Understanding James, Understanding Modernism

David H. Evans is Associate Professor of English at Dalhousie University, Canada. He is the author of William Faulkner, William James, and the American Pragmatic Tradition (2008) and co-editor of America and Violence, a special issue of the Canadian Review of American Studies (2008).

Understanding James, Understanding Modernism collects into a single volume an impressive set of essays by both well-established and emerging experts guiding us through James's entire philosophy, viewed through the prism of literary and cultural modernism. Many of James's well-known ideas—including pragmatism, pluralism, philosophical temperaments, radical empiricism, stream of thought, and the will to believe—are illuminated in strikingly novel ways in this context. It turns out that modernism, emphasizing temporality, change, and the 'flux' of reality in contrast to fixity, abstraction, and unchanging essences, captures much of what is central to James's basic pragmatist, pluralist, and empiricist approach. The book offers an astonishing breadth and coverage, a plurality of perspectives on his thought that James himself would have admired.

• Series PrefaceList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: Unstiffening All Our Theories: William James and the Culture of ModernismDavid H. Evans, Dalhousie University, CanadaPart 1: Conceptualizing James1 The Character of ConsciousnessOwen Flanagan and Heather Wallace, Duke University, USA 2 Redeeming the Wild Universe: William James’s Will to BelieveJohn J. Stuhr, Emory University, USA3 The Psychology of Religion: William James’s The Varieties of Religious ExperienceMichael Bacon, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK4 The Human Contribution: James and Modernity in Pragmatism and The Meaning of TruthAlan Malachowski, Stellenbosch University, South Africa5 “Ever Not Quite!”: William James’s A Pluralistic UniverseBarry Allen, McMaster University, Canada6 James’s Radical EmpiricismJames Campbell, University of Toledo, USAPart 2: James and Modernist Culture7 James and Bergson: Fighting the Beast Intellectualism with MetaphorsRosa Slegers, Babson College, USA8 William James, Henry James and the Turn Toward ModernismJill Kress Karn, Villanova University, USA9 “Never Reject Anything. Nothing Has Been Proved”: William James and Gertrude Stein on Time and LanguageDavid H. Evans, Dalhousie University, Canada10 The Varieties of Robert Frost’s Religious ExperienceMark Richardson, Doshisha University, Japan11 Notes Toward the Specious Present: James and StevensKristen Case, University of Maine at Farmington, USA12 Modernist Figures and James’s Pluralistic UniversePatricia Rae, Queen's University, Canada13 William James’s Stream of Consciousness and the River of the Unconscious in Joyce and ProustGian Balsamo, Stanford University, USA14 “That skilful but slow-moving arranger”: Habit in James and ProustLisi Schoenbach, University of Tennessee, USA15 William James and Italian PragmatismGiovanni Maddalena, University of Molise, Italy, and Michela Bella, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy16 James’s Pluralism and the Problems of Modern Political and Social ThoughtRobert Danisch, University of Waterloo, CanadaPart 3: Glossary17 James on Chance and IndeterminacyKyle Bromhall, University of Guelph, Canada18 James on HabitLisi Schoenbach, University of Tennessee, USA19 James on MoralityDavid Rondel, University of Nevada, USA20 James on Philosophical TemperamentsTom Donaldson21 James on PluralismSusan Dieleman, University of Saskatchewan, Canada22 James on PragmatismColin Koopman, University of Oregon, USA23 James on Psychical PhenomenaErmine Algaier IV, Harvard University, USA24 James on Pure ExperienceJoel Krueger, University of Exeter, UK25 James on Radical EmpiricismLoren Goldman, University of Pennslyvania, USA26 James on the Reinstatement of the VagueRosa Slegers, Babson College, USA27 James on Religious ExperienceMichael Bacon, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK28 James on the Stream of ThoughtAlexis Dianda, The New School, USA29 James on Time and the Specious PresentDavid H. Evans, Dalhousie University, Canada30 James on the Will to BelieveMark Richardson, Doshisha University, JapanNotes on ContributorsIndex