Witnessing the Invisible: Narrative Mediation in The Princess Casamassima

TitleWitnessing the Invisible: Narrative Mediation in The Princess Casamassima
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsDavid Stivers
JournalThe Henry James Review
Volume28
Issue2
Pagination159-173
ISSN1080-6555
Abstract

Abstract This article addresses the difficulties of witnessing dramatized within The Princess Casamassima. Although James offers the novel as a glimpse of the London poor and the conspirators, we find that little is seen of them. Instead, we must watch as others fail to gain full access to these same "mysteries." I examine Hyacinth's struggle to see and satisfyingly narrate his experience in relation to the similar activities of Rosy, the Princess, and the conspirators. I suggest that the rupture between observation and narration is a central feature of James's own exploration of the narrative form of the novel.

URLhttp://muse.jhu.edu/journals/henry_james_review/v028/28.2stivers.html
DOI10.1353/hjr.2007.0013
Short TitleWitnessing the Invisible
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