Aesthetics, Art, Alteration: Posthumous Perspectives on Life from Henry James’s “The Altar of the Dead”

Abstract: Henry James’s “The Altar of the Dead” asks what the living owe to the Dead, coupling this question to an examination of the relationship between artist and artwork. This essay follows the transformation of author by artwork as protagonist George Stransom creates a memorial to the Dead founded on an exclusionary act. I read Stransom’s altar as a work of art and trace its construction, evolution, collapse, and rebirth through multiple stages of artistic engagement. I ultimately argue that the altar-artwork itself obliges Stransom to undo his founding exclusionary act and positions such self-exculpation as a hallmark of the literary craft.