Monopolizing the Master: Henry James and the Politics of Modern Literary Scholarship
"Monopolizing the Masteris exemplary: smoothly written, impeccably researched, and thoroughly knowledgeable. It will certainly become a basic resource for [Henry James] scholars at all levels."—Nina Baym,RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN LITERARY STUDY"Michael Anesko's book is a remarkable and closely reason exhumation of the efforts of Henry James, his wider family, and several generations of scholars to define his cultural patrimony and his personal and literary reputation. The story Professor Anesko tells with its twists, turns, and revealed intrigue is worthy of a novella by James himself. It is an important contribution to James studies, with its detailed depiction of efforts to control the study of James's papers . . . Meticulously researched and documented, wittily written with an eye to the ironic, Michael Anesko's book is one that every James scholar, literary executor, and archivist should read."—David J. Supino,The Book Collector"Anesko's lucid, jargon-free prose inMonopolizing the Masteris a pleasure to read. . . [T]he study is informed by the author's ground breaking work on James and the literary marketplace as well as a wealth of more recent findings. The engaging yet incisive handling of this material makes this a book that will be read for years to come."—Miranda El-Rayess,Times Literary Supplement"Anesko's archival work, and the sense he makes of it, is every bit as impressive here as we have seen in his earlier books . . . This revealing book will fascinate and appall anyone who thought the writing was the hardest part of literary scholarship."—Kristin Boudreau,Review of English Studies"Michael Anesko's book addresses the urbanely industrious ways in which writers, critics, and family members have monopolised the terms by which we consider James and his writings . . . [O]f great interest and value for its contribution to literary history."—Matthew Peters,Essays in Criticism