Language English Media type Print (Magazine) Originally published July 1895 Genre Short story Country United Kingdom | Published in The Yellow Book Publication date July 1895 Publisher William Heinemann Publication type Periodical literature | |
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Similar Henry Fielding books, Classical Studies books | ||
"The Next Time" is an 1895 short story by Henry James.
Contents
Plot summary
Mrs Highmore asks the narrator to look through a book by Ralph Limbert which she deems artistic. The author works as a journalist for The Blackport Beacon to support his family. His attempts at writing trashy/journalistic pieces is to not avail, and he gets dismissed from his job for it. He is writing another novel entitled The Major Key - although it is said to be a good book it won't sell much, not enough for him to get married on. He goes on to publish other books without commercial success.
He subsequently takes up work for another newspaper which sets out to let him be more artistic. The narrator comes across a good review on his latest book from an American newspaper. Yet, as Mrs Highmore tells the narrator, Ralph gets dismissed again after having an argument with his editor over his elitist writings, the narrator's nagging advice, and comedian Minnie Meadows. The narrator reflects that Limbert is not capable of appealing to the masses.
Ralph then moves to the countryside, poor and humiliated as he is. He writes The Hidden Heart, which again is no success. Unable to afford to spend the winter in Egypt as he should on doctor's order, he writes another novel, Derogation, instead, and passes away before getting it published.
Characters
Publication history
"The Next Time" first appeared in the The Yellow Book, issue #6, in July 1895.
Its hardcover debut, in a volume titled Embarrassments, came in June 1896 from London publisher William Heinemann and the Macmillan Company in New York. Three other stories appear in the book: "The Figure in the Carpet", "Glasses", and "The Way It Came".