Abstract：Abstract：Applying the literary theories of realism and modernism, this paper analyzes the characteristics of realistic and modernistic elements in Henry James’s early work The Portrait of a Lady. It is found that his courageous and skillful innovation in creating realistic novels, his use of the narrative mode and techniques of narrative space，omniscient point of view, the conversion of the third person perspective and symbolic creative techniques present the real world of the story fully through the description of the characters, space and images, making the early novel appear evident modernity. The Portrait of a Lady is exemplary of combining realism and modernism in his early writings.
Key words: Henry James; The Portrait of a Lady; narrative space; realism; modernism
