during the last year or so two books were published that presented a
fictional biography of Henry James. one of them is Colm Toibin's "The
Master". the other one is my question: what is the second book
published during the last year that is a fictional biography of Henry
James?

Hi yudaph,

The book you are inquiring about is titled "Author, Author" by David Lodge.

Here is an excerpt of an article about this book. However, I suggest
you read the article in its entirety for more information on this
book.

24 June 2004
Hang-ups, rivalry and envy 

"Hard on the heels of Colm Toibin's acclaimed novel The Master (Faber)
comes another fictional exploration of the life of the writer Henry
James, this time by critic and novelist David Lodge. As with Toibin's
book, Author, Author looks at James' humiliation when his play Guy
Domville was booed off the London stage. Lodge's novel, however,
contrasts this failure with the simultaneous stellar success of James'
friend George du Maurier, with his hit novel Trilby."

"I've always been a great admirer of James; I've taught him in my
academic work and written about him as a critic, but I never thought
about writing fiction about him."

(...)

"The heart of the book is about the literary life: the hang-ups, the
rivalry and the envy. James of course wrote many times about what
being a writer does to you, and how it could be very destructive. I
suppose I was drawing to some extent on my own frustrations with
trying to write plays and filmscripts over the past five or six
years..."

The Bookseller
http://www.thebookseller.com/?did=12653&srq=lodge&sbr=1&dr=2004,07,24-1999,10,01&atl=

===============================================

Author Author
by David Lodge

Product Details: 
Hardcover: 352 pages 
Publisher: Viking Books; (October 7, 2004) 
ISBN: 0670033499 

Availability: 
"This title will be released on October 7, 2004. You may order it now
and we will ship it to you when it arrives."

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670033499


Search criteria:

fictional biography "Henry James" 
"fictional biography" OR "fictional account" "Henry James" 
"Author Author" Lodge


I hope the information provided is helpful. If you have any questions
regarding my answer please don?t hesitate to ask before rating it.

Best regards,
Rainbow

very fast, very helpful, very detailed.