New York Revisited

This chapter is devoted to James’s portrayal of New York in letters and literary works – such as “Lady Barberina” and The Bostonians – written in the 1880s, a period comprising his American visits of 1881–1882 and 1882–1883, as well as the death of both his parents and his younger brother Wilky. The chapter shows how, notwithstanding his attachment to England, James could never renounce New York as an essential component of his identity and art. It further argues that by presenting New York from the perspective of characters defined by provenance, gender, and class, James dramatized his own conflicting feelings about his birthplace. In the section dedicated to The Bostonians, the chapter draws attention to James’s use of New York as a setting that, by virtue of its connotation as the preeminent arena for male assertiveness, intensifies Basil Ransom’s frustration and exacerbates his need for dominance over women.