![]() ![]() ![]() Those who were critical of The American Scene essential Iy saw it as a negative assessment of modern America written in a densely textured style that only highlighted the aristocratic superiority of its author. More importantly, it also offered the public, the press, and the intellectual community the opportunity to judge James's art in terms of a subject the audience itself had strong opinions about. ![]() America had never been a subject one could be neutral about, but couple that subject with a world-renowned author who seemingly had questioned the very capability of America to provide a compatible environment for the artist and the result was what one critic would call, in Jamesian tones, a "case." The publication of The American Scene capstoned a two-and-a-half-year debate, initiated by James's return to the United States in 1904, over the implications of James's expatriation. However, The Amer ican Scene was unique in that it became the focal point of one of the most spirited public controversies of James's long literary career. Henry James's The American Scene: Its Genesis and Its Reception, 1905-1977 by Rosalie Hewitt, Northern Illinois University Henry James's The American Scene (1907) was his last book in a substantial body of travel writing which also included works on France, Italy, England, and an earlier America. ![]() In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: ![]()
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