Though American literary master Henry James was an ardent proponent of realistic story elements that readers could relate to, many of his works also deal with the question of perception and how our senses and beliefs can influence the way we see the world. It's a running theme in the four short stories collected in James' Embarrassments.About the Author: Henry James, OM was an American author regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language.