Jamesian

American  

[jeym-zee-uhn] / ˈdʒeɪm zi ən /

Or Jamesean

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the novelist Henry James or his writings.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of William James or his philosophy.

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noun

1. a student or follower of Henry James or William James.

Jamesian British  

/ ˈdʒeɪmzɪən /

adjective

1. relating to or characteristic of Henry James or his brother, William James

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Etymology

Origin of Jamesian

First recorded in 1870–75; James + -ian

Example Sentences

“Silver Nitrate” cleverly subverts that first Jamesian tenet by opting not for some prototypical English village but vibrant Mexico City, the location of many of her novels.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2023

While many of the elements in “Celestial Chess” are recognizably Jamesian, to my mind the book more fully resembles an occult thriller in the mode of Dennis Wheatley’s classic “The Devil Rides Out.”

From Washington Post • Jan. 27, 2023

It’s a flawed book in some ways, but it’s also a social novel that captures a very romanticized period, almost in a Henry Jamesian way, in Greenwich Village.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

David Lodge published Author, Author, a novel about Henry James, in the same year that three other Jamesian books came out, including one by Colm Tóibín that got more attention and praise.

From The Guardian • Mar. 11, 2019

No crude explanation of the decisions he made can do justice to the multiple loyalties he felt, or the almost Jamesian way he thought about and ultimately resolved them.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis