Evaluating “Value”: Art and the Exploration of Aesthetic, Economic, and Cultural Value in The Outcry

“This essay analyzes Henry James’s final novella, The Outcry (1911), to argue that the concept of “value” itself is not intrinsic but rather often based upon the contingent interrelation of aesthetic, economic, and cultural value. It investigates the illusionary nature of an art object’s pure aesthetic value, the economic factors that affect its worth, and the interconnected reasons that make diverse cultural representatives value objects differently. The discussion closes by utilizing the contingency of value to investigate why the shorter Outcry itself may not always be valued fully within a Jamesian “late” period that is often characterized by longer novels.