Henry James and the Imagination of Pleasure

Tessa Hadley examines how Henry James progressively disentangles himself from the moralizing frame through which English-language novels in the nineteenth century had visualized sexual passion. Hadley argues that his relationship with the European novel tradition was crucial, helping to leave behind the belief that only bad women could be sexual. She explores the emphasis James placed on the power of pleasure and play—themes central to his ambitious goal to represent the privileges and the pains of turn-of-the-century leisure class society.