Introduction: Henry James and New York, a Life-Long Relationship

This chapter serves as an introduction to the book by foregrounding Henry James’s complicated, multifaceted, revealing, and enduring relationship with the place where he was born, New York City. It argues that despite James’s embrace of cosmopolitanism and his decision to relocate to England, New York never ceased to be an essential point of reference for his identity as well as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. In particular, this chapter contends that New York, more than any other place, forced James not only to interrogate himself about his identity in terms of gender, nationality, ethnicity, but also as an author. Finally, this chapter acknowledges the James scholarship it builds upon and details the contents of the rest of the book, with a focus on the writings of James (both fictional and nonfictional) discussed therein.