There is scarcely a problem in the philosophy of criticism
which the work of Henry James does not raise, and by raising
it lead us to the possibilities of a solution. But these problems,
posed by a master of the indirect method, are only slowly
emerging into our positive awareness. In their larger aspects,
we can distinguish three of them: they concern the novel itself,
its form and features; the moral responsibility of the novelist;
and the much wider question of the attitude which the artist
ought to adopt towards the particular crisis which civilization
has now reached. Only one of these problems is at all definitely
elaborated in the critical writings of the author himself, and
this is the purely technical one. To make ourselves familiar
with the evolution of Henry James, from his early impersonal
experiments in the 'sixties right through to the final magnifi-
cence of his later period, is to trace the historical development
of the art of fiction at its intensest creative point. It is to be
carried, as in some wonderful ship that somehow manages to
keep pace with the sun, right from the world of Adam Bede to
the world of The Golden Bowl. There are other craft in the
water--we are in the wake of the rich and overladen argosy
of Balzac; Meredith runs part of the course with us; and Tur-
genev is a rather remote sailing ship which we keep in sight
all the way--but there is no doubt that the authentic craft, the
only one to steer direct, is the very one we have boarded. The
experience must be lived through to be appreciated in all its

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