How did the failure of Guy Domville change Henry James’s fiction-writing methods?

Following the failure of his play Guy Domville in 1895, Henry James felt crushed and believed he had lost his public. This experience prompted him to adapt his dramatic techniques into his fiction, resulting in a fundamental shift in his storytelling methods.1

His new approach included several key technical changes:

• Structural Alternation: He began using a pattern of alternating "picture" and dramatic scenes.1
• Controlled Perspective: He adopted a close adherence to a specific angle of vision, often withholding information from the reader to ensure they only saw what the characters themselves perceived.1
• Focus on Consciousness: His narratives increasingly centered on the developing consciousness and moral education of his characters.1

These experiments during his "transition" phase eventually paved the way for his "major" phase, characterized by a move toward a "bare" stage with small groups of characters in tense situations, explored through multiple angles of vision and an increasingly allusive, symbolic prose style.2