The Outcry

The Outcry is a novel and a play by Henry James published in 1911. This light comedy was originally conceived as a play. James cast the material in a three-act drama in 1909, but like so many of his plays, it failed to be produced. (There were two posthumous performances in 1917.) In 1911 James converted the play into a novel, which was successful with the public. The Outcry was the last novel he was able to complete before his death in 1916. The storyline concerns the buying up of...
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The Outcry is a novel and a play by Henry James published in 1911. This light comedy was originally conceived as a play. James cast the material in a three-act drama in 1909, but like so many of his plays, it failed to be produced. (There were two posthumous performances in 1917.) In 1911 James converted the play into a novel, which was successful with the public. The Outcry was the last novel he was able to complete before his death in 1916. The storyline concerns the buying up of Britain's art treasures by wealthy foreigners, especially Americans. While hardly a subject of life-and-death significance, James' novel treats the idea in a busy, cheerful, appealing manner.To cover the gambling debts of his daughter Kitty Imber, the widowed Lord Theign is planning to sell his beautiful painting Duchess of Waterbridge by Sir Joshua Reynolds to American billionaire Breckenridge Bender. Hugh Crimble, a young art critic, argues against the sale, saying that Britain's art treasures should stay in the country. He is supported by Theign's perceptive daughter, Lady Grace. When the newspapers get wind of the potential sale of the Reynolds, they raise a patriotic stink, which delights the bumptious, good-humored Bender.