Confidence (often rendered in Chinese as Xinxin) is the fifth novel by the American writer Henry James. It was first serialized in Scribner's Monthly in 1879, published in two volumes by Chatto & Windus in London in December of that year, and brought out in an American edition by Houghton, Osgood and Company in Boston in February 1880. The novel is a light-toned, loosely structured romantic comedy whose central figures are the painter Bernard Longueville, his friend Gordon Wright—known among acquaintances as the "mad scientist"—and the elusive heroine Angela Vivian. Bernard meets Angela and her mother while sketching in Siena; soon afterward Gordon summons him to Baden-Baden and asks him to "assess" whether Angela would make him a suitable wife. Trusting his instincts, Bernard judges her an affected coquette and advises Gordon to give her up; Gordon instead marries the flighty Blanche Evers. Two years later, Bernard encounters Angela again at a French seaside resort and realizes he has long been in love with her. When they become engaged, Angela tells him that she had in fact refused Gordon's proposal years earlier. She later clears up a misunderstanding between Gordon and Blanche, and everyone ends up suitably matched. Through the divergence between the "scientist's" and the "artist's" ways of seeing people, the book explores self-deception, the reliability of judgment, and the idea that feeling cannot be plotted by "scientific principles"; scholars have often linked the contrast between Gordon and Bernard to the relationship between Henry James and his brother, the psychologist William James. The prose is elegant and the dialogue witty, though the "happy ending" has always divided opinion; it is regarded as a light but still engaging work of James's early period.
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Henry James is an important novelist in the history of English literature; within our records, public information such as his dates of birth and death and nationality is limited, so no inference is made here. Our collection includes seven of his works, among them Daisy Miller, The Awkward Age, Madame de Mauves, Louisa Pallant, Pandora, The Altar of the Dead and A Bundle of Letters. Their subjects often center on psychological maneuvering, moral dilemmas and personal growth in human relationships, and they are commonly classified under inspirational growth. His writing is known for delicate psychological portrayal and restrained narration, revealing inner worlds through dialogue and shifts of perspective, and it has deeply influenced the development of modern fictional technique. These works reflect his sustained attention to marriage, class and personal choice, and readers can sense his controlled yet precise style.
