Roderick Hudson was Henry James’s first extensive novel, appearing as installments in 1875 in The Atlantic Monthly. James chose as protagonist an amateur American sculptor, placing him in Europe with a wealthy patron named Rowland Mallet. Critics agreed that this novel ended a writing apprenticeship for James, advancing him into his serious work.

He used for the first time a dislocated American in a scenario that he would often repeat, focusing on an individual who must learn to cope within a foreign community. James’s own experience as an American who chose to spend much of his life in Europe contributed the necessary background and familiarity with conflict that allowed his characters lifelike attributes; he wrote most of the novel while in Florence. While completing the book in America, he made the decision to return to Europe with the intention of remaining for a protracted period.

Roderick Hudson becomes a part of Rome’s social art circle, sparking criticism of his talent by a French sculptor named Gloriani. Lured from his art by the ironically named Christina Light, whose father is an expatriate American, Hudson disconnects from his passion. Hudson will sacrifice talent to indulge passion, a fatal decision.

In hopes of bringing Hudson back to sculpting, Mallet asks the artist’s mother and fiancée, Mary Garland, to travel to Rome from their New England home. Roderick realizes his folly and returns to work, sculpting first a bust of his mother. He becomes known for his enormous sculptures and his exploits in the Coliseum, allowing James to comment on the possibility that what appears to be artistic genius may dissolve simply into grandiosity.

Roderick’s revolt against demands such as those inflicted on him by the studio world marks his immaturity and self-centered nature. Still enthralled with Christina, he is again distracted from work when her mother urges him to marry Prince Casamassima, who will appear as a character in a future James novel, The Princess Casamassima (1885–86). Clearly Hudson lacks both the self-discipline and focus necessary to a successful artist.

Hoping that a change of environment will move Hudson to work again, Mallet plans for the group to visit Switzerland, but when they run into Christina there, Hudson sinks so low as to ask Mary for funds so that he may trail Christina. Mallet censors Hudson and his ego for such an act, and the sculptor leaves to walk in the mountains, where an unexpected storm arises. When Hudson’s body is discovered, some believe he committed suicide rather than be separated from Christina and continue to live a life of disgrace.

James deals with his traditional themes of the consequence of choice and the necessity for individual responsibility in accepting those consequences. As did his contemporaries William Makepeace Thackeray and George Meredith, James chose to write about well-read and well-spoken members of the upper class who have the freedom to travel. He contrasts that individual with an unsuspecting American who does not share the class values, setting the foreigner at odds with a social code he cannot understand.

James’s focus on the mind of his characters created psychological profiles that had never before been seen in fiction. While he remained intrigued by moral dilemma, his work rarely assumed the tone of didactic fiction. He sought instead to encourage the reader in believing that he had on his own analyzed the situation at hand. This proved mostly true in Roderick Hudson, where he moralizes to a greater extent than in his more mature work. While not as commonly read as James’s other work, the novel remains important to demonstrating the development of his approach.

Bibliography

Cargill, Oscar. The Novels of Henry James. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Dupee, F. W. Henry James. New York: William Morrow, 1974.
Stevenson, Elizabeth. Henry James: The Crooked Corridor. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2000.

Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis

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