The phenomenon of objectification of children in the novels of Henry James

Author: Chen Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: This is an academic monograph adapted from a doctoral dissertation, presented entirely in English. The book attempts to draw on the new achievements of contemporary theoretical developments, based on textual analysis of James's works, while referring to relevant sociological literature. It employs feminist, post-structuralist, psychoanalytic, and cultural criticism as theoretical supports to elaborate on James's critique of the objectification of children from multiple perspectives. The focus of the book's discussion is the portrayal of children in James's works, which has been overlooked by the International James Institute. Critics' attention to James's children began in the 1950s and 1960s when "formalism" dominated. The main part of the book focuses on four texts: James's early work The Night Watch, his mid-career masterpiece The Author of Beltraffio, and two later classics The Turn of the Screw and What Maisie Knew. The author aims to highlight James's consistent concern with the issue of child objectification through a reinterpretation of these four representative works.