Generous Mistakes

By combining the techniques of textual criticism and the insights of close reading <em>Generous Mistakes</em> offers new perspectives not only on two of Henry James's major novels (<em>The Portrait of a Lady</em> and <em>The Ambassadors</em>) but also on the process by which they became the books we know--or think we know. Through a better understanding of the conditions of production that affected James's author function we achieve a deeper appreciation of the historical contingencies of his artistry. Closely examining new forms of evidence (even fingerprints) <em>Generous Mistakes</em> contends that authorship is a hybrid construction a sometimes unpredictable sequence of different forms of practice each of which contributes meaningfully to the texts we read and analyze. Offering a sustained examination of the 'textual condition' of James's work--going beyond the relatively familiar ground of authorial revision--this study brings into sharper focus the complex and sometimes arbitrary factors that contributed<br>to the making of two masterpieces of modern fiction and to the legend of the master who wrote them.<br>