Henry James (1843-1916) has been widely acclaimed for the elegance of his prose, the incisiveness of his social comment, and the subtlety of his psychological analyses. Whereas James's tales and novels have been carefully studied over the past decades, his non-fiction, including literary criticism, travel writing, biographies, and autobiographies, still remains at the margins of critical activities. This study seeks to explore some of these neglected aspects of James's work, while at the same time interrogating the traditional formula of literary auto/biography. It also attempts to piece together an image of James as a subject and object of biographical and autobiographical endeavors, including portraiture.

Miroslawa Buchholtz is Professor of English and Director of the English Department at Nicolaus Copernikus University (Poland), where she teaches American and Canadian literature, film adaptations of literature and biography, life writing and postcolonial studies. She has published books and articles on Henry James, most recently she co-edited the volume Henry James Goes to War.

Contents: Henry James (1843-1916) - Biography - Autobiography - Life writing - Photography - Portraiture - History - Literature, culture, literary criticism - Nathaniel Hawthorne - William Wetmore Story - William James (1842-1910) - Mathew Brady - John Singer Sargent - Max Beerbohm - Hendrik Andersen - Leon Edel - United States - Great Britain - Italy - Nineteenth century - Twentieth century.