On the Henry James’s Imagination of the Chinese Culture：The Pagoda in The Golden Bowl as an Example

Abstract

The United States of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a period in which the American nation constructed its own cultural subjectivity. As an important figure in American culture, Henry James created a series of works that focused on the tradition and development of American culture in this process and then played an important role. As a cultural scholar with a global vision, James not only looked at the cultural reality of the United States and Europe, but also did not forget to turn back to the Far East to take a look. His unique and deeply meaningful Oriental imagination is an important reference for us to interpret James's humanistic and cultural outlook. James's cultural attitude toward China in the late 19th century American literature is somewhat unique. He implied his own unique understanding of the oriental culture in his works, as he expressed suspicion, curiosity, and most of all, caution, which reflects James's rigorous cultural concepts and his cosmopolitan cultural thoughts. Because of James's own important position in American cultural history, his attitude is helpful for us to analyze the image of China in American literature and understand American culture at the end of the nineteenth century, as well as the history of cultural exchanges between China and the United States.