Intensely Family: The Inheritance of Family Shame and the Autobiographies of Henry James - Paperback

by Carol Holly (Author)

In 1911, at the age of 68, Henry James began A Small Boy and Others with the intent of writing a memoir of his brother William and other members of his family. Within months, however, James's interest in others was replaced by a desire to trace his personal development. Subsequently, he began a lengthy examination of both his own past and the psychological heritage of the James family in a two-volume autobiography, A Small Boy and Others and Notes of a Son and Brother. Through the process of writing his autobiography, James maintained that "at every step of the process [he was becoming] . . . more intensely 'family.'"

Documenting the rich connotations of James's phrase "intensely family," Carol Holly examines the shame-based psychology bred by his parents and the impact of that psychology on James's literary career. Interpreting the act of autobiography as a biographical event, Holly also draws on a collection of James's largely unpublished correspondence with his sister-in-law and nephew from the period when he was writing A Small Boy and Notes . She provides a contextual interpretation of the autobiographies and offers a detailed look at the complex emotional life of James the autobiographer.

Author Biography

Carol Holly is professor of English at St. Olaf College. She is a member of the editorial board of The Henry James Review and is a past president of the Henry James Society.