The figure in the carpet is a short story sometimes considered a novella by american writer.
The figure in the carpet summary.
On his return to london the narrator sets about his work of investigation and.
And yet the story in which the idiom was born henry james s 1896 tale the figure in the carpet refuses to open itself up to easy interpretations or analysis.
In that sense it s a kind of warning not to associate writers lives too closely with their work so i won t try to figure out what it might mean in connection with henry james own life and work.
The figure in the carpet is partly about readers and the obsessions they can sometimes develop with writers who intrigue them.
The figure in the carpet has become a short hand or idiom for the key to understanding a writer s work.
The figure in the carpet plot summary an un named literary critic feels he has successfully.