The American spaces of Henry James

Merle A. Williams

pp. 19-37

in: Attiede Lange, Gail Fincham, Jeremy Hawthorn, Jakob Lothe, Attie de Lange (eds), Literary landscapes, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Abstract

Jacques Derrida adopts the notion of an exergue — that which stands outside of the work — in place of a preface or an introduction. Literally, the exergue is the space on a coin or medal which accommodates the inscription, as well as the French term for an epigraph. Yet the words of the exergue disseminate themselves throughout the text that follows, tracing fruitful patterns of potential meaning (Derrida, 1982b, p. 209). How is this formulation to be understood with respect to the treatment of space in selected novels by Henry James?

Cited authors

Derrida Jacques

James Henry