Time and Transformation in Henry James’ Social Novels

The Princess Casamassima and The Bostonians, both published in 1886, are exceptional in James’ literary career. They exemplify his attempt to adjust to the expectations of his readers by venturing into contemporaneous sociopolitical debates. Writing these two novels was in itself an act of courage. No reviewer expected James to have any expertise in matters relating to the lives of early feminists or lower classes. He was, however, interested in these current issues and invested time and effort in researching them. The two novels form a transatlantic diptych, with The Bostonians addressing the topic of American feminism and The Princess Casamassima focusing on workers’ movements in Britain. Quite predictably, most American reviewers were critical of The Bostonians, which only shows that the novel touched a nerve, and praised The Princess Casamassima, which seemed to concern British society. Reviewers in Britain did the reverse, which exposes the quasi-patriotic impulse in literary reviewing of that time, or perhaps any time. The author argues that James’ work on his social novels transformed his self-perception as a writer. She also shows that the transformations James captured in Anglo-Saxon societies and their representatives on both sides of the Atlantic are at once caught up in history and symptomatically timeless, almost historiosophic.