Liberal London, Home, and Henry James’s Letters from the Later 1870s

Henry James’s relocation from Paris to London in December 1876 can be explained best not by failures in Paris, but by the opportunities he saw offered by London’s liberalism, which was congenial both to James’s ambition as a professional writer and also to his particular social interests. The Reform Club, where the social and professional overlapped, not only served as James’s social and professional base in London during those years. It stood for him as a symbol of London’s appeal as well as its satisfaction. The Reform Club was for him “a deep local attachment.”