Hawthorne

He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans the English and continental Europeans such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works such as The Ambassadors The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity as well as for other aspects of their composition his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.