Henry James and the Quest for the Holy Grail: Victorian Medievalism and Modern Criticism

Lustig

doi:10.1353/hjr.2023.0004

Henry James and the Quest for the Holy Grail: Victorian Medievalism and Modern Criticism

Lustig

Authors

Timothy Lustig t.j.lustig@keele.ac.uk

Abstract

This article offers two case studies. The first examines James’s encounters with medieval buildings in his early travel writings. The second takes as its starting point James’s involvement in The Quest of the Holy Grail, a text which accompanied an 1895 exhibition of paintings by Edwin Austin Abbey. Whilst James’s knowledge of medieval architectural forms seems both confident and coherent, his awareness of medieval literary forms seems more tentative and even sketchy. Reasons for this disparity are considered, but medieval romance motifs are nevertheless found to inform James’s conception of criticism from the outset of his career.

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 10, 2022
Publication Date	Jan 28, 2023
Journal	The Henry James Review
Print ISSN	0273-0340
Electronic ISSN	1080-6555
Publisher	Johns Hopkins University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	44
Issue	1
Pages	79-99
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1353/hjr.2023.0004
Publisher URL	https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/879109#info_wrap