The intellectual relationship between Henry James and his father, who was a philosopher and theologian, proved to be an influential resource for the novelist. Andrew Taylor explores how James's writing responds to James Senior's epistemological, thematic and narrative concerns, and relocates these concerns in a more secularised and cosmopolitan cultural milieu. Taylor examines the nature of both men's engagement with autobiographical strategies, issues of gender reform, and the language of religion. He argues for a reading of Henry James that is informed by an awareness of paternal inheritance. Taylor's study reveals the complex and at times antagonistic dialogue between the elder James and his peers, particularly Emerson and Whitman, in the vanguard of mid nineteenth-century American Romanticism. Through close readings of a wide range of novels and texts, he demonstrates how this dialogue anticipates James's own theories of fiction and selfhood.

"...Henry James and the Father Question is richly informed by a thorough knowledge of the archival record. Indeed, it is a treat to be reminded of so many well-turned phrases and astute observations by the Jameses and those in their circle and a delight to be introduced to new ones." The Henry James Review

"In response to several earlier studies, especially the work of Quentin anderson and Alfred Habegger's ^Henry james and the 'Woman Business' ... Taylor takes issue with 'blinkered and dehistoricized' treatments of the relationship between Henry James Senior and Henry James Junior." Choice