The Subject of Style

“The Subject of Style” asks whether the uniformity that is one of the principal characteristics of Jamesian style—the fact that all his characters sound the same—implies a corresponding universality of experience. To answer this question this essay examines the depiction of social relations in two of James's works: The Portrait of a Lady and “In the Cage.” These relations take three forms: externalization (the subject comes to know itself by projecting itself onto the world); vicariousness (the subject understood as the projection of someone else), and simultaneity (the time experienced by the characters mirrors that of the narrative).