texts

‘Owen Wingrave’ by Henry James
in : The graphic Christmas issue, 28 November 1892, pages 11, 14, 15, 18, 22, 26 and 30

comment

The private life ; The wheel of time ; [etc.] / by Henry James. – London : Osgood, McIlvaine, 1893. – 331 p. ; 20 cm. — pages 279-331

contents: The private life; The wheel of time; Lord Beaupré; The visits; Collaboration; Owen Wingrave

containing the first book publication in the UK, issued on 1893-06-03 at price 5/-, in an edition of 1000 copies

The wheel of time ; Collaboration ; Owen Wingrave / by Henry James. – New York : Harper & Brothers, 1893. – iv, 220 p. ; 18 cm. — pages 147-220

contents: The wheel of time; Collaboration; Owen Wingrave

the first American book publication was in this volume, issued 1893-09-26, the second of the two titles covering the contents of the London version, an unknown print-run retailing at $1·00

The altar of the dead; [etc.] / by Henry James. – New York : Scribner ; London : Macmillan, 1909. – xxxii, 544 p.; 22 cm. – (The novels and tales of Henry James : New York edition ; v. 17) — pages 269-319

contents: The altar of the dead, The beast in the jungle, The birthplace, The private life, Owen Wingrave, The real right thing, The friends of the friends, Sir Edmund Orme, The jolly corner, Julia Bride

James made further revisions for his definitive collected edition

for subsequent reprints of this tale see the relevant page
of my index to Henry James’s tales in collections

commentaries and discussions

in addition to the selected criticism listed below, this tale is discussed (in greater or lesser detail) in the general works on James’s tales and fiction, which I have listed on a separate page; those works are annotated here only when I’ve tracked them down and they offer significant insights

‘Preface’ by Henry James
in : The altar of the dead ; [etc.] (New York edition), — see above;
reprinted in : The art of the novel : critical prefaces / by Henry James, with an introduction by Richard P. Blackmur. – New York ; London : Scribner, 1934. – xli, 348 p. ; 22 cm. — pages 241-266

relevant text available on this website

‘Owen Wingrave and the antimilitary’
section of chapter 6 in : The pop world of Henry James : from fairy tales to science fiction / by Adeline R. Tintner. – Ann Arbor, MI; London : U.M.I. Research Press, 1989. – [xxv], 317 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. – (Studies in modern literature ; no. 89). – ISBN 0-8357-1855-7 — pages 249-251

sees Wingrave as an initial response to Kipling’s promilitary stance – the two men met for the first time in 1890; sketches some of the military terms and allusions in the tale

‘Iron Henry, or James goes to war’ by Eric Haralson
in : Arizona quarterly : a journal of American literature, culture, and theory   vol. 53 no. 4 (Winter 1997), pages 39-59

[not available to me, and it doesn’t seem to make it into his 2003 book Henry James and queer modernity]