Henry James, The Sacred Fount

Hazel McNair Hutchison (University of Leeds)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1901

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

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The Sacred Fount

(1901) is the most enigmatic of James’s novels. Whilst it was written immediately before James’s three late major novels,

The Ambassadors

The Wings of the Dove

and

The Golden Bowl

, it has never received the critical or popular attention which these command. However,

The Sacred Fount

explores many of James’s governing concerns, announcing many of the elements and techniques for which the later novels are so much admired. James himself had reservations about

The Sacred Fount,

describing it in his letters as a “trade-accident”, a “

jeu d’esprit”

, and a “consistent joke” (IV, 196, 186). He also excluded it from the New York Edition of his work published by Scribners (1907-09). Nevertheless,

The Sacred Fount

is a fascinating and complex novel in its own…

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2351 words

Citation: Hutchison, Hazel McNair. "The Sacred Fount". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7635, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Henry James, The Sacred Fount

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