Henry James (April 15, 1843 – February 28, 1916) was an American novelist and critic and a key figure in the development of literary realism in the 19^th century. He was born in New York to a well-to-do and celebrated family: his father was a lecturer and philosopher noted for his ties to Swedenborg; his older brother William was a leading philosopher and psychologist; and his sister Alice found fame as a diarist.  The family traveled abroad extensively during his youth, settling in Newport, RI and then Boston. After a brief term at Harvard Law School he began to write in earnest, publishing reviews and stories for magazines. In1869 he toured Europe and settled in London, where he remained for much of the rest of life.  Much of his work addresses the cultural differences between Europe and America, often writing from the point of view of the character and adding depth with the use of interior monologue, shifting points of view, and a keen awareness of consciousness and perception.  His style shows the influence of Balzac, Maupassant, and Zola, and has been likened to impressionist painting.   His work can be grouped into three periods, the first concluding with The Portrait of a Lady 1881, the second with The Turn of the Screw in 1990, and the late years characterized by the trilogy of masterpieces, The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904). He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.