Embarrassments

Published by Macmillan Company and William Heinemann in June 1896, Embarrassments written by Henry James is a collection of novellas which deal with a certain type of embarrassment in different ways. The book consists of four stories viz. ＂The Figure in the Carpet＂, ＂Glasses＂, ＂The Next Time＂, and ＂The Way It Came＂. The Figure in the Carpet was first published in Cosmopolis in January/February 1896 and it follows the story of an unnamed narrator as he obsesses over an author and his works. He goes to extreme lengths to figure out the secret meaning hidden in his works. In the second story, Glasses, which first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1896, we see an orphan woman whose only motive in life is to get a husband, and she would stop at nothing to realize that goal. The Next Time was first featured in The Yellow Book issue #6, in July 1895. It is the shortest story out of all and majorly focuses on the moral that the quality of writing does not ensure popularity and vice versa. Lastly, The Wait It Came, which was first published in Chapman’s Magazine of Fiction (London) in May 1896 can be enjoyed for its romantic woes with a touch of the supernatural.