As a European expert on American author Henry James, Professor Sergio Perosa is uniquely qualified to examine James' "international theme"—the meeting and clash of European and American characters, moeurs, and values, his related fascination with Italy and the important role it plays in the confrontation. The essays reveal his surprising view of other writers (such as Tolstoy, D'Annunzio, and Shakespeare), his elaborate and influential theories of fiction, and his farsighted awareness of epochal social and cultural changes at the turn of the 20th Century.

With wide-ranging scholarship, Professor Perosa provides an elegant and enjoyable account of James as not only a master but a first example of Modernism, a precursor of 20th Century writers, and less an enigma than a key to how we live today. As he did a half century ago with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Professor Perosa re-awakens contemporary audiences to the glories and intricacies of one of the great American masters.