{"title":"A Weberian Reading of Henry James’s The Ambassadors","authors":"A. Yiğit","doi":"10.1080/02564718.2021.1997162","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Summary This article discusses the intriguing intersection of the literary work of prolific American writer, Henry James and the theories of German sociologist, Max Weber. In James’s oeuvre, The Ambassadors, stands out for depicting the impacts of ascending consumer capitalism in the early twentieth-century in a similar manner to Weber. Through the character representation, the novel symbolically engages with ideas of strict work discipline, moral devotion of Puritanism, and anti-Puritanical worldview. Furthermore, the embodiment of the controversy between supporters of the Puritanical order and the modern lax way of life are explored and represented in James’s work. Drawing on this relationship, this paper argues that The Ambassadors shares many of Weber’s arguments and ideas concerning the trinity of Puritanism, Protestantism, and capitalism, in spite of the fact that Weber’s magnum opus was published two years after The Ambassadors. I intend to bridge the works of Weber and James by exploring how James’s fiction forecasts Weberian approaches to Puritanism and the emergence of the capitalist spirit.","PeriodicalId":43700,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Literary Studies","volume":"28 1","pages":"49 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Literary Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1092","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2021.1997162","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Summary This article discusses the intriguing intersection of the literary work of prolific American writer, Henry James and the theories of German sociologist, Max Weber. In James’s oeuvre, The Ambassadors, stands out for depicting the impacts of ascending consumer capitalism in the early twentieth-century in a similar manner to Weber. Through the character representation, the novel symbolically engages with ideas of strict work discipline, moral devotion of Puritanism, and anti-Puritanical worldview. Furthermore, the embodiment of the controversy between supporters of the Puritanical order and the modern lax way of life are explored and represented in James’s work. Drawing on this relationship, this paper argues that The Ambassadors shares many of Weber’s arguments and ideas concerning the trinity of Puritanism, Protestantism, and capitalism, in spite of the fact that Weber’s magnum opus was published two years after The Ambassadors. I intend to bridge the works of Weber and James by exploring how James’s fiction forecasts Weberian approaches to Puritanism and the emergence of the capitalist spirit.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Literary Studies publishes and globally disseminates original and cutting-edge research informed by Literary and Cultural Theory. The Journal is an independent quarterly publication owned and published by the South African Literary Society in partnership with Unisa Press and Taylor & Francis. It is housed and produced in the division Theory of Literature at the University of South Africa and is accredited and subsidised by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training. The aim of the journal is to publish articles and full-length review essays informed by Literary Theory in the General Literary Theory subject area and mostly covering Formalism, New Criticism, Semiotics, Structuralism, Marxism, Poststructuralism, Psychoanalysis, Gender studies, New Historicism, Ecocriticism, Animal Studies, Reception Theory, Comparative Literature, Narrative Theory, Drama Theory, Poetry Theory, and Biography and Autobiography.