Sounding the Fin de Siècle: Conversation, Silence, and Community in The Awkward Age and "In the Cage"

Abstract

Abstract:In the 1890s, a lively debate about "the revolt of the daughters" against outdated maternal constraints sought to change the experience of young women before marriage. This controversy sets the context for an examination of conversation and silence in The Awkward Age and "In the Cage." Social exchange is seen as occurring within two mutually deconstructing frameworks of "community": the traditional understanding of cohesive, sustaining relations and Jean-Luc Nancy's account of an "inoperative" singular-plurality, inflected by painful alienation. James's characters thus find their sophisticated verbal encounters traced by resonant silences as social mores shift disconcertingly to accommodate a challenging modernity.