The absence of personal loyalty: service (and disservice) in Henry James’s ‘Brooksmith’

Autor/innen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5902/2176148589949

Schlagworte:

Personal loyalty, Deference, Anonymity

Abstract

Often pilloried for being an apologist for the Anglo-American class system, Henry James could also interrogate the legitimacy of social structures. In his 1891 short story "Brooksmith," James explores the decline of personal loyalty within the British class system, culminating in the presumed suicide of a butler thrown out of work and society after his employer passes away. Through an anonymous narrator, the chronicle of the butler’s social death becomes more poignant, as his invisibility becomes a stubborn line of defense against any responsibility for Brooksmith's disappearance.

Downloads

Keine Nutzungsdaten vorhanden.

Autor/innen-Biografie

Michael Anesko, Pennsylvania State University

Michael Anesko é um importante pesquisador e professor estadunidense, especializado em literatura americana e na obra de Henry James. Ele obteve seu Ph.D. em The History of American Civilization na Universidade de Harvard, onde também concluiu seu A.M. em História. Antes disso, graduou-se summa cum laude na Pennsylvania State University, no programa de Honras em Inglês. Anesko começou sua carreira docente em Harvard, onde atuou de 1984 a 1992 como professor assistente e, posteriormente, associado, com um cargo conjunto entre o Departamento de Inglês e o Comitê de História e Literatura. Desde 1993, é professor na Pennsylvania State University, ministrando cursos de graduação e pós-graduação em literatura e cultura americanas, além de ter servido como diretor do Programa de Honras da graduação (2000-2006). Ele é autor de várias obras importantes sobre Henry James, incluindo Henry James and Queer Filiation: Hardened Bachelors of the Edwardian Era (2018) e Henry James Framed: Material Representations of the Master (2022). Seu trabalho explora temas como autoria, cultura material e a recepção crítica de Henry James, consolidando sua reputação como um dos principais estudiosos do autor.

Literaturhinweise

Adams, Henry. History of the United States of America. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1889.

Anesko, Michael. “Friction with the Market”: Henry James and the Profession of Authorship. New York: Oxford UP, 1986.

Eliot, T. S. “The Dry Salvages.” The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1952.

“Inflation Calculator.” In2013Dollars.com, www.in2013dollars.com

James, Henry. “Brooksmith.” The Complete Tales of Henry James. Edited by Leon Edel, 12 vols., Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1963, vol. 8. pp. 13-31.

James, Henry. Hawthorne. 1879. Reprint, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1967.

James, Henry. Henry James Letters. Edited by Leon Edel, 4 vols., Cambridge, MA: Belknap-Harvard UP, 1974–84.

James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1876–1878. Vol. 1. Edited by Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias, Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2012.

James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878–1880. Vol. 1. Edited by Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias, Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2014.

James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1884–1886. Vol. 2. Edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias, Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2021.

James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1887–1888. Vol. 1. Edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W.

Zacharias, Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2022.

James, Henry. The Complete Notebooks of Henry James. Edited by Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers, New York:

Oxford UP, 1987.

James, Henry. The Tragic Muse. London: Macmillan, 1890.

James, Henry. Will and Testament, dated 19 Dec. 1910, amended 25 Aug. 1915, proved 9 May 1916. Center for Henry James Studies photocopy, Creighton U, Omaha, NE.

James, William. The Correspondence of William James. Edited by Ignas K. Skrupskelis and Elizabeth M. Berkeley, 12 vols., Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 1992–2004.

Macmillan, Frederic. Letters to Macmillan. Edited by Simon Nowell-Smith, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1967.

Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street.” The Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860. Edited by Harrison Hayford et al., Northwestern UP and The Newberry Library, 1987, pp. 13-45.

Nadal, E. S. “Personal Recollections of Henry James.” Scribner’s Magazine, vol. 68, July 1920, pp. 89-97.

Sumner, William Graham. What Social Classes Owe to Each Other. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883.

Wells, H. G. Boon. New York: George H. Doran Co., [1915].

Downloads

Veröffentlicht

2025-10-06

Zitationsvorschlag

Anesko, M. (2025). The absence of personal loyalty: service (and disservice) in Henry James’s ‘Brooksmith’. Letras, 71, e89949. https://doi.org/10.5902/2176148589949

Ausgabe

Bd. 71 (2025): Dossiê sobre Henry James

Rubrik

Artigos

Lizenz

Copyright (c) 2025 Letras

Creative-Commons-Lizenz
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Nicht-kommerziell - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International. Ficam concedidos a Letras todos os direitos autorais referentes aos trabalhos publicados. Os originais não devem ter sido publicados ou submetidos simultaneamente a outro periódico e não serão devolvidos. Em virtude de aparecerem nesta revista de acesso público, os artigos são de uso gratuito, com atribuições próprias, em aplicações educacionais e não comerciais.