The Corvey Novels Project at the University of Nebraska
Studies in British Literature of the Romantic Period
George P. James. The String of Pearls
London: Bentley,1832.
Biographical Sketch of George P. James
George Payne Rainsford James
George Payne Rainsford James was born in Hanover Square in London on August
9, 1799. His father was an American Revolutionary war veteran and physician,
and his mother died when he was a young child. At a young age, he began
learning several Eastern and Western languages, among them, Persian, French,
Italian, and German, (although he failed to master Arabic). At age thirteen,
however, he told his father he had decided not to obtain a university education
and instead, requested his permission to join the navy, to which his father
replied: "You may go into the army if you'd like - it's the life of
a dog, but the navy is a life of a damned dog, and you shan't try it"
(Joline 8). Thus, James joined the army and was wounded in battle.
After his release from the army, James had a series of encounters with prominent
writers which helped launch his literary career. He had met Lord Byron as
a boy, but it was his encounter with Washington Irving during his travels
through Europe that encouraged him to write his first novel, Richelieu,
in 1825. Published in 1829, Richelieu was publicly acclaimed, particularly
by Sir Walter Scott, who after having read it "advised him to adopt
literature as a profession" (Joline 12). Only three years after finishing
his first novel, he married Frances Thomas, a daughter of a physician, with
whom he had two children.
By 1830, James's career had begun in earnest, averaging two to three novels
per year, including works such as The String of Pearls (1832), The
Gentleman of the Old School (1839), and Castleneau; or The Ancient
Regime (1841). James's career continued to expand and blossom when,
during the final years of William IV's reign, he was appointed Historiographer
Royal. This post not only increased James's professional career, leading
him to write historical texts as well as novels, but it also widened his
social sphere, giving him connections with members of the aristocracy such
as the Duke of Wellington.
Throughout the 1840s, he continued his prolific career, publishing dozens
of novels, and no fewer than nine separate titles in 1847 alone. In 1850,
James moved to the United States, settling at first in New York, then in
Massachusetts, where he became active in the literary community, meeting
Nathanial Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Soon after, in 1852,
he was appointed the post as the British Consul, in Norfolk, Virginia. Gradually,
his health deteriorated, and as a result, he requested to obtain the General
Consul at Venice, in the hopes that the Mediterranean climate would improve
his health. The request granted, James moved to Venice in 1858 where he
published The Cavalier, his 91st and last publication. On June 9, 1860,
James died of an apoplectic stroke in Venice, though the exact location
of his interment is still disputed.
The epitaph, written by Walter Savage Landor, reads as follows:
George Payne Rainsford James. British Consul
General
in the Adriatic. Died in Venice, on the 9th
of June, 1860.
His merits as a writer are known wherever
the English
language is, and as a man they rest on the
hearts of many. (17)
Works Cited:
Ellis, S.M. The Solitary Horseman; or The Life & Adventures of
G.P.R. James. Kensington: Cayme Press, 1927.
Joline, Adrian Hoffman. George Payne Rainsford James: A Writer of
Many Books. Privately published, 1906.
-- Prepared by Whitney Helms, Dave Madden, Joe Rein, University of Nebraska,
Spring 2006
© Whitney Helms, Dave Madden, Joe Rein, 2006.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Biographical information specific to The String of Pearls
George P. James was born in 1799 and began life with an unhappy and neglected
childhood, as his mother died when he was young, and his father devoted
little attention to him during his youth. The only means of happiness for
James was having The Arabian Nights read to him by an older brother,
who eventually tiring of it, insisted that James learn to read himself.
Desirous to finish the novel, James taught himself to read and acquainted
himself with the mysterious and fascinating East depicted in the novel.
As The Arabian Nights was James's favorite novel, it is not surprising
that he wrote his own version of a romanticized and exotic East in The
String of Pearls before turning seventeen.
James's interest in the East was manifested in his success of mastering
Persian and some Arabic, and the familiarity with these languages was the
only personal knowledge he seemed to have had associated directly with the
East. An avid traveler in his day, James traveled extensively throughout
Europe and the United States, but never eastward. Thus, having little personal
experience with the East, it is likely that James, having read The Arabian
Nights with a Western perspective, continued to entertain and believe
the stereotypical image of the East as a mysterious, unknown, and romantic
land. As a result, his version of The Arabian Nights, The String
of Pearls, consists of stories which associate the East with magic,
monsters, potions, and the unbelievable, which perpetuate and emphasize
the age-old stereotype that the East is a strange and enigmatic Other in
relation to the West.
James most likely did not intend to continue a stereotypical myth of a people
and land he had never experienced. Rather, it was intended to produce the
same kind of entertainment The Arabian Nights had provided for him
as a young boy. In relation to the several other works James produced in
his lifetime, The String of Pearls stands apart in its setting and
genre and remains a work which served as a close reminder of the only light
in a dark childhood.
-- Prepared by Whitney Helms, University of Nebraska, Spring 2006.
© Whitney Helms, 2006.