The first important fact in the life of Henry James is the wealth of his paternal grandfather, the Irish immigrant William James (1771-1832), who, when he died in Albany, New York, left a fortune of $3 million (based on salt, tobacco, real estate, and public utilities). A second significant circumstance in the life of the future novelist is his earliest recorded memory: he was less than two years old, was in Paris with his parents, and looked out their carriage window upon an impressive sight, the stately Place Vendôme with "its ... tall and glorious column." A third fact always to be aware of in trying to come to terms with James is suggested in a passage from a letter which, as an old man, he wrote to his gloomy old friend Henry Adams: "I am that queer monster, the artist, an obstinate finality, an inexhaustible sensibility." These...