The Figure In The Carpet

The figure in the carpetauthor.

The figure in the carpet.

The figure in the carpet is a short story sometimes considered a novella by american writer henry james first published in 1896. In that sense it s a kind of warning not to associate writers lives too closely with their work so i won t try to figure out what it might mean in connection with henry james own life and work. He frequently filled his tales with ambiguity and even obscurity as he does in this 48 page short story. Problematizing the surface he helps us to see what james calls the primal plan something like a complex figure in a persian carpet fittingly the benjamin franklin professor emeritus at the university of chicago begins with two chapters on his namesake exploring bifocal ben s plea for human providence and his strategy for evangelizing future generations in his new gospel of self improvement.

The narrator whose name is never revealed meets his favorite author and becomes obsessed with discovering the secret meaning or intention of all the author s works. The figure in the carpet is partly about readers and the obsessions they can sometimes develop with writers who intrigue them. It is told in the first person. February 4 2013 ebook 645 this file was first posted on.

The project gutenberg ebook the figure in the carpet by henry jamesthis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. In a gesture of compensation one supposes vereker confides to the narrator that his fictions are all linked by a single idea or scheme that no critic has ever noticed but that is the very secret. He is best known for his novel the portrait of a lady first published in 1880.