‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters

Authors’ private letters play a significant role in Henry James’s fiction, literary criticism and in his literary and authorial legacy. They are privileged discursive objects activating fundamental issues of privacy and publicity, canonicity and the material condition of literature. The letter is a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ghent University 2012-05-01
Series:	Authorship
Subjects:	Henry James Letters Correspondence Authorship Privacy
Online Access:	http://ojs.ugent.be/authorship/article/view/765/759

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spelling	doaj-6035193b593743dab969264849d43bd62020-11-24T21:50:01ZengGhent UniversityAuthorship2034-46432012-05-0112‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ LettersJakob Stougaard-NielsenAuthors’ private letters play a significant role in Henry James’s fiction, literary criticism and in his literary and authorial legacy. They are privileged discursive objects activating fundamental issues of privacy and publicity, canonicity and the material condition of literature. The letter is a contested discursive object in James’s work, since it is at one and the same time a potent figure for authenticity and interiority, and consequently poses a threat to the author’s desire to control his own literary corpus and his privacy. In this article, James’s personal and private investment in designing his literary testament (his private letters and his definitive collected edition) is discussed in the context of his ethical and aesthetic concerns with reading the publications of authors’ private correspondences.http://ojs.ugent.be/authorship/article/view/765/759Henry JamesLettersCorrespondenceAuthorshipPrivacy
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen
spellingShingle	Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen ‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters Authorship Henry James Letters Correspondence Authorship Privacy
author_facet	Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen
author_sort	Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen
title	‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters
title_short	‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters
title_full	‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters
title_fullStr	‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters
title_full_unstemmed	‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters
title_sort	‘no absolute privacy’: henry james and the ethics of reading authors’ letters
publisher	Ghent University
series	Authorship
issn	2034-4643
publishDate	2012-05-01
description	Authors’ private letters play a significant role in Henry James’s fiction, literary criticism and in his literary and authorial legacy. They are privileged discursive objects activating fundamental issues of privacy and publicity, canonicity and the material condition of literature. The letter is a contested discursive object in James’s work, since it is at one and the same time a potent figure for authenticity and interiority, and consequently poses a threat to the author’s desire to control his own literary corpus and his privacy. In this article, James’s personal and private investment in designing his literary testament (his private letters and his definitive collected edition) is discussed in the context of his ethical and aesthetic concerns with reading the publications of authors’ private correspondences.
topic	Henry James Letters Correspondence Authorship Privacy
url	http://ojs.ugent.be/authorship/article/view/765/759
work_keys_str_mv	AT jakobstougaardnielsen noabsoluteprivacyhenryjamesandtheethicsofreadingauthorsletters
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‘No absolute privacy’: Henry James and the Ethics of Reading Authors’ Letters

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