Nathaniel Hawthorne
The author of The Scarlet Letter among other renowned works was very highly regarded by James. It is not just recognition of his literary standing that makes him an important figure in American literature, however, but that he was recognized as such outside the borders of his homeland. For James, Hawthorne becomes the symbolic initiator of international respect for American authors by the winning the admiration of European critics notoriously resistant to what was commonly viewed as inferior literature.
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord takes on a very special symbolic significance for James in his writings about writing. It is almost ritualistically referenced with an almost spiritual awe. For James, Concord—not Plymouth Rock or Philadelphia or —is the site where American began.
The Novel
James makes little ambiguity of his opinion of where the novel stood in relation to other forms of literature at the time he was writing. Keep in mind that even at that late date, the novel was still considered by many to be a much lesser thing than a play, short story or, especially, poetry. Times have changed, of course, and there would today be much fewer arguing against James’ assertion that the novel symbolizes the epitome of literary accomplishment. After all, who ever talks about writing the Great American Poem or Great American Play?
Alphonse Daudet
Daudet is not exactly a household name even among well-read American readers. So it may come as more of a shock than simply a surprise to learn that French author Alphonse Daudet was—at one time anyway—writer whom James considered the ultimate symbol of the novel-writer: “a novelist to his finger-tips — a soldier in the great army of constant producers
Foreshortening
Foreshortening is the symbolic term that James uses to describe a complex construction of fiction in which meaning and theme is conveyed not through the addition of more details or the expansion of existing details, but rather through a process of synthesis. It cannot be put into concrete terms since it is so heavily dependent upon the reader making the right connections and asking the right questions when looking for answer. Foreshortening is term which suggests another important word that James uses in regard to the processing of information: compactness.
