The noncommitment of art in "The Liar", by Henry James
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1984-1124.i34p3-17Keywords:
Henry James, "The Liar", The Art of FictionAbstract
In accordance with English writers’ claims at the turn of the 19th century, Henry James elaborates, in “The Art of Fiction” (1884), an artistic manifesto which attributes aesthetic autonomy to literature and detaches it from any moral commitment. Those precepts were not limited to James’ theoretical project. Through artist-characters, the writer renders this discussion more complex when expanding it to his fictional texts. In order to draw parallels between the author’s critical and literary production, this paper presents a reading of “The Liar” (1888), a short story which mobilizes important aspects of Henry James’ aesthetic project by problematizing the statutes of art.
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References
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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Grant numbers 88887.601497/2021-00
