Title: The unacknowledged connection : intertextuality and character archetypes in Jane Austen's and Henry James's novels
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2024, vol. 50, iss. 2, pp. 169-192
Extent
169-192
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2024-2-8
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.82132
Type: Article
Language
English
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The aim of this article is to explore the intertextual relationships between the novels of Jane Austen and Henry James, focusing particularly on how James may have consciously or unconsciously reinterpreted Austenian character archetypes in some of his novels of courtship and marriage, such as The Portrait of a Lady, The Awkward Age, and Washington Square, by comparing them to some of Austen's narratives, like Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. Although several novelists and critics have acknowledged the intertextual echoes between Austen's and James's works, this connection has been largely unexplored in contemporary criticism. My aim is to fill this gap by analyzing character archetypes central to the courtship and marriage narrative, such as the errant heroine, the knowledgeable and subversive young woman, and the heroine with a strong moral insight. By highlighting these parallels, I hope to illuminate the thematic threads and literary lineage that link these two authors in the English novel tradition.
Note
This article was written as part of the research project "Henry James in Literary Contexts" (PID2019-104409GB-100), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and, as appropriate, by "ERDF A way of making Europe", by the "European Union" or by the "European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR".
References
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[45] Michie, Elsie B. (2011) The Vulgar Question of Money: Heiresses, materialism, and the Novel of Manners from Jane Austen to Henry James. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[46] Miller, J. Hillis (2005) Unworked and Unavowable: Community in The Awkward Age. In: Literature as Conduct: Speech Acts in Henry James. Fordham: Fordham University Press, 84–150.
[47] Mullan, John (2018) Self-Delusion and Agitation in Persuasion. Persuasions 40, 32–44.
[48] Mullan, John (2012) What Matters in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
[49] Nokes, David (1997) Jane Austen: A Life. London: Fourth Estate.
[50] O'Farrell, Mary Ann (2006) Missing Jane Austen: Henry James Considers the Old Maid. The Henry James Review 27 (1), 1–9.
[51] Om, Donghee (2020) The Moral Agency of Female Autonomy in Mansfield Park. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews 35 (3), 1–4.
[52] Page, Norman (1976) The Great Tradition Revisited. In: Jane Austen's Achievement, edited by Juliet McMaster, London: Macmillan Press, 44–63.
[53] Rothmel, Steven Zachary (1978) Similarities in the Novelistic Techniques of Jane Austen and Henry James. University of Utah. Accessed on 21 November 2023. https://utah-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=UUU_ALMA21268589300002001&vid=UTAH&search_scope=EVERYTHING&tab=everything&lang=en_US&context=L
[54] Stabler, Jane (2008) Introduction. In: Mansfield Park, edited by James Kinsley, vii–xxxvi.
[55] Stafford, Fiona (2009) Persuasion: The Gradual Dawning. In: Johnson, Claudia L. and Tuite, Clara (eds.) A Companion to Jane Austen. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 143–152.
[56] Stevens, Hugh ([1998] 2008) Henry James and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
[57] Tanner, Tony (1987) Jane Austen. Lodon: Macmillan Education.
[58] Thoreau, Henry David ([1854] 1985) Walden or, Life in the Woods. Library of America.
[59] Valero-Redondo, María (2023a) "Undiverted Hearts": Domestic Alienation and Moral Integrity in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and Henry James's Washington Square. ES Review. Spanish Journal of English Studies 44, 237–259.
[60] Valero-Redondo, María (2023) "Craving to Be Frightened": Henry James's The Turn of the Screw as a Sinister Parody of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies 67, 71–90.
[61] Williams, Merle A. (2020) Sounding the Fin de Siècle: Conversation, Silence, and Community in The Awkward Age and "In the Cage". The Henry James Review 41 (3), 259–270.
[62] Wiltshire, John (2014) The Hidden Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
[63] Woolf, Virginia ([1925] 1984) Jane Austen. In: The Common Reader. London: The Hogarth Press.
[64] Wright, Daniel (2018) Bad Logic: Reasoning about Desire in the Victorian Novel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[2] Armstrong, Nancy (2005) How Novels Think: The Limits of Individualism from 1719-1900. New York: Columbia UP.
[3] Auerbach, Nina (1983) Jane Austen's dangerous charm. Feeling as one ought about Fanny Price. In: Todd, Janet (ed.) Jane Austen. New Perspectives. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 208–233.
[4] Austen, Jane ([1815] 2008a) Emma, edited by James Kinsley, Oxford: Oxford UP.
[5] Austen, Jane ([1814] 2008) Mansfield Park, edited by James Kinsley, Oxford: Oxford UP.
[6] Austen, Jane ([1817] 2004) Persuasion, edited by James Kinsley, Oxford: Oxford UP.
[7] Austen, Jane ([1813] (2003) Pride and Prejudice, edited by Vivien Jones, London: Penguin Classics.
[8] Barthes, Roland (1977) The Death of the Author. Image—Music—Text, translated by Stephen Heath, London: Fontana.
[9] Bree, Linda (2009) Emma: Word Games and Secret Histories. In: Johnson, Claudia L. and Tuite, Clara (eds.) A Companion to Jane Austen. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 133–142.
[10] Byrne, Paula (2003) Jane Austen and the Theatre. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
[11] Chung, Soha (2019) After the Laughter: Seeking Perfect Happiness in Emma. In: Goss, Erin M. (ed.) Jane Austen and Comedy. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 81–97.
[12] Despotopoulou, Anna (2006) Girls on film: postmodern renderings of Jane Austen and Henry James. The Yearbook of English Studies 36 (1), 115–130.
[13] Doody, Margaret Anne (2008) Introduction. In: Sense and Sensibility, edited by Kinsley, James. Oxford: Oxford UP, vii–xxxix.
[14] Duckworth Jr, William C. (1999) Misreading Jane Austen: Henry James, Women Writers, and the Friendly Narrator. Persuasions 21, 96–105.
[15] Folsom, Marcia McClintock (2016) Emma: Knowing her Mind. Persuasions 38, 41–55.
[16] Galperin, William (2009) The Missed Opportunities of Mansfield Park. In: Johnson, Claudia L. and Tuite, Clara (eds.) A Companion to Jane Austen. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 123–132.
[17] Goodheart, Eugene (2008) Emma: Jane Austen's Errant Heroine. The Sewanee Review 116 (4), 589–604.
[18] Halperin, John (1973) The Language of Meditation: Four Studies in Nineteenth Century Fiction. Elms Court: Arthur H. Stockwell.
[19] Heydt-Stevenson, Jill (2005) Austen's Unbecoming Conjunctions: Subversive Laughter, Embodied History. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
[20] Heydt-Stevenson, Jill (2000) "Slipping into the Ha-Ha:" Bawdy Humor and Body Politics in Jane Austen's Novels. Nineteenth-Century Literature 55 (3), 309–339.
[21] Horne, Philip (2014) Introduction. In: The Portrait of a Lady, edited by Philip Horne, xiii–xxxvii.
[22] Horne, Philip (Ed.) (2011) Henry James: A Life in Letters. London: Penguin.
[23] Horne, Philip (1991) Henry James and Revision. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[24] James, Henry ([1881] 2014) The Portrait of a Lady, edited by Philip Horne, London: Penguin Classics.
[25] James, Henry ([1899] 1999) The Awkward Age, edited by Vivien Jones, Oxford: Oxford UP.
[26] James, Henry ([1880] 1986) Washington Square, edited by Brian Lee, London: Penguin Classics.
[27] James, Henry (1984a) Henry James Literary Criticism: European Writers, vol. 2, New York: Library of America.
[28] James, Henry (1984) Henry James Literary Criticism: Essays on Literature, American Writers, English Writers, vol. 1, New York: Library of America.
[29] Jones, Vivien (1999) Introduction. In: The Awkward Age, edited by Vivien Jones, vii–xxi.
[30] Kant, Immanuel ([1785] 2012) Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Mary Gregor and Jens Timmermann. Cambridge: Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy.
[31] Keymer, Thomas (2020) Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics. Oxford: Oxford UP.
[32] Kipling, Rudyard ([1926] 2009) The Janeites. In: Debits and Credits, Cornwall: House of Stratus, 121–142.
[33] Kormali, Sema Günisik (1974) The Treatment of Marriage in Representative Novels of Jane Austen and Henry James. ProQuest. Accessed on 21 November 2023. https://search.proquest.com/docview/2152685805?accountid=14520
[34] Kramp, Michael (2019) Lost in Comedy: Austen's Paternalistic Men and the Problem of Accountability. In: Goss, Erin M. (ed.) Jane Austen and Comedy. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 146–164.
[35] Krzeminski, Jessica (2019) "The discovery was tremendous": Sex, Secrets, and Selfhood in The Portrait of a Lady. The Henry James Review 40 (3), 276–283.
[36] Leavis, Frank Raymond ([1948] 2011) The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad. London: Faber & Faber.
[37] Lebowitz, Naomi (1965) The Imagination of Loving: Henry James's Legacy to the Novel. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
[38] Lescinski, Joan M. (1981) An Examination of Marriage in Six Novels by Jane Austen and Henry James. Brown University. Accessed on 21 November 2023. https://www.proquest.com/docview/303006060
[39] Levin, Janina (2019) "The Retribution of Time": Slow Thought and Empathic Judgment in Henry James's Washington Square. Review of Communication 19 (3), 275–90.
[40] Lin, Yi-Rung (2018) "Her happiness was from within": Anne Elliot's Bliss of Solitude and Self-Reliance in Jane Austen's Persuasion. Humanities and Social Sciences 11 (2), 285–307.
[41] Lynch, Deidre Shauna (2004) Introduction. In: Persuasion, edited by James Kinsley, vii–xxxiii.
[42] McKenzie, Lee Smith (1980) Jane Austen, Henry James, and the Family Romance. University of Oklahoma. Accessed on 21 November 2023. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-
[43] theses/jane-austen-henry-james-family-romance/docview/2152534791/se-2
[44] Mackenzie, Manfred (1973) Communities of Knowledge: Secret Society in Henry James. ELH 39 (1), 147–168.
[45] Michie, Elsie B. (2011) The Vulgar Question of Money: Heiresses, materialism, and the Novel of Manners from Jane Austen to Henry James. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[46] Miller, J. Hillis (2005) Unworked and Unavowable: Community in The Awkward Age. In: Literature as Conduct: Speech Acts in Henry James. Fordham: Fordham University Press, 84–150.
[47] Mullan, John (2018) Self-Delusion and Agitation in Persuasion. Persuasions 40, 32–44.
[48] Mullan, John (2012) What Matters in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
[49] Nokes, David (1997) Jane Austen: A Life. London: Fourth Estate.
[50] O'Farrell, Mary Ann (2006) Missing Jane Austen: Henry James Considers the Old Maid. The Henry James Review 27 (1), 1–9.
[51] Om, Donghee (2020) The Moral Agency of Female Autonomy in Mansfield Park. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews 35 (3), 1–4.
[52] Page, Norman (1976) The Great Tradition Revisited. In: Jane Austen's Achievement, edited by Juliet McMaster, London: Macmillan Press, 44–63.
[53] Rothmel, Steven Zachary (1978) Similarities in the Novelistic Techniques of Jane Austen and Henry James. University of Utah. Accessed on 21 November 2023. https://utah-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=UUU_ALMA21268589300002001&vid=UTAH&search_scope=EVERYTHING&tab=everything&lang=en_US&context=L
[54] Stabler, Jane (2008) Introduction. In: Mansfield Park, edited by James Kinsley, vii–xxxvi.
[55] Stafford, Fiona (2009) Persuasion: The Gradual Dawning. In: Johnson, Claudia L. and Tuite, Clara (eds.) A Companion to Jane Austen. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 143–152.
[56] Stevens, Hugh ([1998] 2008) Henry James and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
[57] Tanner, Tony (1987) Jane Austen. Lodon: Macmillan Education.
[58] Thoreau, Henry David ([1854] 1985) Walden or, Life in the Woods. Library of America.
[59] Valero-Redondo, María (2023a) "Undiverted Hearts": Domestic Alienation and Moral Integrity in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and Henry James's Washington Square. ES Review. Spanish Journal of English Studies 44, 237–259.
[60] Valero-Redondo, María (2023) "Craving to Be Frightened": Henry James's The Turn of the Screw as a Sinister Parody of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies 67, 71–90.
[61] Williams, Merle A. (2020) Sounding the Fin de Siècle: Conversation, Silence, and Community in The Awkward Age and "In the Cage". The Henry James Review 41 (3), 259–270.
[62] Wiltshire, John (2014) The Hidden Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
[63] Woolf, Virginia ([1925] 1984) Jane Austen. In: The Common Reader. London: The Hogarth Press.
[64] Wright, Daniel (2018) Bad Logic: Reasoning about Desire in the Victorian Novel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.