The Tragic Muse

The Tragic Muse By Henry James Originally serialised in the Atlantic Monthly between 1889 and 1890, before being published in book form later in the year, The Tragic Muse was James' last full novel before his doomed foray into writing for the stage. The plot also hinges on dramatic leanings, with Miriam Rooth, a young and by all accounts extremely raw actress, providing the love interest for one of the other leads in Peter Sherringham, a high flyer in the British Diplomatic Service. Other characters include, Nick Dormer, a politician who'd prefer to be an artist and his partner Julia Darrow who prefers him in the House of Commons. There are in fact at least fifty named characters in The Tragic Muse and a plot to carry them through, making the novel an oddity in the James portfolio. In truth it reads more like a typically Victorian novel from authors like Dickens or Thackaray, rather than the pared down character studies that James would perfect towards the end of his career. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.