“Train-haunted” Trains of Thoughts on the American Scene

This article deals with the observations on The American Scene made by Henry James from a Pullman train. It is described as a juxtaposition of odd sections or segments that are solely unified by the continuity of James’s rambling consciousness. But when the mindscape before his eyes is changed into a huge hall of machines, it evinces another view of subjectivity. The prospect comes to look like the objectification of impersonal mental mechanisms at work.