Henry James defied posterity to disturb his bones: he was adamant that his legacy be based exclusively on his publications and that his private life and writings remain forever private. Despite this, almost immediately after his death in 1916 an intense struggle began among his family and his literary disciples to control his posthumous reputation, a struggle that was continued by later generations of critics and biographers. Monopolizing the Master gives a blow-by-blow account of this conflict, which aroused intense feelings of jealousy, suspicion, and proprietorship among those who claimed to be the just custodians of James's literary legacy. With an unprecedented amount of new evidence now available, Michael Anesko reveals the remarkable social, political, and sexual intrigue that inspired-and influenced-the deliberate construction of the Legend of the Master.
"This remarkable tale of scholarly intrigue, censorship, and family anxiety shows enormous damage done-some of it permanent-to our study of Henry James's life and works."
Journal of American Studies of Turkey
"Oh, I am going to [expletive deleted] like this book."
Bookslut.com
"For Jamesians, this is a page-turner, a must-have. It will also absorb the general reader in a compelling narrative that has everything: the fall and rise of a major literary figure; complicated money-making deals, sexual secrets, family dynamics, contention over intellectual property rights, self-protecting Boston/Harvard hierarchies, conspiracies and cover-ups, and power-grabs by an accomplishe
