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The Beast in the Jungle
Henry James · 1903 · Drama & Literary
John Marcher is certain that something rare and terrible is waiting to spring on him, and May Bartram spends her life waiting beside him for it. Henry James's most haunting novella — about the life not lived, and the discovery that comes too late.
Inside this edition
Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 14 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.
A Map of the Story — Weatherend and London, with the remembered Italy of Naples, Sorrento and Pompeii.
Far CountriesIn the years that follow, Marcher wanders in distant lands: “I have sought elsewhere what I could not name.”
The World of the Story — the Beast, the secret, the vigil, the mask, and the places where the watch is kept.
The Characters — John Marcher, May Bartram, and the stranger at the grave.
John Marcher — The Man to Whom Nothing Was to Happen.
May Bartram — The One Who Watched With Him.
Two who watch together — Marcher and May in the autumn light of Weatherend.
The little London drawing-room — the years of the vigil.
This edition
- Title
- The Beast in the Jungle
- Author
- Henry James (1843–1916)
- First published
- 1903
- Illustrated plates
- 31 original artworks · 14 open to everyone
- Chapters
- 6 · about 18,835 words
- Reading time
- 1 h 15 min
- Language
- EN
- Formats
- Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription
- Publisher
- LitLab — The Illustrated Classics
- On LitLab since
- July 2026
- Rights
- Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.
- Source text
- Project Gutenberg #1093
Neighbours in the library
Chosen by what they share with The Beast in the Jungle — the same author, the same genre.