[The Ghost of Henry James is] a "functional analysis" of the work of Henry James. The criticism is presented in the form of an interesting novel about imagined modern people, a family of four brothers and one sister, articulate but guarded young people who talk to each other in hints, moving their antennae in England, America and Italy. One of the brothers is called Henry and, when he dies, his memory haunts his siblings, leading them into dangerous adventures.

It is an ingenious analogy to suggest that the oblique, hinting dialogue of James resembles that between brothers and sisters when they talk, as coolly as they can, about their relationships outside the family—all the friends and lovers who must be made to seem important but not fully revealed or betrayed….

[Plante suggests] that some people really do talk in the manner invented by James, as if they...