Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
James in 1913
Henry James, age 11, with his father, Henry James Sr. – 1854 daguerreotype by Mathew Brady
James, age 16
Grave marker in Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with mid-nineteenth-century French literature (Stendhal) and Russian literature. Literary realism attempts to represent familiar things as they are. Realist authors chose to depict every day and banal activities and experiences.
Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish writer from the Canary Islands