Calls for papers
The Henry James Society
CALL FOR PAPERS
Modern Language Association Convention
Toronto
8-11 January 2026
The Henry James Society invites proposals for the following panel.
James on James
Oliver Herford’s magisterial edition of the Prefaces for Cambridge University Press last year is a timely reminder that James’s commentary on his own work has proved almost as central to literary history as the novels and tales themselves. But the Prefaces are far from the only place in which James engages in self-reflection, nor is that reflection limited to his published work. Together with his notebooks and letters, they also constitute an informal autobiography, to be read alongside his more formal ventures in the genre, like A Small Boy and Others and Notes of a Son and Brother. As the very titles of the latter volumes also testify, “James on James” is a rubric that extends well beyond Henry Jr.’s reflections on himself—and he is far from the only James to participate in the practice. We invite papers that take the rubric as the starting point for a variety of approaches to Jamesian self-reflection, as well as to individual family members’ seemingly endless capacity to comment on and analyze one another. Possibilities include:
Please send 300-word abstract and brief bio to Ruth Bernard Yeazell <[email protected]> and Sarah Wadsworth <[email protected] > by Friday, 7 March 2025.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Modern Language Association Convention
Toronto
8-11 January 2026
The Henry James Society invites proposals for the following panel.
James on James
Oliver Herford’s magisterial edition of the Prefaces for Cambridge University Press last year is a timely reminder that James’s commentary on his own work has proved almost as central to literary history as the novels and tales themselves. But the Prefaces are far from the only place in which James engages in self-reflection, nor is that reflection limited to his published work. Together with his notebooks and letters, they also constitute an informal autobiography, to be read alongside his more formal ventures in the genre, like A Small Boy and Others and Notes of a Son and Brother. As the very titles of the latter volumes also testify, “James on James” is a rubric that extends well beyond Henry Jr.’s reflections on himself—and he is far from the only James to participate in the practice. We invite papers that take the rubric as the starting point for a variety of approaches to Jamesian self-reflection, as well as to individual family members’ seemingly endless capacity to comment on and analyze one another. Possibilities include:
- Henry James’s criticism of his own work in the Prefaces, notebooks, letters, essays, reviews, or other occasional pieces
- Henry James as autobiographer in A Small Boy and Others, Notes of a Son and Brother, The Middle Years
- Henry James as autobiographer in the Prefaces, notebooks, letters, or travel writing, from early essays on Italy to The American Scene
- Aspects of self-reflection in James’s fiction
- Henry James as reviser or editor of his own work
- Henry James’s critical writing as insight into his own aims as a fiction writer
- Henry James on other members of the James family in A Small Boy and Others, Notes of a Son and Brother, letters, or elsewhere
- William James as autobiographer in his letters or in published work such as Varieties of Religious Experience
- William James as a critic of Henry Jr.’s work in letters or elsewhere
- William James on other members of the James family in his letters
- Alice James as autobiographer in the diary or her letters
- Alice James on other members of the James family in her diary or letters
- Alice James as a critic of Henry Jr.’s work (or of William’s or Henry Sr.’s) in her diary or letters
- Other members of the James family—Henry Sr., Mary James, Aunt Kate, Robertson, Wilkie, William’s children—on themselves or one another and / or as critics or editors of the published work of any member(s) of the family
Please send 300-word abstract and brief bio to Ruth Bernard Yeazell <[email protected]> and Sarah Wadsworth <[email protected] > by Friday, 7 March 2025.
The Henry James Society
Call for Papers
American Literature Association
36th Annual Conference
Westin Copley Place, Boston, MA
21-24 May 2025
Jamesian Beginnings
The appeal of teleological thinking often shapes our readings of James, whether of individual works or of his career as a whole. But rather than let a sense of the ending determine our interpretation of what came before, how might James look different if we focused instead on beginnings? How does he typically begin a tale or novel—and how, if at all, do his strategies differ from those of other short story writers or novelists? How, where, or when doesn’t he begin? How is beginning thematized within the fictions, as in Isabel Archer’s practice of “beginning afresh a great many times” or Madame Merle’s wish that she could “begin again”? How did James himself begin as a writer? How did he retrospectively construct such beginnings in his Prefaces and autobiographies? What choices do we make when we decide where to begin a course or critical book on James? Where should a new reader of James begin—and why? How did we begin reading James, and what difference did that make later on?All approaches are welcome. Some suggested topics:
- Beginnings of individual tales, novels, or other texts
- Beginnings of units within a text, such as chapters or volumes—or even individual sentences—as well as prefaces, prologues, preambles, or other preliminaries
- Beginnings in James as compared to those of other short story writers or novelists
- Acts of beginning—or beginning again within a work of fiction or travel writing
- Stage settings or opening scenes
- Beginnings in dialogue, beginnings of speeches, conversations, or other utterances
- James’s beginnings as a writer or the beginnings of writings or careers of other members of the James family
- James and the beginnings of historical events or movements—wars, modernism, feminism
- James’s own account of his beginnings in the autobiographies
- James’s retrospective construction of his own beginnings—of individual works, of his career—in the Prefaces
- Origins, roots, influences, inspirations, antecedents
- Beginning a course in James
- Beginning a critical study of James
- Strategies for encouraging others to begin reading James
- Memories of first reading James—where did you begin, and what difference did that make?
- Fresh starts, false starts, late starts
Please send a 250-word abstract and short biography to Ruth Yeazell ([email protected]) and Sarah Wadsworth ([email protected]) by January 15, 2025. Please note if you have any AV requirements. For more details about the American Literature Association Conference please visit this website: https://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/
Henry James and the Archive
The Henry James Review invites essays between 1,000 and 12,500 words on any aspect of Henry James studies and archives for a special fall 2025 forum issue on “Henry James and the Archive.”
Topics could include, for example:
• Using archives for Henry James scholarship
• Changes in how we understand the nature of the Henry James archive
• New archival sources for Henry James scholarship
• Collecting or collections of Henry James-related material(s)
• Overlooked or forgotten archives or archival research methods for Henry James scholarship
• James’s use of archives, archival concepts, and/or the archival in his fiction or non-fiction
• Henry James as archivist
Contributions should be produced according to current MLA style. Please identify your manuscript as a “Henry James and the Archive” Forum submission.
Send submissions to [email protected] by April 1, 2025.
The Henry James Review invites essays between 1,000 and 12,500 words on any aspect of Henry James studies and archives for a special fall 2025 forum issue on “Henry James and the Archive.”
Topics could include, for example:
• Using archives for Henry James scholarship
• Changes in how we understand the nature of the Henry James archive
• New archival sources for Henry James scholarship
• Collecting or collections of Henry James-related material(s)
• Overlooked or forgotten archives or archival research methods for Henry James scholarship
• James’s use of archives, archival concepts, and/or the archival in his fiction or non-fiction
• Henry James as archivist
Contributions should be produced according to current MLA style. Please identify your manuscript as a “Henry James and the Archive” Forum submission.
Send submissions to [email protected] by April 1, 2025.
LEON EDEL PRIZE
The Leon Edel Prize is awarded annually for the best essay on Henry James by a beginning scholar. The prize carries with it an award of $300, and the prize-winning essay will be published in HJR.
The competition is open to applicants who have not held a full-time academic appointment for more than four years. Independent scholars and graduate students are encouraged to apply.
Essays should be 20-30 pages (including notes), original, and not under submission elsewhere or previously published. Please send the manuscript in Microsoft Word format.
Send electronic submissions to: [email protected]
Author's name should not appear on the manuscript. Please identify essays as submissions for the Leon Edel Prize. The competition is limited to one submission per author.
A brief curriculum vitae should be included.
Decisions about regular publication are also made at the same time as the prize decision.
Deadline: November 1, 2024