Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Comparative Literature
Advisor
André Aciman
Committee Members
Richard Kaye
David Reynolds
Subject Categories
American Literature | Comparative Literature | English Language and Literature | Other Theatre and Performance Studies
Keywords
Henry James, modernism, dictation, embodiment, speech, food and eating
Abstract
This dissertation examines the idea of speech as an act in the writings of Henry James for the purpose of analyzing the author’s relationship to drama and how it influenced his practice of typewriter dictation. It traces the intersections of biography and bibliography within James’s notebooks, letters, and fiction produced during the years between his dismissal of playwriting after the public rejection of Guy Domville in January 1895 and his adoption of dictation due to writer’s cramp in the fall of 1896, as he worked on What Maisie Knew. In advancing an affective methodology to discover the embodied reality of James’s life and art, this work highlights three themes that reveal the biographical/biological influence on his 1896-1897 novels: the association of literal language and vulgar quality, the search for a permanent home, and the function of food as communicative discourse. These themes relate to the act of speech and connect two moments of crisis for the middle-aged author: abandoning the theater and accepting the typewriter.
Recommended Citation
Brunelli, Mary Claire, "Henry James and the Act of Speech from Drama to Dictation" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6021
Included in
American Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons