In her five previous books on "the world of Henry James," Adeline Tintner mined the rich vein of influence informing James's oeuvre. In Henry James's Legacy, she employs her keen eye to strike in the opposite direction, revealing the expansive hold James in turn has exerted on other literary artists. His legacy to the twentieth century has been cultivated, to use the Master's own words, "in infinite variety, enormously enlarged.".

Tintner first identifies fictional appropriations of James's figure, or persona, beginning as early as 1900 and continuing to the present. To an even greater extent than the person, have the twenty novels and 112 stories of James inspired twentieth-century writers. Tintner unveils a staggering profusion of Jamesian icons and motifs, and those, she maintains, are only a sample. Her study is not restricted to literature; she also discusses films, operas, and plastic arts.