On The Uniqueness Of Henry James's Realism

Henry James is usually known as one of the most important realistic writers in the American literary history. Meanwhile the historian has admitted the effect of James'novel creation, which demonstrates the literary transition from realism to modernism. The features of James'realistic creative methods have presented a lot of ambiguity, compared with normal meaning of realism. This thesis mainly demonstrates his rare traits revealed in his realistic creative methods.The thesis is composed of four chapters. The First Chapter mainly focuses on the discussion of the commencement, improvement and evolution of Henry James'unique realistic approach, and the analysis of the subjective selectivity of Henry James'realism, especially the analysis of his choice of aesthetics. We can feel his true attitudes towards aestheticism—unity and satire. From his choice of experience, we can see that James regards the choice of experience as the choice of reality. In the unity of the subjectivity and the experience towards Isabel's life, we can sense the change from imagination to reality. The Second Chapter mainly analyzes his psychological realism from the following three aspects: revelation of the characters'inner world; depiction of the characters'psychological change and portrait of the characters'Consciousness. The Third Chapter attempts to study his romantic and realistic conflict in his novels, and shows the world, which is full of conviction and imagination. The Fourth Chapter analyzed the reasons of the forming of his uniqueness of realism.By analyzing it, the thesis reflects the realism uniqueness in the novel of Henry James. At the same time, it is proved that the works of Henry James played an important role in the process transiting from traditional realism to modernism.