Henry James and Modern Moral Life

This book argues that Henry James reveals in his fiction a sophisticated theory of moral understanding.

Robert B. Pippin (Author)

9780521655477, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 July 2001

206 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.298 kg

'It is a book for anyone who has ever wondered what is involved in leading a life worth living. it is, like James's novels themselves 'finely aware and richly responsible.' Modernism/Modernity

This important book argues that Henry James reveals in his fiction a sophisticated theory of moral understanding and moral motivation. The claim is that in his novels and short stories James is engaged in a distinctive kind of original thinking and reflecting on modern moral life. Sensitive to the precarious and extremely confusing situation of moral understanding in modern societies, James avoids skepticism and presents powerfully the full nature of moral claims and moral dependence. The book is written by one of the pre-eminent interpreters of the modern European philosophical tradition and will interest both philosophers and literary critics. However, the style is completely non-technical with no reliance on terms from contemporary literary or philosophical theory and will therefore be accessible to students and general readers of James.

Acknowledgments
1. Modern morals
2. 'A kind of morbid modernity?'
3. 'Crudities of mutual resistance'
4. Beasts, secrets, and ghosts
5. Isabel Archer's 'beastly pure mind'
6. The 'strange logic' of Lambert Strether's 'Double consciousness'
7. '… without your life, what have you got?' Concluding remarks
Texts by James
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Anthologies [non-poetry DQ]