The Philosophical Importance of James’s Late Style

Critics have approached the complexity and ambiguity of James's late style as an effort to capture the sensitivity of the characters (Martha Nussbaum) or the collapsing moral codes of the era (Robert Pippin). In this reading, James's works open an ontological dimension to the question of language and normativity, a question that modernity's moral languages—whether based on deontology, utility, or virtue—fail to articulate. His texts interrogate what normativity is rather than just portraying the sensitivity of the characters or the uncertainty of the historical moment.