The Figure in the Carpet

"The Figure in the Carpet"
Short story by Henry James
Embarrassments, 1896, first edition of
"The Figure in the Carpet"
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Short story
Publication
Published inCosmopolis
Publication typePeriodical
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication date1896
Pages64

"The Figure in the Carpet" is a short story (sometimes considered a novella) by American writer Henry James first published in 1896. It is told in the first person; the narrator, whose name is never revealed, meets his favorite author and becomes obsessed with discovering the secret meaning or intention of all the author's works.

"The Figure in the Carpet" has evaded definitive interpretation. In his book Henry James (1913), Ford Madox Ford wrote that after it was published, James's contemporaries set themselves on a quest for the Figure as an identifiable physical entity. In the preface to his A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1941), T. S. Eliot wrote, "Nowadays, we all look for the Figure in the Carpet." It is possible that James's Figure is a palpable object that, like a talisman, facilitates interpretation of his own work.