Kenneth Murdock. In the 50s and 60s the literature on TPC continued to increase and expand. In 1962 Leon Edel published Henry James: The Middle Years with a chapter, “The Divided Self,” on TPC. He acknowledged all the various influences on James: Balzac, Turgenev, Zola, Flaubert. Edel disavowed the prevailing thought that James could not have known much about the current political upheaval. Throughout the 1960s politics was the typical theme among critics. London is central to the novel and expressed so by James in the Preface. It is most eloquently discussed by John L. Kimmey. Since the 1970s there has once again been a remarkable increase in James [End Page 321] criticism. There is, also, a plethora of new critical modes, with e.g., the work of Louis Althusser and Frederic Jameson, and the views of Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault. Mark Seltzer is influenced by the latter, and Jane Missner Barstow draws on the deconstructionist theories of Deleuze. Even so, scholars continue to write about sources, influences, narrative and characterization. Adeline Tintner’s analogues to TPC show how deeply James was rooted in the culture of Western civilizations. This bibliography begins with the serialization of the novel in the Atlantic Monthly, 1885–1886. Book publication began in 1886, Macmillan. Annotation is based initially on the checklists of Maurice Beebe and William T. Stafford. Their principle source was Lyon N. Richardson’s bibliography. This bibliography includes editions, bibliographies, contemporary reviews, books and chapters of books, and articles. It does not include dissertations (with one exception. See Nies.) and foreign language criticism. Where feasible the entries and annotations are abbreviated so that TPC refers to The Princess Casamassima. The edition used is Derek Brewer, ed., The Princess Casamassima by Henry James (London: Penguin, 1987). The text is taken from the first Macmillan edition of 1886. Other sources are listed below. I have examined the contemporary reviews in the Library of Congress microfilm collection. Thanks are due to Dr. Chester P. Sadowy, Senior Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Oslo, Norway, who suggested the project and whose continued encouragement and interest have helped to make it possible. Editions: The Princess Casamassima by Henry James 1885. Atlantic Monthly Sept.–Oct. 1886. 1886. London and New York: Macmillan. 3 vols. 1908. Novels and Tales. New York Edition. Vols. 5–6. 1921. Novels and Stories, New and Complete Edition. Vols. 10–11. London: Macmillan. Principle Sources Abstracts of English Studies. Boulder: Colorado U; Calgary: Calgary UP, 9 (1966)–26 (1983). American Literary Realism: 1870–1910. Arlington: Texas U, 1 (1967)–16 (1983). American Literary Scholarship: An Annual. Durham: Duke UP, 1963–1981. American Literature. Durham: Duke UP, 38 (1966–1967)-56 (1984). Beebe, Maurice and William T. Stafford. Modern Fiction Studies 12 (1966): 161–162, first published in Modern Fiction Studies 3 (1957). Blackmur, Richard P. Introduction. The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces by Henry James. New York: Scribner’s, 1934: 59–78. Bradbury, Nicola...