Henry James’s Emerging Subconscious and the Wandering Transatlantic Tourist: The Search for Artistic Freedom

Sharon Worley

University of Phoenix, USA

Abstract

With the publication of Roderick Hudson in Atlantic Monthly in 1875, Henry James anticipates the Freudian theory of the ego, super-ego and id.   Through the impulse to create, James defines the will as the artist’s desire to achieve self-actualization.  But this will is in conflict with society’s social mores and responsibilities.  Consequently, the artist is doomed to a limbo world in which the will creates idealized representations of nature, without – like Pygmalion -- having the ability to bring his creation to life.  In describing the aesthetic pleasures of visual perception, James tacitly acknowledges pioneering research in perceptual cognition and makes the transition to emerging psychological theories of the subconscious will and desire.  James reevaluates the purpose of art in an increasingly commercialized society that depends upon aesthetics for its viable existence and cohesion without providing the tangible means of supporting the emerging artist.

Keywords: Henry James, William James, Art Criticism, American Realist novels, psychology