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175-571: The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James , published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the "new" world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July–October 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication. The tale opens in Boston and New England in
350-568: A NOAA gauging station above the falls. During winter, the Power Authority of New York works with Ontario Power Generation to prevent ice on the Niagara River from interfering with power production or causing flooding of shoreline property. One of their joint efforts is an 2,700-metre-long (8,800 ft) ice boom, which prevents the buildup of ice, yet allows water to continue flowing downstream. In addition to minimum water volume,
525-711: A landslide . This drastically reduced power production and put tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs at stake. In 1957, Congress passed the Niagara Redevelopment Act, which granted the New York Power Authority the right to fully develop the United States' share of the Niagara River's hydroelectric potential. In 1961, when the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project went online, it was the largest hydropower facility in
700-445: A "specifically well-delineated New England" in the book, which he found "charming". F.R. Leavis , the influential English literary critic, had a high opinion of this brief work, claiming: Others, most notably the author's brother William James , faulted the novel's "slightness." Henry James replied in a 14 November 1878 letter that he somewhat agreed with the criticism: In another letter to his friend Elizabeth Boott , James blamed
875-587: A barrel with only minor injuries. Soucek was fined $ 500 for performing the stunt without a license. In 1985, he was fatally injured while attempting to re-create the Niagara drop at the Houston Astrodome . His aim was to climb into a barrel hoisted to the rafters of the Astrodome and to drop 55 m (180 ft) into a water tank on the floor. After his barrel released prematurely, it hit the side of
1050-588: A brief account of the experience: "When I came into its awful presence the power of discription failed me, an irrisistible power closed my lips." Being on the Canadian border, Niagara Falls was on one of the routes of the Underground Railroad . The falls were also a popular tourist attraction for Southern slaveowners, who would bring their enslaved workers on the trip. "Many a time the trusted body-servant, or slave-girl, would leave master or mistress in
1225-463: A challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century. Niagara Falls is 27 km (17 mi) northwest of Buffalo, New York , and 69 km (43 mi) southeast of Toronto , between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario , and Niagara Falls, New York . Niagara Falls was formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age ), and water from
1400-602: A cousin of the James family came down to the house in Fourteenth Street and, one evening during his stay, read the first instalment of David Copperfield aloud to the elders of the family: Henry Junior had sneaked down from his bedroom to listen surreptitiously to the reading, until a scene involving the Murdstones led him to "loud[ly] sob," whereupon he was discovered and sent back to bed. Between 1855 and 1860,
1575-585: A descendant of Schoellkopf's firm, formed the Cataract Company headed by Edward Dean Adams, with the intent of expanding Niagara Falls' power capacity. In 1890, a five-member International Niagara Commission headed by Sir William Thomson among other distinguished scientists deliberated on the expansion of Niagara hydroelectric capacity based on seventeen proposals but could not select any as the best combined project for hydraulic development and distribution. In 1893, Westinghouse Electric (which had built
1750-616: A dramatisation of his popular novella Daisy Miller in 1882. From 1890 to 1892, having received a bequest that freed him from magazine publication, he made a strenuous effort to succeed on the London stage, writing a half-dozen plays, of which only one, a dramatisation of his novel The American , was produced. This play was performed for several years by a touring repertory company, and had a respectable run in London, but did not earn very much money for James. His other plays written at this time were not produced. In 1893, however, he responded to
1925-431: A few days (and is beginning to believe he is in love with Eugenia) goes late to visit her. In fact, Clifford was with Eugenia at the time, but when she realized Robert was coming she had Clifford hide in a back room. During her conversation with Mr. Acton, the subject of her marriage comes up again, and he also proposes they go together—alone—to see Niagara Falls . Clifford comes unexpectedly out of his hiding place and there
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#17327727990032100-413: A few shelters designed to protect the landscape while allowing large numbers of visitors to enjoy the falls. Commemorative statues, shops, restaurants, and a 1959 glass and metal observation tower were added later. Preservationists continue to strive to strike a balance between Olmsted's idyllic vision and the realities of administering a popular scenic attraction. Preservation efforts continued well into
2275-474: A focus of pleasure and honeymoon visits. After World War II, the auto industry, along with local tourism boards, began to promote Niagara honeymoons. In about 1840, the English industrial chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson traveled to Canada, stopping at Niagara Falls long enough to make the earliest known photograph of the falls, a daguerreotype in the collection of Newcastle University . It was once believed that
2450-674: A freelance writer in Rome and then secured a position as Paris correspondent for the New York Tribune through the influence of its editor, John Hay . When these efforts failed, he returned to New York City. During 1874 and 1875, he published Transatlantic Sketches , A Passionate Pilgrim and Roderick Hudson . In 1875, James wrote for The Nation every week; he received anywhere from $ 3 to $ 10 for brief paragraphs, $ 12 to $ 25 for book reviews and $ 25 to $ 40 for travel articles and lengthier items. During this early period in his career, he
2625-461: A house, 58 West Fourteenth Street , in Manhattan. A painting of a view of Florence by Thomas Cole hung in the front parlor of this house on West Fourteenth. His education was calculated by his father to expose him to many influences, primarily scientific and philosophical; it was described by Percy Lubbock, the editor of his selected letters, as "extraordinarily haphazard and promiscuous." Once,
2800-451: A lingering decisive factor in James' mind." It has also been suggested by one author that Felix's rootless Bohemian origin, as well as his "eternal gaiety", were signifiers of his covert homosexuality. The 1979 Merchant Ivory Productions film The Europeans starred Lee Remick as Eugenia and received six award nominations. The movie received a number of lukewarm reviews as a somewhat over-literary adaptation. Critic Chris Elliot noted
2975-482: A living, however, and lacked the experiences of select schools, university, and army service, the common bonds of masculine society. He was furthermore a man whose tastes and interests were, according to the prevailing standards of Victorian era Anglo-American culture, rather feminine, and who was shadowed by the cloud of prejudice that then and later accompanied suspicions of his homosexuality. Edmund Wilson compared James's objectivity to Shakespeare's: One would be in
3150-547: A location roughly approximately 60 metres (200 ft) south of the Railway Suspension Bridge. This one was of an entirely different design; it was a cantilever bridge to provide greater strength. The Niagara Cantilever Bridge had two cantilevers which were joined by steel sections; it opened officially in December 1883, and improvements were made over the years for a stronger structure. As rail traffic
3325-561: A long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the falls. Englishman Captain Matthew Webb , the first man to swim the English Channel , drowned in 1883 trying to swim the rapids downriver from the falls. On October 24, 1901, 63-year-old Michigan school teacher Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over the falls in a barrel as a publicity stunt; she survived, bleeding, but otherwise unharmed. Soon after exiting
3500-806: A long visit, James refers jocularly to their "happy little congress of two". In letters to Hugh Walpole, he pursues convoluted jokes and puns about their relationship, referring to himself as an elephant who "paws you oh so benevolently" and winds about Walpole his "well-meaning old trunk". His letters to Walter Berry printed by the Black Sun Press have long been celebrated for their lightly veiled eroticism. However, James corresponded in equally extravagant language with his many female friends, writing, for example, to fellow novelist Lucy Clifford : "Dearest Lucy! What shall I say? when I love you so very, very much, and see you nine times for once that I see Others! Therefore I think that—if you want it made clear to
3675-513: A lot – which comes across as a faux-pas. In particular, Robert Acton notes the little untruth. Mr Wentworth tells Felix that his young son Clifford got suspended from Harvard University owing to his drinking problem. Felix suggests that the influence of a cultivated older woman might help him to improve his manners—a woman such as his sister, and indeed, the young Clifford begins visiting Eugenia. Meanwhile, Felix and Gertrude are falling in love. Eventually, Gertrude tells him her father wants her to marry
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#17327727990033850-412: A new perspective on the world and to resist the presumptions of her family. She reacts against her father's decision regarding Mr. Brand, explaining that she never will marry a man she does not love. Instead, Gertrude will marry Felix and leave America. The difference between Europeans and New Englanders manifests itself in particular in the expression of feelings and emotions, which are very sensitive for
4025-568: A number of weeks in Italy in 1887, and his shock and grief over her suicide in 1894, are discussed in detail in Edel's biography and play a central role in a study by Lyndall Gordon . Edel conjectured that Woolson was in love with James and killed herself in part because of his coldness, but Woolson's biographers have objected to Edel's account. James is one of the major figures of trans-Atlantic literature. His works frequently juxtapose characters from
4200-430: A once-familiar paradigm in biographies of homosexuals when direct evidence was nonexistent. Novick also criticised Edel for following the discounted Freudian interpretation of homosexuality "as a kind of failure." The difference of opinion erupted in a series of exchanges between Edel (and later Fred Kaplan filling in for Edel) and Novick, which were published by the online magazine Slate , with Novick arguing that even
4375-489: A position to appreciate James better if one compared him with the dramatists of the seventeenth century— Racine and Molière , whom he resembles in form as well as in point of view, and even Shakespeare , when allowances are made for the most extreme differences in subject and form. These poets are not, like Dickens and Hardy , writers of melodrama—either humorous or pessimistic, nor secretaries of society like Balzac , nor prophets like Tolstoy : they are occupied simply with
4550-580: A potential source of power. The first known effort to harness the waters was in 1750, when Daniel Joncaire built a small canal above the falls to power his sawmill. Augustus and Peter Porter purchased this area and all of American Falls in 1805 from the New York state government, and enlarged the original canal to provide hydraulic power for their gristmill and tannery. In 1853, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Mining Company
4725-469: A proposal for international discussions on the establishment of a public park. Goat Island was one of the inspirations for the American side of the effort. William Dorsheimer , moved by the scene from the island, brought Olmsted to Buffalo in 1868 to design a city park system, which helped promote Olmsted's career. In 1879, the New York state legislature commissioned Olmsted and James T. Gardner to survey
4900-409: A repeated exposure of this wickedness, a reiterated and passionate plea for the fullest freedom of development, unimperiled by reckless and barbarous stupidity. Philip Guedalla jokingly described three phases in the development of James's prose: "James I, James II, and The Old Pretender," and observers do often group his works of fiction into three periods. In his apprentice years, culminating with
5075-573: A request from actor-manager George Alexander for a serious play for the opening of his renovated St. James's Theatre, and wrote a long drama, Guy Domville , which Alexander produced. A noisy uproar arose on the opening night, 5 January 1895, with hissing from the gallery when James took his bow after the final curtain, and the author was upset. The play received moderately good reviews and had a modest run of four weeks before being taken off to make way for Oscar Wilde 's The Importance of Being Earnest , which Alexander thought would have better prospects for
5250-663: A series of adverbs. The overall effect could be a vivid evocation of a scene as perceived by a sensitive observer. It has been debated whether this change of style was engendered by James's shifting from writing to dictating to a typist, a change made during the composition of What Maisie Knew . In its intense focus on the consciousness of his major characters, James's later work foreshadows extensive developments in 20th-century fiction. Indeed, he might have influenced stream-of-consciousness writers such as Virginia Woolf , who not only read some of his novels but also wrote essays about them. Both contemporary and modern readers have found
5425-498: A series of bridges. In 1955, the area between the rocks and Goat Island was filled in, creating Terrapin Point . In the early 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filled in more land and built diversion dams and retaining walls to force the water away from Terrapin Point. Altogether, 120 m (400 ft) of Horseshoe Falls were eliminated, including 30 m (100 ft) on the Canadian side. According to author Ginger Strand,
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5600-405: A serious disease, and her impact on the people around her. Some of these people befriend Milly with honourable motives, while others are more self-interested. James stated in his autobiographical books that Milly was based on Minny Temple, his beloved cousin, who died at an early age of tuberculosis. He said that he attempted in the novel to wrap her memory in the "beauty and dignity of art". James
5775-457: A ship and sneaked them through customs, allowing her to bury him in their family plot. James regularly rejected suggestions that he should marry, and after settling in London, proclaimed himself "a bachelor". F. W. Dupee , in several volumes on the James family, originated the theory that he had been in love with his cousin, Mary ("Minnie") Temple, but that a neurotic fear of sex kept him from admitting such affections: "James's invalidism ...
5950-532: A state reservation at Niagara, and the Niagara Falls Association, a private citizens group founded in 1882, mounted a great letter-writing campaign and petition drive in support of the park. Professor Charles Eliot Norton and Olmsted were among the leaders of the public campaign, while New York Governor Alonzo Cornell opposed. Preservationists' efforts were rewarded on April 30, 1885, when Governor David B. Hill signed legislation creating
6125-503: A stutter, which seems to have manifested itself only when he spoke English; in French, he did not stutter. In the summer of 1857, the James family went to Boulogne-sur-Mer, where they set up house at No. 20 Rue Neuve Chaussée, and where Henry was a regular customer at an English lending library. In the autumn of that year, Henry Senior wrote from Boulogne to a friend that "Henry is not so fond of study, properly so-called, as of reading...He
6300-482: A supplemental report detailing plans to restore the falls. Their intent was "to restore and conserve the natural surroundings of the Falls of Niagara, rather than to attempt to add anything thereto", and the report anticipated fundamental questions, such as how to provide access without destroying the beauty of the falls, and how to restore natural landscapes damaged by man. They planned a park with scenic roadways, paths and
6475-515: A vertical drop of more than 50 m (160 ft). During peak daytime tourist hours, more than 168,000 m (5.9 million cu ft) of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate. Niagara Falls is famed for its beauty and is a valuable source of hydroelectric power . Balancing recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been
6650-628: A visit to his uncle and asks for Gertrude's hand. His uncle is shocked at first, but his other daughter, Charlotte, speaks in favor of the match, then Gertrude comes in and declares she will marry Felix, and finally Mr. Brand comes in to say he would like to marry the young couple. Felix has found his felicity in America—he and Gertrude will marry and then live and travel in Europe—she will see the world she has longed to see. Mr Brand and Charlotte will also later marry, far more suited to one another than Gertrude
6825-406: A wealthy man in the United States has failed but she has her pride. She decides to go back to Germany. She makes a farewell visit to Mrs Acton, sees Robert as she is leaving and claims to have sent the annulment papers to Germany (this also will turn out to be untrue). Mr. Acton expresses regret that she has decided to leave—but he makes no definitive proposition to her to keep her there. Felix makes
7000-516: A young clergyman, Mr Brand who has been waiting for her. He renews his declaration of love, but Gertrude does not wish to hear it, and asks him to go away, weeping afterwards out of frustration (for her family is pushing her to accept Mr. Brand). She then sits for Felix who is doing her portrait. During their conversation he wonders why his American relatives seem so little concerned for the pleasures of life, living by strict standards, seeming not to think of their own individual happiness. Eugenia notices
7175-623: A young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka , Melville , and Bloy ; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James." James
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7350-517: Is 320 m (1,050 ft) wide. The distance between the American extremity of Niagara Falls and the Canadian extremity is 1,039 m (3,409 ft). The peak flow over Horseshoe Falls was recorded at 6,370 m /s (225,000 cu ft/s). The average annual flow rate is 2,400 m /s (85,000 cu ft/s). Since the flow is a direct function of the Lake Erie water elevation, it typically peaks in late spring or early summer. During
7525-560: Is a devourer of libraries, and an immense writer of novels and dramas. He has considerable talent as a writer, but I am at a loss to know whether he will ever accomplish much." William recorded in a letter to their parents in Paris, while the boys were staying in Bonn, that Henry and Garth Wilkinson would wrestle "when study has made them dull and sleepy." In 1860, the family returned to Newport. There, Henry befriended Thomas Sergeant Perry , who
7700-525: Is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge , spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls , which straddles the international border of the two countries. It is also known as the Canadian Falls. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within
7875-469: Is a perplexing woman. The omniscient narrator uses a very fine and cultivated language, sometimes he prefers Latin diction; preferring to introduce very long, detailed descriptions of the setting and of the characters, from both a psychological and a physical point of view. In addition to the contributions of the narrator, dialogue helps the author to introduce his characters and to show their reactions to unfolding events. Critic Robert Gale credited James with
8050-541: Is a very awkward moment. Clifford leaves and Eugenia makes up an untrue story about the young man being at her home. Later, in talking with Clifford, Mr. Acton realizes she had not told the truth, and the fact that she can lie begins to weigh upon his thoughts, and he ceases for several days to go visit her. Meanwhile, Felix tells his sister Eugenia he wants to marry Gertrude; she lies also to her brother in claiming Robert Acton asked her to marry him but that she isn't sure she wants to. She has understood that her goal of finding
8225-453: Is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James . He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady . His later works, such as The Ambassadors , The Wings of
8400-510: Is derived from the name given to a branch of the local native Neutral Confederacy , who are described as the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area. According to George R. Stewart , it comes from the name of an Iroquois town called Onguiaahra , meaning "point of land cut in two". In 1847, an Iroquois interpreter stated that the name came from Jaonniaka-re , meaning "noisy point or portage". To Mohawks ,
8575-494: Is diverted via four huge tunnels that arise far upstream from the waterfalls. The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines that supply power to nearby areas of Canada and the United States before returning to the river well past the falls. When electrical demand is low, the Lewiston units can operate as pumps to transport water from the lower bay back up to the plant's reservoir , allowing this water to be used again during
8750-459: Is exercised well or badly. His protagonists were often young American women facing oppression or abuse, and as his secretary Theodora Bosanquet remarked in her monograph Henry James at Work : When he walked out of the refuge of his study and into the world and looked around him, he saw a place of torment, where creatures of prey perpetually thrust their claws into the quivering flesh of doomed, defenseless children of light ... His novels are
8925-400: Is generally straightforward and, though personally characteristic, well within the norms of 19th-century fiction. Roderick Hudson (1875) is a Künstlerroman that traces the development of the title character, an extremely talented sculptor. Although the book shows some signs of immaturity—this was James's first serious attempt at a full-length novel—it has attracted favourable comment due to
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#17327727990039100-552: Is halved at night and during the low tourist season winter months and only attains a minimum flow of 1,400 cubic metres per second (49,000 cu ft/s). Water diversion is regulated by the 1950 Niagara Treaty and is administered by the International Niagara Board of Control. The verdant green color of the water flowing over Niagara Falls is a byproduct of the estimated 60 tonnes/minute of dissolved salts and rock flour (very finely ground rock) generated by
9275-400: Is happy to accept the gift of a little house—she cherishes her independence and in keeping a certain distance. In contrast, her brother is very happy to share all his time with Charlotte and Gertrude, spending hours in their piazza or garden creating portraits of the two ladies. Eugenia and her brother Felix arrive in Boston. The next day Felix visits their cousins. He first meets Gertrude, who
9450-489: Is independent, modern, and displays hauteur. Gertrude and Charlotte lack this self-possession. For example, they tend to comply with their father's suggestions. When Mr. Wentworth tries to arrange a marriage between Mr. Brand and Gertrude to which she objects, it is difficult for her to clearly express her preference. The sisters spend most of their free time with the family until the moment in which Gertrude discovers herself to be in love with Felix. Her love encourages her to take
9625-503: Is now illegal, on both sides of the border, to attempt to go over the falls. Charles Stephens , a 58-year-old barber from Bristol, England, went over the falls in a wooden barrel in July 1920 and was the first person to die in an endeavor of this type. Bobby Leach went over Horseshoe Falls in a crude steel barrel in 1911 and needed rescuing by William "Red" Hill Sr. Hill again came to the rescue of Leach following his failed attempt to swim
9800-456: Is set mainly in Europe, especially in England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of his early phase, The Portrait of a Lady is described as a psychological novel , exploring the minds of his characters, and almost a work of social science, exploring the differences between Europeans and Americans, the old and the new worlds. The second period of James's career, which extends from
9975-400: Is shirking attendance at church and reading romantic literature instead. He stays over for dinner. The next day Eugenia visits them. Three days later their uncle Mr Wentworth suggests they stay in a little house close to theirs. Felix suggests making a portrait of his uncle. When Mr. Wentworth refuses, he makes plans to do a painting of Gertrude instead. One day, Gertrude, out walking, encounters
10150-580: Is the subject of contention among James's biographers, but the letters to Andersen were occasionally quasierotic: "I put, my dear boy, my arm around you, & feel the pulsation, thereby, as it were, of our excellent future & your admirable endowment." His numerous letters to the many young homosexual men among his close male friends are more forthcoming. To his homosexual friend Howard Sturgis , James could write: "I repeat, almost to indiscretion, that I could live with you. Meanwhile, I can only try to live without you." In another letter Sturgis, following
10325-443: Is to have lived & loved & cursed & floundered & enjoyed & suffered—I don't think I regret a single 'excess' of my responsive youth". The interpretation of James as living a less austere emotional life has been subsequently explored by other scholars. The often intense politics of Jamesian scholarship has also been the subject of studies. Author Colm Tóibín has said that Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 's Epistemology of
10500-607: The 54th Massachusetts . In 1864, the James family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to be near William, who had enrolled first in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard and then in the medical school. In 1862, Henry attended Harvard Law School , but realised that he was not interested in studying law. He pursued his interest in literature and associated with authors and critics William Dean Howells and Charles Eliot Norton in Boston and Cambridge and formed lifelong friendships with Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. ,
10675-526: The Atlantic Monthly . The novel was later published in book form in 1878. During a 14-month trip through Europe in 1869–70, he met John Ruskin , Charles Dickens , Matthew Arnold , William Morris , and George Eliot . Rome impressed him profoundly. "Here I am then in the Eternal City", he wrote to his brother William. "At last—for the first time—I live!" He attempted to support himself as
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#173277279900310850-481: The Niagara Gorge in 1920. In 1928, "Smiling Jean" Lussier tried an entirely different concept, going over the falls in a large rubber ball; he was successful and survived the ordeal. In the "Miracle at Niagara", on July 9, 1960, Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over Horseshoe Falls after the boat in which he was cruising lost power; two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from
11025-894: The North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006. There was a lengthy dispute as to which agency should build the replacement for the Niagara Railway Arch, or Lower Steel Arch Bridge in the Upper Niagara area. When that was resolved, construction of a steel bridge commenced in February 1940. Named the Rainbow Bridge , and featuring two lanes for traffic separated by a barrier, it opened in November 1941 and remains in use today. The enormous energy of Niagara Falls has long been recognized as
11200-541: The Old World (Europe), embodying a feudal civilisation that is beautiful, often corrupt, and alluring, and from the New World (United States), where people are often brash, open, and assertive , and embody the virtues of the new American society—particularly personal freedom and a more exacting moral character. James explores this clash of personalities and cultures, in stories of personal relationships in which power
11375-532: The Vanderbilts had fueled the construction of giant underground conduits leading to turbines generating upwards of 75 megawatts (100,000 hp ), sent as far as Buffalo, 32 km (20 mi) away. Some of the original designs for the power transmission plants were created by the Swiss firm Faesch & Piccard, which also constructed the original 3.7 MW (5,000 hp) waterwheels. Private companies on
11550-411: The " New York Edition ", a 24-volume collection of his works. In 1910, his brother William died; Henry had just joined William from an unsuccessful search for relief in Europe, on what turned out to be Henry's last visit to the United States (summer 1910 to July 1911) and was near him when he died. In 1913, he wrote his autobiographies, A Small Boy and Others and Notes of a Son and Brother . After
11725-600: The 1870s, sightseers had limited access to Niagara Falls and often had to pay for a glimpse, and industrialization threatened to carve up Goat Island to further expand commercial development. Other industrial encroachments and lack of public access led to a conservation movement in the U.S. known as Free Niagara, led by such notables as Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church , landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted , and architect Henry Hobson Richardson . Church approached Lord Dufferin , governor-general of Canada, with
11900-472: The 1880s was The Tragic Muse . Although he was following the precepts of Zola in his novels of the '80s, their tone and attitude are closer to the fiction of Alphonse Daudet. The lack of critical and financial success for his novels during this period led him to try writing for the theatre; His dramatic works and his experiences with theatre are discussed below. In the last quarter of 1889, "for pure and copious lucre," he started translating Port Tarascon ,
12075-618: The 20th century. J. Horace McFarland, the Sierra Club , and the Appalachian Mountain Club persuaded the United States Congress in 1906 to enact legislation to preserve the falls by regulating the waters of the Niagara River. The act sought, in cooperation with the Canadian government, to restrict diversion of water, and a treaty resulted in 1909 that limited the total amount of water diverted from
12250-423: The 27-year-old Andersen in Rome in 1899, when James was 56, and wrote letters to Andersen that are intensely emotional: "I hold you, dearest boy, in my innermost love, & count on your feeling me—in every throb of your soul". In a letter of 6 May 1904, to his brother William, James referred to himself as "always your hopelessly celibate even though sexagenarian Henry". How accurate that description might have been
12425-409: The American and Bridal Veil Falls to the east. Engineering has slowed erosion and recession. The current rate of erosion is approximately 30 centimeters (0.98 feet) per year, down from a historical average of 0.9 m (3.0 ft) per year. At this rate, in about 50,000 years Niagara Falls will have eroded the remaining 32 km (20 mi) to Lake Erie, and the falls will cease to exist. In
12600-526: The Atlantic. It drew notice perhaps mostly because it depicted a woman whose behaviour is outside the social norms of Europe. He also began his first masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady , which appeared in 1881. In 1877, he first visited Wenlock Abbey in Shropshire, home of his friend Charles Milnes Gaskell , whom he had met through Henry Adams. He was much inspired by the darkly romantic abbey and
12775-413: The Canadian side also began to harness the energy of the falls. The Government of Ontario eventually brought power transmission operations under public control in 1906, distributing Niagara's energy to various parts of the Canadian province. Other hydropower plants were being built along the Niagara River. But in 1956, disaster struck when the region's largest hydropower station was partially destroyed in
12950-530: The Closet made a landmark difference to Jamesian scholarship by arguing that he be read as a homosexual writer whose desire to keep his sexuality a secret shaped his layered style and dramatic artistry. According to Tóibín, such a reading "removed James from the realm of dead white males who wrote about posh people. He became our contemporary." James's letters to expatriate American sculptor Hendrik Christian Andersen have attracted particular attention. James met
13125-526: The Cricket ", published in 1863. About a year later, " A Tragedy of Error ", his first short story, was published anonymously. James's first literary payment was for an appreciation of Sir Walter Scott's novels, written for the North American Review . He wrote fiction and nonfiction pieces for The Nation and Atlantic Monthly , where Fields was editor. In 1865, Ernest Lawrence Godkin ,
13300-529: The Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting . His novella The Turn of
13475-492: The Falls was the wreck of the schooner Michigan in 1827. Local hotel owners acquired a former Lake Erie freighter, loaded it with animals and effigies of people, towed it to a spot above the falls and let it plunge over the brink. Admission of fifty cents was charged. In October 1829, Sam Patch , who called himself "the Yankee Leapster", jumped from a high tower into the gorge below the falls and survived; this began
13650-442: The French writers that he had studied assiduously. Critical reaction and sales were poor. He wrote to Howells that the books had hurt his career rather than helped because they had "reduced the desire, and demand, for my productions to zero". During this time, he became friends with Robert Louis Stevenson , John Singer Sargent , Edmund Gosse , George du Maurier , Paul Bourget , and Constance Fenimore Woolson . His third novel from
13825-501: The Horseshoe Falls is now entirely in Canada. Other sources say "most of" Horseshoe Falls is in Canada. The only recorded freeze-up of the river and falls was caused by an ice jam on March 29, 1848. No water (or at best a trickle) fell for as much as 40 hours. Waterwheels stopped, and mills and factories shut down for having no power. In 1912, American Falls was completely frozen, but the other two falls kept flowing. Although
14000-462: The James household travelled to London, Paris, Geneva , Boulogne-sur-Mer , Bonn , and Newport, Rhode Island , according to the father's current interests and publishing ventures, retreating to the United States when funds were low. The James family arrived in Paris in July 1855 and took rooms at a hotel in the Rue de la Paix. Some time between 1856 and 1857, when William was fourteen and Henry thirteen,
14175-572: The New York edition of The American , James describes the development of the story in his mind as exactly such: the "situation" of an American, "some robust but insidiously beguiled and betrayed, some cruelly wronged, compatriot..." with the focus of the story being on the response of this wronged man. The Portrait of a Lady may be an experiment to see what happens when an idealistic young woman suddenly becomes very rich. In many of his tales, characters seem to exemplify alternative futures and possibilities, as most markedly in " The Jolly Corner ", in which
14350-797: The Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park. New York State began to purchase land from developers, under the charter of the Niagara Reservation State Park . In the same year, the province of Ontario established the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park for the same purpose. On the Canadian side, the Niagara Parks Commission governs land usage along the entire course of the Niagara River, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. In 1887, Olmsted and Calvert Vaux issued
14525-661: The Rhode Island shore, at Portsmouth Grove ; he took walks and had conversations with numerous soldiers and in later years compared this experience to those of Walt Whitman as a volunteer nurse. In the autumn of 1861, James received an injury, probably to his back, while fighting a fire. This injury, which resurfaced at times throughout his life, made him unfit for military service in the American Civil War. His younger brothers Garth Wilkinson and Robertson, however, both served, with Wilkinson serving as an officer in
14700-457: The Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as " The Jolly Corner ". James published articles and books of criticism, travel , biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as
14875-587: The United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island , with both islands situated in New York. Formed by the Niagara River , which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario before flowing out to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River , the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has
15050-455: The Western world. Today, Niagara is still the largest electricity producer in New York state, with a generating capacity of 2.4 GW. Up to 1,420 cubic metres per second (50,000 cu ft/s) of water is diverted from the Niagara River through conduits under the city of Niagara Falls to the Lewiston and Robert Moses power plants. Currently between 50% and 75% of the Niagara River's flow
15225-499: The barrel, she said, "No one ought ever do that again." Days before Taylor's attempt, her domestic cat was sent over the falls in her barrel to test its strength. The cat survived the plunge unharmed and later posed with Taylor in photographs. Since Taylor's historic ride, over a dozen people have intentionally gone over the falls in or on a device, despite her advice. Some have survived unharmed, but others have drowned or been severely injured. Survivors face charges and stiff fines, as it
15400-538: The basins that the glaciers had carved, thus creating the Great Lakes as we know them today. Scientists posit there is an old valley, St David's Buried Gorge , buried by glacial drift , at the approximate location of the present Welland Canal . When the ice melted, the upper Great Lakes emptied into the Niagara River, which followed the rearranged topography across the Niagara Escarpment . In time,
15575-445: The brooding conscientious mentor. In The Portrait of a Lady (1881), James concluded the first phase of his career with a novel that remains his most popular piece of long fiction. The story is of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. The narrative
15750-520: The closing paragraphs. I was not at all weary of the tale in the end, but I had agreed to write it in one hundred Atlantic pages, and its abrupt ending came from outward pressure - not from internal failing." James excluded the novel from the New York Edition of his fiction (1907–09). Among others speculating on the reasons for this exclusion, critic Oscar Cargill commented that "the intimate contemporary judgment and misfortune may have been
15925-463: The coming season. After the stresses and disappointment of these efforts, James insisted that he would write no more for the theatre, but within weeks had agreed to write a curtain-raiser for Ellen Terry . This became the one-act "Summersoft", which he later rewrote into a short story, "Covering End", and then expanded into a full-length play, The High Bid , which had a brief run in London in 1907, when James made another concerted effort to write for
16100-408: The crest caused the falls to retreat approximately 10.9 kilometres (6.8 mi) southward. The shape of Horseshoe Falls has changed through the process of erosion, evolving from a small arch to a horseshoe bend to the present day V-shape. Just upstream from the falls' current location, Goat Island splits the course of the Niagara River, resulting in the separation of Horseshoe Falls to the west from
16275-549: The crest of Horseshoe falls was reduced to maintain an uninterrupted "curtain of water". In August 2005, Ontario Power Generation , which is responsible for the Sir Adam Beck stations , started a major civil engineering project, called the Niagara Tunnel Project , to increase power production by building a new 12.7-metre (42 ft) diameter, 10.2-kilometre-long (6.3 mi) water diversion tunnel. It
16450-482: The daytime when electricity use peaks. During peak electrical demand, the same Lewiston pumps are reversed and become generators. To preserve Niagara Falls' natural beauty, a 1950 treaty signed by the U.S. and Canada limited water usage by the power plants. The treaty allows higher summertime diversion at night when tourists are fewer and during the winter months when there are even fewer tourists. This treaty, designed to ensure an "unbroken curtain of water" flowing over
16625-560: The deaths of those closest to him, including his sister Alice in 1892; his friend Wolcott Balestier in 1891; and Stevenson and Fenimore Woolson in 1894. The sudden death of Fenimore Woolson in January 1894, and the speculations of suicide surrounding her death, were particularly painful for him. Leon Edel wrote that the reverberations from Fenimore Woolson's death were such that "we can read a strong element of guilt and bewilderment in his letters, and, even more, in those extraordinary tales of
16800-779: The discharge of some errand, and never come back." This sometimes led to conflict. Early town father Peter Porter assisted slavecatchers in finding runaway slaves, even leading, in the case of runaway Solomon Moseby, to a riot in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. Much of this history is memorialized in the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center . After the American Civil War , the New York Central Railroad publicized Niagara Falls as
16975-625: The erosive force of the Niagara River. The Niagara River is an important bird area due to its impact on Bonaparte's gulls , ring-billed gulls , and herring gulls . Several thousand birds migrate and winter in the surrounding area. The features that became Niagara Falls were created by the Wisconsin glaciation about 10,000 years ago. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater (see Lake Algonquin , Lake Chicago , Glacial Lake Iroquois , and Champlain Sea ) that filled up
17150-506: The falls and to create the single most important document in the Niagara preservation movement, a "Special Report on the preservation of Niagara Falls". The report advocated for state purchase, restoration and preservation through public ownership of the scenic lands surrounding Niagara Falls. Restoring the former beauty of the falls was described in the report as a "sacred obligation to mankind". In 1883, New York Governor Grover Cleveland drafted legislation authorizing acquisition of lands for
17325-505: The falls by both nations to approximately 1,600 cubic metres per second (56,000 cu ft/s). That limitation remained in effect until 1950. Erosion control efforts have always been of importance. Underwater weirs redirect the most damaging currents, and the top of the falls has been strengthened. In June 1969, a temporary rock and earth dam was constructed, completely diverting the Niagara River from American Falls for several months. During this time, two bodies were removed from under
17500-522: The falls commonly ice up most winters, the river and the falls do not freeze completely. The years 1885, 1902, 1906, 1911, 1932, 1936, 2014, 2017 and 2019 are noted for partial freezing of the falls. A so-called ice bridge was common in certain years at the base of the falls and was used by people who wanted to cross the river before bridges had been built. During some winters, the ice sheet was as thick as 12 to 30 metres (40 to 100 ft), but that thickness has not occurred since 1954. The ice bridge of 1841
17675-478: The falls is credited to Belgian missionary, Father Louis Hennepin in 1677, after traveling with the explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , thus bringing the falls to the attention of Europeans. French Jesuit missionary Paul Ragueneau likely visited the falls some 35 years before Hennepin's visit while working among the Huron First Nation in Canada. Jean de Brébeuf also may have visited
17850-483: The falls much easier. The story of Niagara Falls in the 20th century is largely that of efforts to harness the energy of the falls for hydroelectric power , and to control the development on both sides that threaten the area's natural beauty. Before the late 20th century, the northeastern end of Horseshoe Falls was in the United States, flowing around the Terrapin Rocks, which were once connected to Goat Island by
18025-483: The falls while passing through New York en route to Cumberland House as part of his second Arctic expedition, calling them "so justly celebrated as the first in the world for grandeur". In 1843, Frederick Douglass joined the American Anti-Slavery Society 's "One Hundred Conventions" tour throughout New York and the midwest. Sometime on this tour, Douglass visited Niagara Falls and wrote
18200-581: The falls) was a two-level suspension structure that opened in January 1869; it was destroyed during a severe storm in January 1889. The replacement was built quickly and opened in May 1889. In order to handle heavy traffic, a second bridge was commissioned, slightly closer to American Falls. This one was a steel bridge and opened to traffic in June 1897; it was known as the Upper Steel Arch Bridge but
18375-562: The falls, affords the closest view of the falls and is open to non-commercial vehicle traffic and pedestrians. The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge lies 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) north of the Rainbow Bridge and is the oldest bridge over the Niagara River. Nearby Niagara Falls International Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport were named after the waterfall, as were Niagara University , countless local businesses, and even an asteroid . The first recorded publicity stunt using
18550-405: The falls, including a man who had been seen jumping over the falls, and the body of a woman, which was discovered once the falls dried. While Horseshoe Falls absorbed the extra flow, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened any faults they found; faults that would, if left untreated, have hastened the retreat of American Falls. A plan to remove
18725-424: The falls, states that during daylight time during the tourist season (April 1 to October 31) there must be 2,800 cubic metres per second (100,000 cu ft/s) of water flowing over the falls, and during the night and off-tourist season there must be 1,400 cubic metres per second (50,000 cu ft/s) of water flowing over the falls. This treaty is monitored by the International Niagara Board of Control, using
18900-601: The falls, while spending time with the Neutral Nation . The Finland-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm explored the area in the early 18th century and is credited with the first scientific description of the falls. In 1762, Captain Thomas Davies , a British Army officer and artist, surveyed the area and painted the watercolor, An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara , the first eyewitness painting of
19075-419: The falls. During the 19th century, tourism became popular, and by the mid-century, it was the area's main industry. Theodosia Burr Alston (daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr ) and her husband Joseph Alston were the first recorded couple to honeymoon there in 1801. Napoleon Bonaparte 's brother Jérôme visited with his bride in the early 19th century. In 1825, British explorer John Franklin visited
19250-558: The first visit of Felix to his family. Mr Wentworth's family is a puritanical one, far from the Europeans' habits. Felix is fascinated by the patriarchal Mr Wentworth, his son, Clifford, age 20, and two daughters, Gertrude and Charlotte. They spend a lot of time together with Mr. Robert Acton and his sister Lizzie, their neighbours and cousins. Eugenia's reaction after this first approach differs from Felix's. She realizes she could not live with these relatives, so different from herself, but
19425-469: The former: love is more important than money. Moreover, American people are more straitlaced, and they have closer links with tradition. The most important thing in life for those living in the 'New World' is, ironically, respecting old traditions and accepting moral rules. Mr Wentworth is profoundly surprised and fascinated by Eugenia's marriage experience as is Robert Acton; in the Americans' eyes, Eugenia
19600-483: The founder of The Nation , visited the James family at their Boston residence in Ashburton Place; the purpose of his visit was to solicit contributions from Henry Senior and Henry Junior for the inaugural issue of the journal. Henry Junior was later to describe his friendship with Godkin as "one of the longest and happiest of my life." In 1871, he published his first novel, Watch and Ward , in serial form in
19775-501: The future Supreme Court justice, and with James T. Fields and Annie Adams Fields , his first professional mentors. In 1865, Louisa May Alcott visited Boston and dined with the James family; she was to write in her journals that "Henry Jr....was very friendly. Being a literary youth he gave me advice, as if he had been eighty, and I a girl." His first published work was a review of a stage performance, "Miss Maggie Mitchell in Fanchon
19950-691: The gorge. It opened for use by the public in July 1848 and remained in use until 1855. A second bridge in the Upper Falls area was commissioned, with two levels or decks, one for use by the Great Western Railway . This Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge opened in 1855. It was used by conductors on the Underground Railroad to escort runaway slaves to Canada. In 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway took over control of
20125-517: The huge mound of talus deposited in 1954 was abandoned owing to cost, and in November 1969, the temporary dam was dynamited , restoring flow to American Falls. Even after these undertakings, Luna Island , the small piece of land between the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, remained off limits to the public for years owing to fears that it was unstable and could collapse into the gorge. Commercial interests have continued to encroach on
20300-516: The land surrounding the state park, including the construction of several tall buildings (most of them hotels) on the Canadian side. The result is a significant alteration and urbanisation of the landscape. One study found that the tall buildings changed the breeze patterns and increased the number of mist days from 29 per year to 68 per year, but another study disputed this idea. In 2013, New York State began an effort to renovate Three Sisters Islands located south of Goat Island. Funds were used from
20475-677: The late style difficult and unnecessary; his friend Edith Wharton , who admired him greatly, said that some passages in his work were all but incomprehensible. James was harshly portrayed by H. G. Wells as a hippopotamus laboriously attempting to pick up a pea that had got into a corner of its cage. The "late James" style was ably parodied by Max Beerbohm in "The Mote in the Middle Distance". More important for his work overall may have been his position as an expatriate , and in other ways an outsider, living in Europe. While he came from middle-class and provincial beginnings (seen from
20650-789: The latter introducing him to the Travellers' and the Reform Clubs . He was also an honorary member of the Savile Club , St James's Club and, in 1882, the Athenaeum Club . In England, he met the leading figures of politics and culture. He continued to be a prolific writer, producing The American (1877), The Europeans (1878), a revision of Watch and Ward (1878), French Poets and Novelists (1878), Hawthorne (1879), and several shorter works of fiction. In 1878, Daisy Miller established his fame on both sides of
20825-404: The masterwork The Portrait of a Lady , his style was simple and direct (by the standards of Victorian magazine writing) and he experimented widely with forms and methods, generally narrating from a conventionally omniscient point of view. Plots generally concern romance, except for the three big novels of social commentary that conclude this period. In the second period, as noted above, he abandoned
21000-432: The meanest intelligence—I love you more than I love Others." To his New York friend Mary Cadwalader Rawle Jones : "Dearest Mary Cadwalader. I yearn over you, but I yearn in vain; & your long silence really breaks my heart, mystifies, depresses, almost alarms me, to the point even of making me wonder if poor unconscious & doting old Célimare [Jones's pet name for James] has 'done' anything, in some dark somnambulism of
21175-411: The middle of the 19th century, and describes the experiences of two European siblings shifting from the old to the new world . The two protagonists are Eugenia Münster and Felix Young, who since their early childhood have lived in Europe, moving from France to Italy and from Spain to Germany. In this last place, Eugenia entered into a morganatic marriage with Prince Adolf of Silberstadt-Schreckenstein,
21350-405: The minister Mr Brand, though she doesn't love him. Felix has noticed how Gertrude's sister Charlotte seems attracted to Mr. Brand, he is convinced she is in love with him, and he speaks to Mr. Brand, implying as much. He and Gertrude would like to see Mr. Brand and Charlotte get together—that would leave him and Gertrude free to pursue their own love affair. One evening, Robert Acton who has been away
21525-481: The movie's "opaque refinements and elusive intentions, a predilection for intricacies of language and manners." Roger Ebert similarly demurred that the movie was "a classroom version of James, a film with no juice or life of its own." Henry James Henry James OM ( ( 1843-04-15 ) 15 April 1843 – ( 1916-02-28 ) 28 February 1916) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism , and
21700-475: The name refers to "the neck", pronounced "onyara"; the portage or neck of land between lakes Erie and Ontario onyara . Many figures have been suggested as first circulating a European eyewitness description of Niagara Falls. The Frenchman Samuel de Champlain visited the area as early as 1604 during his exploration of what is now Canada, and members of his party reported to him the spectacular waterfalls, which he described in his journals. The first description of
21875-480: The newly formed Great Lakes carved a path over and through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. Horseshoe Falls is about 57 m (187 ft) high, while the height of the American Falls varies between 21 and 30 m (69 and 98 ft) because of the presence of giant boulders at its base. The larger Horseshoe Falls is about 790 m (2,590 ft) wide, while the American Falls
22050-509: The next half-dozen years, " The Altar of the Dead " and " The Beast in the Jungle ". The years spent on dramatic works were not entirely a loss. As he moved into the last phase of his career, he found ways to adapt dramatic techniques into the novel form. In the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s, James made several trips through Europe. He spent a long stay in Italy in 1887. In 1888, he published
22225-458: The one eligible (and wealthy) bachelor, Robert Acton, cousin to the Wentworths, and they begin spending time together. Eugenia refers little to her marriage other than telling Mr. Acton she has a paper the husband's family wishes her to sign (which would dissolve the marriage.) She pays a visit to Mrs Acton and during their conversation tells a white lie – that her son has been talking about her
22400-838: The outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he did war work. In 1915, he became a British citizen and was awarded the Order of Merit the following year. He died on 28 February 1916, in Chelsea, London , and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium . A memorial was built to him in Chelsea Old Church . He had requested that his ashes be buried in Cambridge Cemetery in Massachusetts. This was not legally possible, but William's wife smuggled his ashes onboard
22575-468: The permission of James's family. Edel's portrayal of James included the suggestion he was celibate, a view first propounded by critic Saul Rosenzweig in 1943. In 1996, Sheldon M. Novick published Henry James: The Young Master , followed by Henry James: The Mature Master (2007). The first book "caused something of an uproar in Jamesian circles" as it challenged the previous received notion of celibacy,
22750-461: The perspective of European polite society), he worked very hard to gain access to all levels of society, and the settings of his fiction range from working-class to aristocratic , and often describe the efforts of middle-class Americans to make their way in European capitals. He confessed he got some of his best story ideas from gossip at the dinner table or at country house weekends. He worked for
22925-415: The presentation of conflicts of moral character, which they do not concern themselves about softening or averting. They do not indict society for these situations: they regard them as universal and inevitable. They do not even blame God for allowing them: they accept them as the conditions of life. Many of James's stories may also be seen as psychological thought experiments about selection. In his preface to
23100-460: The protagonist and a ghost-doppelganger live alternative American and European lives; and in others, like The Ambassadors, an older James seems fondly to regard his own younger self facing a crucial moment. The first period of James's fiction, usually considered to have culminated in The Portrait of a Lady , concentrated on the contrast between Europe and America. The style of these novels
23275-637: The publication of The Portrait of a Lady through the end of the 19th century, features less popular novels, including The Princess Casamassima , published serially in The Atlantic Monthly in 1885–1886, and The Bostonians , published serially in The Century during the same period. This period also featured James's celebrated Gothic novella, The Turn of the Screw (1898). The third period of James's career reached its most significant achievement in three novels published just around
23450-558: The publication of The Europeans , Washington Square , Confidence and The Portrait of a Lady . The period from 1882 to 1883 was marked by several losses. His mother died in January 1882, while James was in Washington, D.C., on an extended visit to America. He returned to his parents' home in Cambridge , where he was together with all four of his siblings for the first time in 15 years. He returned to Europe in mid-1882, but
23625-683: The re-licensing of the New York Power Authority hydroelectric plant downriver in Lewiston, New York, to rebuild walking paths on the Three Sisters Islands and to plant native vegetation on the islands. The state also renovated the area around Prospect Point at the brink of American Falls in the state park. Theories differ as to the origin of the name of the falls. The Native American word Ongiara means thundering water ; The New York Times used this in 1925. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger , Niagara
23800-471: The result of a kind of self-analysis, expressed in fiction, which partly freed him from his fears. Other biographers and scholars have not accepted this account, with the more common view being that of F.O. Matthiessen, who wrote: "Instead of being crushed by the collapse of his hopes [for the theatre]... he felt a resurgence of new energy." Niagara Falls Niagara Falls ( / n aɪ ˈ æ ɡ ər ə , - ɡ r ə / ny- AGG -ər-ə, -grə )
23975-481: The river cut a gorge through the north-facing cliff, or cuesta . Because of the interactions of three major rock formations, the rocky bed did not erode evenly. The caprock formation is composed of hard, erosion-resistant limestone and dolomite of the Lockport Formation (Middle Silurian ). That hard layer of stone eroded more slowly than the underlying materials. Immediately below the caprock lies
24150-490: The river in the lower valley, hidden from view, is the Queenston Formation (Upper Ordovician ), which is composed of shales and fine sandstones . All three formations were laid down in an ancient sea, their differences of character deriving from changing conditions within that sea. About 10,900 years ago, the Niagara Falls was between present-day Queenston, Ontario , and Lewiston, New York , but erosion of
24325-577: The river only 6 m (20 ft) from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island. Minutes later, Woodward was plucked from the roiling plunge pool beneath Horseshoe Falls after grabbing a life ring thrown to him by the crew of the Maid of the Mist boat. The children's uncle, Jim Honeycutt, who had been steering the boat, was swept over the edge to his death. On July 2, 1984, Canadian Karel Soucek from Hamilton, Ontario , plunged over Horseshoe Falls in
24500-497: The rocks above the falls. The two men on the scow were rescued, but the vessel remained trapped on rocks in the river, and is still visible there in a deteriorated state, although its position shifted by 50 meters (160 ft) during a storm on October 31, 2019. Daredevil William "Red" Hill Sr. was particularly praised for his role in the rescue. After the First World War , tourism boomed as automobiles made getting to
24675-560: The second deck after it absorbed the Great Western company. Significant structural improvements were made in the late 1870s and then in 1886; this bridge remained in use until 1897. Because of the volume of traffic, the decision was made to construct a new arch bridge nearby, under and around the existing bridge. After it opened in September 1897, a decision was made to remove and scrap the railway suspension bridge. This new bridge
24850-600: The serialised novel and from 1890 to about 1897, he wrote short stories and plays. Finally, in his third and last period he returned to the long, serialised novel. Beginning in the second period, but most noticeably in the third; he increasingly abandoned direct statement in favour of frequent double negatives, and complex descriptive imagery. Single paragraphs began to run for page after page, in which an initial noun would be succeeded by pronouns surrounded by clouds of adjectives and prepositional clauses, far from their original referents, and verbs would be deferred and then preceded by
25025-439: The short novel The Aspern Papers and The Reverberator . In 1897–1898, he moved to Rye, Sussex and wrote The Turn of the Screw ; 1899–1900 had the publication of The Awkward Age and The Sacred Fount . During 1902–1904, he wrote The Wings of the Dove , The Ambassadors , and The Golden Bowl . In 1904, he revisited America and lectured on Balzac. In 1906–1910, he published The American Scene and edited
25200-484: The shortness of the novel on the fact that the editor of the Atlantic Monthly , William Dean Howells , required that it occupy only 100 pages in the magazine. James had also promised Howells his next story would have a happy ending with "distinct matrimony" after the magazine serialized The American (1877), in which the lovers are separated in the end. According to James he "did [hit] it off mechanically in
25375-705: The small figure standing silhouetted with a top hat was added by an engraver working from imagination as well as the daguerreotype as his source, but the figure is clearly present in the photograph. Because of the very long exposure required, of ten minutes or more, the figure is assumed by Canada's Niagara Parks agency to be Pattinson. The image is left-right inverted and taken from the Canadian side . Pattinson made other photographs of Horseshoe Falls; these were then transferred to engravings to illustrate Noël Marie Paymal Lerebours ' Excursions Daguerriennes (Paris, 1841–1864). On August 6, 1918, an iron scow became stuck on
25550-455: The smaller-scale Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant near Ophir, Colorado , two years earlier) was hired to design a system to generate alternating current on Niagara Falls, and three years after that a large-scale AC power system was created (activated on August 26, 1895). The Adams Power Plant Transformer House remains as a landmark of the original system. By 1896, financing from moguls including J. P. Morgan , John Jacob Astor IV , and
25725-472: The spirit, which has ... given you a bad moment, or a wrong impression, or a 'colourable pretext' ... However these things may be, he loves you as tenderly as ever; nothing, to the end of time, will ever detach him from you, & he remembers those Eleventh St. matutinal intimes hours, those telephonic matinées, as the most romantic of his life ..." His long friendship with American novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson , in whose house he lived for
25900-439: The stage. He wrote three new plays, two of which were in production when the death of Edward VII on 6 May 1910 plunged London into mourning and theatres closed. Discouraged by failing health and the stresses of theatrical work, James did not renew his efforts in the theatre, but recycled his plays as successful novels. The Outcry was a best-seller in the United States when it was published in 1911. During 1890–1893, when he
26075-453: The start of the 20th century: The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904). Critic F. O. Matthiessen called this "trilogy" James's major phase, and these novels have certainly received intense critical study. The second-written of the books, The Wings of the Dove , was the first published because it was not serialised. This novel tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with
26250-414: The suggestion of celibacy went against James's own injunction "live!"—not "fantasize!" A letter James wrote in old age to Hugh Walpole has been cited as an explicit statement of this. Walpole confessed to him of indulging in "high jinks", and James wrote a reply endorsing it: "We must know, as much as possible, in our beautiful art, yours & mine, what we are talking about—& the only way to know it
26425-480: The summer months, at least 2,800 m /s (99,000 cu ft/s) of water traverse the falls, some 90% of which goes over Horseshoe Falls, while the balance is diverted to hydroelectric facilities and then on to American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. This is accomplished by employing a weir – the International Control Dam – with movable gates upstream from Horseshoe Falls. The water flow
26600-578: The surrounding countryside, which feature in his essay "Abbeys and Castles". In particular, the gloomy monastic fishponds behind the abbey are said to have inspired the lake in The Turn of the Screw . While living in London, James continued to follow the careers of the French realists, Émile Zola in particular. Their stylistic methods influenced his own work in the years to come. Hawthorne's influence on him faded during this period, replaced by George Eliot and Ivan Turgenev. The period from 1878 to 1881 had
26775-422: The tank, and he died the next day from his injuries. In August 1985, Steve Trotter , an aspiring stuntman from Rhode Island , became the youngest person ever (age 22) and the first American in 25 years to go over the falls in a barrel. Ten years later, Trotter went over the falls again, becoming the second person to go over the falls twice and survive. It was also the second "duo"; Lori Martin joined Trotter for
26950-459: The third volume of Daudet's adventures of Tartarin de Tarascon . Serialized in Harper's Monthly from June 1890, this translation – praised as "clever" by The Spectator – was published in January 1891 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington . After the stage failure of Guy Domville in 1895, James was near despair and thoughts of death plagued him. His depression was compounded by
27125-573: The two brothers visited the Louvre and the Luxembourg Palace. Henry studied primarily with tutors, and briefly attended schools while the family travelled in Europe. A tutor of the James children in Paris, M. Lerambert, had written a volume of verse that was well reviewed by Sainte-Beuve. Their longest stays were in France, where Henry began to feel at home and became fluent in French. He had
27300-404: The vivid realisation of the three major characters: Roderick Hudson, superbly gifted but unstable and unreliable; Rowland Mallet, Roderick's limited but much more mature friend and patron; and Christina Light, one of James's most enchanting and maddening femmes fatales . The pair of Hudson and Mallet has been seen as representing the two sides of James's own nature: the wildly imaginative artist and
27475-411: The weaker, softer, sloping Rochester Formation (Lower Silurian). This formation is composed mainly of shale , though it has some thin limestone layers. It also contains ancient fossils . In time, the river eroded the soft layer that supported the hard layers, undercutting the hard caprock, which gave way in great chunks. This process repeated countless times, eventually carving out the falls. Submerged in
27650-438: The younger brother of the reigning prince who is now being urged by his family to dissolve the marriage for political reasons. Because of this, Eugenia and Felix decide to travel to America to meet their distant cousins, so that Eugenia may "seek her fortune" in the form of a wealthy American husband. All the cousins live in the countryside around Boston and spend a lot of time together. The first encounter with them corresponds to
27825-552: Was back in America by the end of the year following the death of his father. Emerson, an old family friend, died in 1882. His brother Wilkie and friend Turgenev both died in 1883. In 1884, James made another visit to Paris, where he met again with Zola, Daudet, and Goncourt. He had been following the careers of the French "realist" or "naturalist" writers, and was increasingly influenced by them. In 1886, he published The Bostonians and The Princess Casamassima , both influenced by
28000-532: Was born at 21 Washington Place (facing Washington Square) in New York City on 15 April 1843. His parents were Mary Walsh and Henry James Sr. His father was intelligent and steadfastly congenial. He was a lecturer and philosopher who had inherited independent means from his father, an Albany banker and investor. Mary came from a wealthy family long settled in New York City. Her sister Katherine lived with her adult family for an extended period of time. Henry Jr.
28175-426: Was chartered, which eventually constructed the canals that would be used to generate electricity. In 1881, under the leadership of Jacob F. Schoellkopf , the Niagara River's first hydroelectric generating station was built. The water fell 26 metres (86 ft) and generated direct current electricity, which ran the machinery of local mills and lit up some of the village streets. The Niagara Falls Power Company,
28350-564: Was for Mr. Brand. But the Baroness Eugenia Münster, unsuccessful in her designs of seeking her fortune in America, refuses even to stay for her brother's wedding. She packs up her things, and returns to Europe. One of the more important themes of the novel is the comparison between European and American women, which James stresses through the great difference existing between Eugenia and the Wentworth ladies. Madame Münster
28525-618: Was improved and incorporated into the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the mid-1950s. While the seaway diverted water traffic from nearby Buffalo and led to the demise of its steel and grain mills, other industries in the Niagara River valley flourished with the help of the electric power produced by the river. However, since the 1970s the region has declined economically. The cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and Niagara Falls, New York, United States, are connected by two international bridges. The Rainbow Bridge, just downriver from
28700-621: Was increasing, the Michigan Central Railroad company decided to build a new bridge in 1923, to be located between the Lower Steel Arch Bridge and the Cantilever Bridge. The Michigan Central Railway Bridge opened in February 1925 and remained in use until the early 21st century. The Cantilever Bridge was removed and scrapped after the new rail bridge opened. Nonetheless, it was inducted into
28875-575: Was influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne . In the fall of 1875, he moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris . Aside from two trips to America, he spent the next three decades—the rest of his life—in Europe. In Paris, he met Zola , Daudet , Maupassant , Turgenev and others. He stayed in Paris only a year before settling in London, where he established relationships with Macmillan and other publishers, who paid for serial instalments that they published in book form. The audience for these serialised novels
29050-500: Was initially known as the Niagara Railway Arch, or Lower Steel Arch Bridge; it had two decks, the lower one used for carriages and the upper for trains. In 1937, it was renamed the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge and remains in use today. All of the structures built up to that time were referred to as Lower Niagara bridges and were some distance from the falls. The first bridge in the so-called Upper Niagara area (closer to
29225-444: Was itself the symptom of some fear of or scruple against sexual love on his part." Dupee used an episode from James's memoir, A Small Boy and Others, recounting a dream of a Napoleonic image in the Louvre, to exemplify James's romanticism about Europe, a Napoleonic fantasy into which he fled. Between 1953 and 1972, Leon Edel wrote a major five-volume biography of James, which used unpublished letters and documents after Edel gained
29400-418: Was largely made up of middle-class women, and James struggled to fashion serious literary work within the strictures imposed by editors' and publishers' notions of what was suitable for young women to read. He lived in rented rooms, but was able to join gentlemen's clubs that had libraries and where he could entertain male friends. He was introduced to English society by Henry Adams and Charles Milnes Gaskell ,
29575-435: Was most engaged with the theatre, James wrote a good deal of theatrical criticism, and assisted Elizabeth Robins and others in translating and producing Henrik Ibsen for the first time in London. Leon Edel argued in his psychoanalytic biography that James was traumatised by the opening-night uproar that greeted Guy Domville , and that it plunged him into a prolonged depression. The successful later novels, in Edel's view, were
29750-401: Was officially placed into service in March 2013, helping to increase the generating complex's nameplate capacity by 150 megawatts. It did so by tapping water from farther up the Niagara River than was possible with the preexisting arrangement. The tunnel provided new hydroelectricity for approximately 160,000 homes. Ships can bypass Niagara Falls by means of the Welland Canal , which
29925-426: Was often called the Honeymoon Bridge . The single level included a track for trolleys and space for carriages and pedestrians. The design led to the bridge being very close to the surface of the river and in January 1938, an ice jam twisted the steel frame of the bridge which later collapsed on January 27, 1938. Another Lower Niagara bridge had been commissioned in 1883 by Cornelius Vanderbilt for use by railways at
30100-547: Was one of four boys, the others being William , who was one year his senior, and younger brothers Wilkinson ( Wilkie ) and Robertson. His younger sister was Alice . Both of his parents were of Irish and Scottish descent. Before he was a year old, his father sold the house at Washington Place and took the family to Europe, where they lived for a time in a cottage in Windsor Great Park in England. The family returned to New York in 1845, and Henry spent much of his childhood living between his paternal grandmother's home in Albany, and
30275-474: Was particularly interested in what he called the "beautiful and blest nouvelle ", or the longer form of short narrative. Still, he produced a number of very short stories in which he achieved notable compression of sometimes complex subjects. The following narratives are representative of James's achievement in the shorter forms of fiction. At several points in his career, James wrote plays, beginning with one-act plays written for periodicals in 1869 and 1871 and
30450-417: Was said to be at least 30 metres (100 ft) thick. On February 4, 1912, the ice bridge which had formed on January 15 began breaking up while people were still on it. Many escaped, but three died during the event, later named the Ice Bridge Tragedy. A number of bridges have spanned the Niagara River in the general vicinity of the falls. The first, not far from the whirlpool , was a suspension bridge above
30625-460: Was to become a celebrated literary academic in adulthood, and painter John La Farge , for whom Henry sat as a subject, and who introduced him to French literature, and in particular, to Balzac . James later called Balzac his "greatest master", and said that he had learned more about the craft of fiction from him than from anyone else. In July 1861, Henry and Thomas Sergeant Perry paid a visit to an encampment of wounded and invalid Union soldiers on
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