The American by Henry James

My text, The American by Henry James, is a Norton Critical Edition. It is edited by James W. Tuttleton, and was first published in 1978. The contents page is prefaced by a bibliography containing different copyrighted texts, and bits printed with permission. An example of this is "Henry James and the Millionaire", which is printed after the text of the American, and is used with the permission of Irving Howe. After the contents page, there is a preface to the New York Edition of The American which was printed in 1907. Following is a note on the text, textual variants, editor's emendations, and etc. In this edition of The American, there are two hundred pages of supplemental information. The text itself has many footnotes. The footnotes contain information ranging from descriptions of different places mentioned in the text, such as the Louvre, to the meaning of different words, such as “combien”, which means how much. Information provided by the footnotes primarily covers meanings of words, places, and different information that the reader will not initially understand, rather than directing the way the audience reads the text. Along with the text The American, my book is full of supplemental materials that aid the reader in understanding the book better. A personal favorite bit of supplemental material, is the chapter that includes installments of The American appearing in the Atlantic Monthly, as well as an original page that was revised by Henry James in 1906. This facsimile is not easily read, but is fascinating nonetheless because it’s hand written notes made by Henry James in which he is critiquing himself. Along with the revised page, this chapter includes textual variants also included in the footnotes, but in one handy place. Further into the supplemental material, is contemporary reception of James’ work, as well as notes from Henry James to other figures regarding their opinions on this novel. Due to all of the above factors, I would argue that this version of The American by Henry James fits the MLA guidelines as a scholarly edition.