The Figure In The Carpet

He is best known for his novel the portrait of a lady first published in 1880.
The figure in the carpet. The project gutenberg ebook the figure in the carpet by henry jamesthis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. The figure in the carpet is partly about readers and the obsessions they can sometimes develop with writers who intrigue them. In a gesture of compensation one supposes vereker confides to the narrator that his fictions are all linked by a single idea or scheme that no critic has ever noticed but that is the very secret. The figure in the carpet by henry james.
He frequently filled his tales with ambiguity and even obscurity as he does in this 48 page short story. Problematizing the surface he helps us to see what james calls the primal plan something like a complex figure in a persian carpet fittingly the benjamin franklin professor emeritus at the university of chicago begins with two chapters on his namesake exploring bifocal ben s plea for human providence and his strategy for evangelizing future generations in his new gospel of self improvement. Henry james 1843 1916 published the figure in the carpet in 1896. February 4 2013 ebook 645 this file was first posted on.
It is told in the first person. He never gave us an interpretation of this story. In that sense it s a kind of warning not to associate writers lives too closely with their work so i won t try to figure out what it might mean in connection with henry james own life and work.