Open AccessThe Imprisoned, Unspeakable Self: Silenced Sexuality in Henry James
Author(s) -
Linda Camarasana
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pivot
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2369-7326
DOI - 10.25071/2369-7326.36119
Subject(s) - human sexuality , style (visual arts) , prison , homosexuality , psychoanalysis , reflexive pronoun , sociology , gender studies , art , art history , literature , psychology , criminology
This essay analyzes Henry James’s The Bostonians (1886) as a novel, like several other works by James, that hints at but never fully articulates homosexual desire. The relationship between Boston feminist Olive Chancellor and her protégé, Verena Tarrant, is a study in self-silencing and repression. In particular, James subtly explores Olive Chancellor’s struggle with an internal prison, her suppressed homosexuality, which was likely James’s own sexual struggle as well. In addition, James’s literary style, his famously imposing and dense walls of verbiage attempt to articulate secrets without ever stating what’s hidden. Paradoxically, James’s voluminous wall of words calls the reader’s attention to what is silent in his characters and in James himself.