The Visionary Betrayed

David Furth identifies the significance of The American Scene in James’s artistic career and offers a penetrating analysis of the work in terms of the difficulties that arose in the course of its composition. Centering on the conflict between expectation and observation, between the provincial past and the transformed present, this broadly informed study provides a fresh and stimulating view of James’s last (and finally unconcluded) effort to state the meaning of America.