What is the relation between the novel and ethical thought? Henry James and the Promise of Fiction argues that the answer to this question lies not in the content of a work of fiction but in its form. Stuart Burrows explores the relationship between James's ethical vision and his densely metaphorical style, his experiments with narrative time, and his radical reimagining of perspective. Each chapter takes as its starting point a different aspect of an issue at the heart of moral philosophy: the act of promising. Engaging with a range of moral philosophers and literary theorists, most notably David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Ricoeur, and Jacques Derrida, Henry James and the Promise of Fiction argues that James's formal experimentation represents a significant contribution to ethical thought in its own right.

This book argues that the moral issues raised by a work of fiction are as much a product of its form as of its content.

About the Author
Stuart Burrows is Associate Professor of English at Brown University. His first book was A Familiar Strangeness: American Fiction and the Language of Photography, 1839-1945 (2008). He has won the American Literary Society 1921 Prize in American Literature.


Book Information
ISBN 9781009419697
Author Stuart Burrows
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 20mm