The Middle Years & Other Tales

Both the fictional and autobiographical versions of 'The Middle Years' are concerned with authors, acolytes, and endings rather than the middle of things. Or rather they are about, as are all the tales of James's middle years, the recognition of one's own extreme brevity'
Frances Wilson, from her preface to The Middle Years & Other Tales

The stories in this collection represent Henry James's middle years, a time in his life which he described as 'misanthropic, melancholy, morbid, morose', af...