Henry James and Modern Moral Life

by Robert B. Pippin

Overview

This important new book argues that Henry James' fiction reveals a sophisticated theory of moral understanding and moral motivation. The claim is that James is engaged in a distinctive kind of original thinking and reflecting on modern moral life in his novels and short stories. The book offers important new interpretations of many novels as well as several short stories. It is written by one of the pre-eminent interpreters of the modern European philosophical tradition and will interest philosophers as well as literary critics. Moreover, the style is completely non-technical, with no reliance on contemporary literary or philosophical theory, and will therefore be accessible to students and general readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521655477
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/19/2001
Edition description:	1 PBK ED
Pages:	206
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Modern morals; 2. 'A kind of morbid modernity?'; 3. 'Crudities of mutual resistance'; 4. Beasts, secrets, and ghosts; 5. Isabel Archer's 'beastly pure mind'; 6. The 'strange logic' of Lambert Strether's 'Double consciousness'; 7. '… without your life, what have you got?' Concluding remarks; Texts by James; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"Throughout, his observations bring to light problems, ambiguities, and arguments not always treated in discussions of these works." Choice

From the Publisher