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Writers and Nationality: The Case of Henry James

Henry James became a British citizen a year before he died in 1916. This had brought a controversial debate as to the motive of his decision to abandon his native land as well as United States citizenship. In American circles, James was criticized sharply. To many people in the U. S., James's decision was regarded as an act of disloyalty, a confirmation that James was "anti-American." However, James was thoroughly a cosmopolitan both in his life and writing. He was national in his choice of characters and subject since his characters were mostly Americans while his subject was concerned with the uniquely American experiences in Europe. James was at the same time international because the world of his novel predominantly depicts the intermingling of two different worlds on both sides of the Atlantic. As an American expatriate living in Europe, James was inevitably associated with the question of nationality. To James the question of national identity was crucial since his fiction shows a remarkable play of this issue, largely through the international theme. With their experiences in Europe, James's American characters were able to define their own national identity. James was transnational in an era when national boundaries were keenly felt to people in his age. Anticipating the cosmopolitanism of the expatriate writers in the 1920s, James performed his role as an international writer across the geopolitical boundaries. James made his readers undermine the physical and psychological conventions that define the nation as indivisible entity. After all, James's writings emphasize the human capability to learn from cultural, social, and national differences.