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Judith Butler's Henry James

Judith Butler avoided writing about Henry James early in her career, when her questioning of the homogeneity and legibility of the category of "women" echoed James's similar reflections as he planned The Bostonians. As well as exploring some stylistic affinities between both writers, this essay suggests a Jamesian provenance for Butler's key term "Precarious Life" and looks at how she values the James of Washington Square and The Golden Bowl on largely ethical grounds. It then argues for grounds beyond the ethical for Butler's valuing of James, most notably identification and the relationship between femininity, style and cultural resistance.