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Washington Square
At the age of twenty-two, Catherine Sloper is regarded as a rather mature blossom, such as could be plucked from the stem only with a vigorous jerk.
Yet although she is neither clever nor beautiful (her taste in dress verges on the vulgar), Morris Townsend finds Catherine exceedingly charming. Less, it must be admitted because of her evident goodness and truth than because she is due to inherit a substantial fortune. Meanwhile, the curious spectacle of his daughter's being courted by a handsome, athletic fortune-hunter is, for Doctor Sloper, at once an entertainment and a challenge...
Washington Square, set in New York, belongs with Henry James's early novels. It is a spare and intensely moving story of divided loyalties and innocence betrayed, and it is also, as Graham Greene has said, 'perhaps the only novel in which a man has successfully invaded the feminine field and produced a work comparable to Jane Austen's'
223 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1880
1068 people are currently reading
19038 people want to read
About the author
Henry James
4,561 books3,946 followersHenry James was an American-British author. He is 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. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
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December 3, 2019
“If you are going to be pushed, you had better jump.”
Almost everyone in this book is awful, but I... think I liked it?
I read Henry James once, years ago, and I picked The Turn of the Screw, which turned out to be a bad decision. It put me off for a long time. I also hear that James gets a little more experimental in his later works, delving into that stream-of-consciousness style that has never really floated my boat, which might explain why I heard a lot of complaints about him from English students at university.
Washington Square, however, is more of a straight-up drama, that sees familial duty clashing with a potential romance. It's like Austen, but infinitely more depressing. Maybe more like Edith Wharton. Here, James' heroine is the well-meaning, plain and rich Catherine Sloper. She falls deeply in love with a charismatic and broke young man called Morris Townsend, whom her father is convinced wants Catherine for her inheritance. He refuses to give his blessing to their engagement so Catherine must decide whether to remain loyal to her father or follow her heart.
This is considered a classic, but don't believe for a second it's not a total soap opera. Between Dr Sloper going to interrogate Morris's sister, and Catherine's Aunt Lavinia setting up secret meetings to advise Morris how to manipulate the doctor, Catherine is just pulled from one drama to the next. The doctor's self-righteousness, his coldness, and his inability to respect his daughter's feelings, make him an infuriating character. And Aunt Lavinia seriously needs to mind her own business!
It's a short read, but all the characters are very well-drawn and nuanced. Even if they are insufferable. I enjoyed how James explored all their personal motivations but left a lot open to interpretation. I am still not sure what message, if any, he wished to impart with the novel's conclusion, but I do think I am ready to take on The Portrait of a Lady now.
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December 28, 2022
MR (e Ms) JAMES
Washington Square non era tra le sue opere che James considerava migliori: infatti la escluse tra quelle che scelse per la New York Edition che fu la sua vetta editoriale (una raccolta dei suoi lavori maggiori in 24 volumi uscita in US e UK tra il 1907 e il 1909).
Però Washington Square è tra le opere di James che i suoi lettori, io incluso, hanno preferito, e ha ispirato più di un adattamento, sia teatrale che cinematografico.
Padre e figlia nella versione cinematografica diretta da William Wyler nel 1949: il dottor Sloper è interpretato da Ralph Richardson e Catherina da Olivia de Havilland. Il film uscì col titolo “The Heiress-L’ereditiera”.
Come succede (sempre?) con James, quello che conta non è tanto la trama, spesso presa da un episodio vero e poi innestata di elementi disparati, a cominciare dal melodramma. Dico questo nonostante in queste pagine l’intreccio è a suo modo avvincente e fluido, non privo di colpi di scena, con molti dialoghi brevi e ben ritmati.
Quello che conta davvero sono le ossessioni di James: e su tutte, sopra dentro sotto, la personalità dei suoi sfaccettati personaggi, l’incapacità d’amare è l’ossessione regina.
Anche qui i personaggi incarnano più un’idea che soggetti realistici. Più anima che corpo. Nonostante James ripeta più volte che Catherine è goffa e sgraziata, manca di bellezza e si veste male, tentare di descriverla fisicamente risulterebbe difficile a qualsiasi lettore: molto più semplice sarebbe descriverne i dettagli psicologici.
Nel più recente adattamento diretto da Agnieszka Holland (1997), Jennifer Jason Leigh è Catherine e Albert Finney suo padre, Dr Sloper.
C’era una volta, prima che “Washington Square” abbia inizio, un uomo, il dottor Sloper, che si sposò per amore. E fu così fortunato che l’amore, cioè la donna che sposò, arrivò insieme a diecimila dollari di reddito e gli occhi verdi più belli di Manhattan. Visse felice e contento per cinque anni. Poi perse tutto: il figlio morì a tre anni, e due anni dopo sua moglie morì dando alla luce una bambina, Catherine, per la quale il padre, il dottor Sloper predisse che non avrebbe conosciuto l’amore, che non si sarebbe mai sposata con qualcuno davvero innamorato di lei. Il dottor Sloper non si sposò una seconda volta, non s’innamorò più, neppure di sua figlia, per la quale non nutrì mai amore paterno, piuttosto disprezzo.
Olivia de Havilland con Montgomery Clift che interpreta Morris Townsend, sempre nella versione di Wyler.
Data la premessa, ovvio che invece la figlia s’innamorò eccome, e per amore commise sbagli su errori, scegliendo l’uomo che puntava solo ai suoi soldi.
James ha un bel sminuire e criticare Catherine, però è lampante che la sua simpatia è tutta per questo personaggio, per questa creatura femminile che sembra non poter accendere passioni, ma di passione vive, e si consuma.
Ciò nonostante, dopo il primo sbaglio, Catherine riceve le attenzioni, affettuose, se non innamorate, di altri due candidati, un vedovo e un giovane avvocato: ma la giovane donna ripete l’errore paterno, vive come in un santuario, quello del primo amore. E non si innamora più, non ricambia, non accetta. Persevera nella tara di famiglia, l’incapacità d’amare.
Quando il primo amore ritorna a bussare, ormai disilluso e sconfitto, Catherine potrebbe accoglierlo, aprirgli la porta. Invece, rifiuta anche quest’ennesima possibilità, e si consola con il ricamo.
Una godibilissima tragicommedia in salsa freudiana.
Jennifer Jason Leigh-Catherine Sloper con il suo spasimante Morris Townsend, interpretato da Ben Chaplin. In secondo piano un altro personaggio fondamentale, la zia Lavinia (interpretata da Maggie Smith), inguaribile romantica che si prodigò sempre perché l’unione riuscisse.
Il film di William Wyler è bello e ben fatto, vinse quattro Oscar, e oltre al talento del regista e produttore, lo si deve molto anche al talento della protagonista che s’innamorò del play teatrale e spinse Wyler ad acquistarne i diritti (su sua insistenza lo fece la Paramount per $ 250.000 dell’epoca, e diecimila dollari a settimana ai due autori della commedia, moglie e marito, per adattarla in film). Olivia De Havilland è una più che notevole Catherine Sloper.
Il film è ‘suggested’ dal breve romanzo di James. Il play era probabilmente più fedele: ma poi si volle rendere il personaggio di Morris Townsend meno arrivista e maramaldo perché a interpretarlo fu chiamata un divo romantico come Montgomery Clift. E quindi il film raddrizza le magnifiche curve di James, evita i bivi che lo scrittore amava, non rende giustizia alla complessità della novella di James, va dritto, ma funziona a meraviglia, è un buon film più che godibile, alleluja.
Washington Square intorno al 1880, quando veniva pubblicata a puntate la novella di James, ambientata nella prima metà di quel secolo. A destra gli alti edifici in stile gotico costruiti nel 1837 dalla New York University. Al centro, nascoste dagli alberi, le case a schiera descritte da James, in buona parte ancora esistenti.
Washington Square non era tra le sue opere che James considerava migliori: infatti la escluse tra quelle che scelse per la New York Edition che fu la sua vetta editoriale (una raccolta dei suoi lavori maggiori in 24 volumi uscita in US e UK tra il 1907 e il 1909).
Però Washington Square è tra le opere di James che i suoi lettori, io incluso, hanno preferito, e ha ispirato più di un adattamento, sia teatrale che cinematografico.
Padre e figlia nella versione cinematografica diretta da William Wyler nel 1949: il dottor Sloper è interpretato da Ralph Richardson e Catherina da Olivia de Havilland. Il film uscì col titolo “The Heiress-L’ereditiera”.
Come succede (sempre?) con James, quello che conta non è tanto la trama, spesso presa da un episodio vero e poi innestata di elementi disparati, a cominciare dal melodramma. Dico questo nonostante in queste pagine l’intreccio è a suo modo avvincente e fluido, non privo di colpi di scena, con molti dialoghi brevi e ben ritmati.
Quello che conta davvero sono le ossessioni di James: e su tutte, sopra dentro sotto, la personalità dei suoi sfaccettati personaggi, l’incapacità d’amare è l’ossessione regina.
Anche qui i personaggi incarnano più un’idea che soggetti realistici. Più anima che corpo. Nonostante James ripeta più volte che Catherine è goffa e sgraziata, manca di bellezza e si veste male, tentare di descriverla fisicamente risulterebbe difficile a qualsiasi lettore: molto più semplice sarebbe descriverne i dettagli psicologici.
Nel più recente adattamento diretto da Agnieszka Holland (1997), Jennifer Jason Leigh è Catherine e Albert Finney suo padre, Dr Sloper.
C’era una volta, prima che “Washington Square” abbia inizio, un uomo, il dottor Sloper, che si sposò per amore. E fu così fortunato che l’amore, cioè la donna che sposò, arrivò insieme a diecimila dollari di reddito e gli occhi verdi più belli di Manhattan. Visse felice e contento per cinque anni. Poi perse tutto: il figlio morì a tre anni, e due anni dopo sua moglie morì dando alla luce una bambina, Catherine, per la quale il padre, il dottor Sloper predisse che non avrebbe conosciuto l’amore, che non si sarebbe mai sposata con qualcuno davvero innamorato di lei. Il dottor Sloper non si sposò una seconda volta, non s’innamorò più, neppure di sua figlia, per la quale non nutrì mai amore paterno, piuttosto disprezzo.
Olivia de Havilland con Montgomery Clift che interpreta Morris Townsend, sempre nella versione di Wyler.
Data la premessa, ovvio che invece la figlia s’innamorò eccome, e per amore commise sbagli su errori, scegliendo l’uomo che puntava solo ai suoi soldi.
James ha un bel sminuire e criticare Catherine, però è lampante che la sua simpatia è tutta per questo personaggio, per questa creatura femminile che sembra non poter accendere passioni, ma di passione vive, e si consuma.
Ciò nonostante, dopo il primo sbaglio, Catherine riceve le attenzioni, affettuose, se non innamorate, di altri due candidati, un vedovo e un giovane avvocato: ma la giovane donna ripete l’errore paterno, vive come in un santuario, quello del primo amore. E non si innamora più, non ricambia, non accetta. Persevera nella tara di famiglia, l’incapacità d’amare.
Quando il primo amore ritorna a bussare, ormai disilluso e sconfitto, Catherine potrebbe accoglierlo, aprirgli la porta. Invece, rifiuta anche quest’ennesima possibilità, e si consola con il ricamo.
Una godibilissima tragicommedia in salsa freudiana.
Jennifer Jason Leigh-Catherine Sloper con il suo spasimante Morris Townsend, interpretato da Ben Chaplin. In secondo piano un altro personaggio fondamentale, la zia Lavinia (interpretata da Maggie Smith), inguaribile romantica che si prodigò sempre perché l’unione riuscisse.
Il film di William Wyler è bello e ben fatto, vinse quattro Oscar, e oltre al talento del regista e produttore, lo si deve molto anche al talento della protagonista che s’innamorò del play teatrale e spinse Wyler ad acquistarne i diritti (su sua insistenza lo fece la Paramount per $ 250.000 dell’epoca, e diecimila dollari a settimana ai due autori della commedia, moglie e marito, per adattarla in film). Olivia De Havilland è una più che notevole Catherine Sloper.
Il film è ‘suggested’ dal breve romanzo di James. Il play era probabilmente più fedele: ma poi si volle rendere il personaggio di Morris Townsend meno arrivista e maramaldo perché a interpretarlo fu chiamata un divo romantico come Montgomery Clift. E quindi il film raddrizza le magnifiche curve di James, evita i bivi che lo scrittore amava, non rende giustizia alla complessità della novella di James, va dritto, ma funziona a meraviglia, è un buon film più che godibile, alleluja.
Washington Square intorno al 1880, quando veniva pubblicata a puntate la novella di James, ambientata nella prima metà di quel secolo. A destra gli alti edifici in stile gotico costruiti nel 1837 dalla New York University. Al centro, nascoste dagli alberi, le case a schiera descritte da James, in buona parte ancora esistenti.
April 18, 2022
[Revised, pictures and shelves added 4/15/22]
Here we are in New York City in the mid-1880s, a bit before Edith Wharton’s time, but in the same social milieu. This is a kind of novel of manners and kind of a mid-19th Century soap opera. Our author is Henry James, so be prepared for the long, convoluted, comma- and semi comma-laden sentences akin to those of Jane Austen.
Still a fascinating book. Catherine, more or less our heroine, is plain, stolid, timid, obedient and, quite frankly, a bit on the dull side. She lives in her father’s house. With her mother deceased, a widowed aunt is her caretaker and companion.
Catherine is in her late 20’s when a suitor finally appears (a late age for that era). Her suitor would be quite a catch for a woman like Catherine, so her father, a wealthy physician, immediately recognizes (and so do we) that he’s after her inheritance.
Her father opposes the marriage and in that process we learn that he is vindictive, petty, tyrannical, bullying – and wait --- there’s something even worse: he doesn’t really even LIKE his daughter. He says his money will go to charity. Will the marriage still take place?
The novel fast-forwards in the final chapters so we get to see how it all works out decades in the future. It’s great writing --- it’s Henry James after all. James (1843-1916) published this book in 1880. A good book for those who have a taste for the oblique references and flowery style of writing from that era.
Washington Square in the early 1900’s from nyhistory.org
The author from britannica.com
Here we are in New York City in the mid-1880s, a bit before Edith Wharton’s time, but in the same social milieu. This is a kind of novel of manners and kind of a mid-19th Century soap opera. Our author is Henry James, so be prepared for the long, convoluted, comma- and semi comma-laden sentences akin to those of Jane Austen.
Still a fascinating book. Catherine, more or less our heroine, is plain, stolid, timid, obedient and, quite frankly, a bit on the dull side. She lives in her father’s house. With her mother deceased, a widowed aunt is her caretaker and companion.
Catherine is in her late 20’s when a suitor finally appears (a late age for that era). Her suitor would be quite a catch for a woman like Catherine, so her father, a wealthy physician, immediately recognizes (and so do we) that he’s after her inheritance.
Her father opposes the marriage and in that process we learn that he is vindictive, petty, tyrannical, bullying – and wait --- there’s something even worse: he doesn’t really even LIKE his daughter. He says his money will go to charity. Will the marriage still take place?
The novel fast-forwards in the final chapters so we get to see how it all works out decades in the future. It’s great writing --- it’s Henry James after all. James (1843-1916) published this book in 1880. A good book for those who have a taste for the oblique references and flowery style of writing from that era.
Washington Square in the early 1900’s from nyhistory.org
The author from britannica.com
Read
November 7, 2017If I close my eyes and ask myself what impression this book has left on me, the idea that comes immediately to mind is stillness. The stillness radiates from the main character, Catherine Sloper. I see her as a monumental figure in a hieratic pose, immobile, meek, but solid to the core.
Her immobility impressed me greatly, especially as this book is quite like a play. There is a lot of dialogue, a small number of characters, and one principal location where most of the important scenes take place. The characters circle that space, and they circle Catherine. She rarely moves, and since she pauses before answering every question addressed to her, we have time to imagine her face turning slowly towards the speaker as she meditates her careful response. The result of Catherine's overly cautious responses is that the other characters fail to know her, and fail abysmally. Though he allows the reader to see more of her inner life than the other characters ever guess at, Henry James allows Catherine to keep the core of her being a secret even from us. I like to think that as he developed his heroine, his respect for her grew so that he had no choice but to preserve her privacy and to keep the mystery at the heart of her stillness a mystery to the end. That's what I wanted for her and that's what he delivered.
..............................................................
While Catherine doesn't say very much, the other characters more than make up for her lack of verbosity. The exchanges between Catherine's various relatives reminded me of Jane Austin's ability to deliver witty dialogue line after line (of course people don't talk like this in real life, but how we wish they did). There were in fact many moments during reading when I was reminded of Jane Austin, and particularly of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. Like Fanny, Catherine is undervalued by her entourage, and treated quite badly by certain among them. But Fanny acquires a savior.
Henry James prefers Catherine to be her own savior.
Her immobility impressed me greatly, especially as this book is quite like a play. There is a lot of dialogue, a small number of characters, and one principal location where most of the important scenes take place. The characters circle that space, and they circle Catherine. She rarely moves, and since she pauses before answering every question addressed to her, we have time to imagine her face turning slowly towards the speaker as she meditates her careful response. The result of Catherine's overly cautious responses is that the other characters fail to know her, and fail abysmally. Though he allows the reader to see more of her inner life than the other characters ever guess at, Henry James allows Catherine to keep the core of her being a secret even from us. I like to think that as he developed his heroine, his respect for her grew so that he had no choice but to preserve her privacy and to keep the mystery at the heart of her stillness a mystery to the end. That's what I wanted for her and that's what he delivered.
..............................................................
While Catherine doesn't say very much, the other characters more than make up for her lack of verbosity. The exchanges between Catherine's various relatives reminded me of Jane Austin's ability to deliver witty dialogue line after line (of course people don't talk like this in real life, but how we wish they did). There were in fact many moments during reading when I was reminded of Jane Austin, and particularly of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. Like Fanny, Catherine is undervalued by her entourage, and treated quite badly by certain among them. But Fanny acquires a savior.
Henry James prefers Catherine to be her own savior.
September 3, 2024
Time the late 1840's in New York City, Catherine Sloper a twenty-one -year- old woman, is the daughter of a prominent and wealthy doctor, you'd think all the young men would be trying to marry her but Catherine is plain of face and very shy. There's a good probability, that she'll remain a spinster till the end of her life. Catherine adores her father and is intimidated in his presence, a very intelligent man Dr. Austin Sloper is. The widower invites his widowed and emotional sister Lavinia, her penniless clergyman husband left no money, to stay at the Washington Square mansion recently built by the sad physician ( he couldn't save his beloved wife and son) . A nice quiet neighborhood, by the pretty park. Everything changes, this peaceful situation when Catherine meets Mr. Morris Townsend, a beautiful man as she thinks at her cousin's engagement party. Morris dances with the tongue -tied girl Catherine, she falls hard for him. But Townsend is lazy an idler who lives with his sister, a widow Mrs. Montgomery and five children (medicine must have been very primitive back then). Morris the desperate sponger pays close attention to Miss Sloper, talking to her enthusiastically she doesn't say a word. The suspicious but busy father has reservations about Morris, what does he want with his daughter? It's apparent to everyone else...poor boy wants to marry rich girl for her money. Aunt Lavinia is a romantic has read too many of those type of books and helps the young couple in their courtship. The aunt imagines that she is the main character, in one of the novels she loves ...This foolish woman, brought there as a companion for Catherine causes much turmoil in the household. Mr. Sloper has to save his daughter from this evil man Townsend or he fears Morris will ruin her, spending all his money and treating Catherine badly . Nevertheless does a lonely girl have the right to take a chance on love? No matter how dubious the prospect is...Can a little happiness be worth all the headaches that will inevitably follow, or does she live the rest of her days by herself, comfortable but bored....existing and nothing more. Dr. Sloper takes Catherine to Europe for a six- month Grand Tour that turns into a year, seeing the glories of the past, but in the future will his daughter forget her beau? One of the best books from Henry James, very accessible to the reader unlike later novels, his prose and narrative are clear and not convoluted.
May 26, 2008
I love this book so much I can't bear it. As someone who adores just about every last word that Henry James (over-) wrote, it has never gotten any more deliciously (un-)satisfying than this -- a slim, tart little novel about plain, socially unpromising Catherine Sloper, whose wealthy father refuses to allow her to marry Morris Townsend, whom he believes to be mercenary. No matter how many times I read this book, the question still nags at me: "Does Morris have any feeling at all for Catherine, or is he really just after her fortune?" But why is this even a question?
It's usually taken for granted that Morris is sketchily-drawn, the standard handsome and callow fortune-hunter of melodrama, and his own remarks to other characters in the novel seem to provide ample evidence. I'm not fully convinced of this, which isn't to say that he's fully-drawn; rather, I wonder if Morris Townsend might be a kind of failed stereotype, a failure *of* the novel to keep him in his appointed place. If he's so successfully sketchy, then wouldn't the novel be redundant, and its central ambiguity unambiguous? If that were so, then "Washington Square" would do little more than encourage the reader's contemptuous pity for its heroine, whose tragedy would be utterly generic: her inability to recognize her beloved's venal motives. That would be straight-up melodrama, or mean-spirited satire. That wouldn't be Henry James.
The tragedy of the novel depends, though, on Catherine's father, Dr. Sloper, one of James's most stunning and indelible creations. The man despises his daughter, yet wants to protect her; he sees through Morris's dandyish charm, yet is most offended by the idea that his awkward, unlovely daughter would win herself such a handsome, charming husband. His opposition to the match may be, on the one hand, patriarchal duty, but it is no less an act of cold-blooded cruelty, and it is through his refusal to allow that the young man may like the money and yet be a fine husband that the real drama of "Washington Square" emerges. In fact, the pressure of this character produces the novel's greatest and least predictable achievement: the transformation of Catherine Sloper from a non-character -- the pathetic, jilted heiress -- into a character, and the reader's tormented resistance to Dr. Sloper not only keeps the door of "Morris Townsend" ajar, but keeps the novel on a wonderfully shaky course, morally and aesthetically.
In later years, James himself commented that he started "Washington Square" with great disdain for Catherine, which metamorphosed into something much more complicated (similar, maybe, to Tolstoy's creation of Anna Karenina). Maybe it's possible, then, to read Morris Townsend (to whose consciousness we only have access in scant, sharp shards of observation) as the most reflexively novelistic in the book, in the sense that his own ambivalent heartlessness may well mirror the novel's own confused motives. James ultimately disavowed "Washington Square" -- he even omitted it from his "Collected Works" -- but it marks the first appearance of the central conflict that governs his later, greatest novels: the predation of love upon money, and vice versa. The moral puzzle of the passionate mercenary haunts his major work, and "Washington Square" may well mark the death of the non-characters (villain and victim) that started it all. A strange, beautiful, perfectly unsatisfying book.
It's usually taken for granted that Morris is sketchily-drawn, the standard handsome and callow fortune-hunter of melodrama, and his own remarks to other characters in the novel seem to provide ample evidence. I'm not fully convinced of this, which isn't to say that he's fully-drawn; rather, I wonder if Morris Townsend might be a kind of failed stereotype, a failure *of* the novel to keep him in his appointed place. If he's so successfully sketchy, then wouldn't the novel be redundant, and its central ambiguity unambiguous? If that were so, then "Washington Square" would do little more than encourage the reader's contemptuous pity for its heroine, whose tragedy would be utterly generic: her inability to recognize her beloved's venal motives. That would be straight-up melodrama, or mean-spirited satire. That wouldn't be Henry James.
The tragedy of the novel depends, though, on Catherine's father, Dr. Sloper, one of James's most stunning and indelible creations. The man despises his daughter, yet wants to protect her; he sees through Morris's dandyish charm, yet is most offended by the idea that his awkward, unlovely daughter would win herself such a handsome, charming husband. His opposition to the match may be, on the one hand, patriarchal duty, but it is no less an act of cold-blooded cruelty, and it is through his refusal to allow that the young man may like the money and yet be a fine husband that the real drama of "Washington Square" emerges. In fact, the pressure of this character produces the novel's greatest and least predictable achievement: the transformation of Catherine Sloper from a non-character -- the pathetic, jilted heiress -- into a character, and the reader's tormented resistance to Dr. Sloper not only keeps the door of "Morris Townsend" ajar, but keeps the novel on a wonderfully shaky course, morally and aesthetically.
In later years, James himself commented that he started "Washington Square" with great disdain for Catherine, which metamorphosed into something much more complicated (similar, maybe, to Tolstoy's creation of Anna Karenina). Maybe it's possible, then, to read Morris Townsend (to whose consciousness we only have access in scant, sharp shards of observation) as the most reflexively novelistic in the book, in the sense that his own ambivalent heartlessness may well mirror the novel's own confused motives. James ultimately disavowed "Washington Square" -- he even omitted it from his "Collected Works" -- but it marks the first appearance of the central conflict that governs his later, greatest novels: the predation of love upon money, and vice versa. The moral puzzle of the passionate mercenary haunts his major work, and "Washington Square" may well mark the death of the non-characters (villain and victim) that started it all. A strange, beautiful, perfectly unsatisfying book.
August 4, 2017
Catherine Sloper doesn’t strike us as a representative heroine. This novel has definitely more expressive and memorable protagonists but it is Catherine who, of all residents of the house at Washington Square, draws my attention. Though she is neither pretty nor smart she is gentle and kind and painfully shy. Just before Washington Square I read Daisy Miller and now I simply can’t help comparing the main heroines. Where Daisy is coquettish and reckless Catherine remains modest and immovable. Where Daisy fancies for romantic adventure Catherine has her feet firmly on the ground. When the first shines and dazzles us with her beauty the other is plain and dull. Or so we were told. Unlike Daisy Catherine does not want to shine, she does not demand our constant attention. And though both like nice dresses unfortunately Miss Sloper’s taste leaves a lot to be desired. So where Daisy looked lovely and dazzling Catherine appeared old and rather ridiculous. Had only Daisy had a bit of Catherine’s common sense. Or the other way round: what if Catherine was more flirtatious in the image of Daisy Miller?
Catherine, who was extremely modest, had no desire to shine, and on most social occasions, as they are called, you would have found her lurking in the background.
Catherine, being respectful and dutiful daughter, is nonetheless a great disappointment to her father. She has neither beauty of her late mother neither wit of her father. Her days go on knitting, keeping house, visiting relatives and attempting at all cost to please her father. Doctor Sloper is remarkable figure. He’s a brilliant man, renown doctor and he flatters himself being an expert in reading people. He has neither good opinion on his sister Lavinia nor his daughter. In his estimation Lavinia was like a revolving lighthouse; pitch darkness alternating with a dazzling brilliancy!. And about Catherine he used to think she is about as intelligent as the bundle of shawls…; her main superiority being that while the bundle of shawls sometimes got lost, or tumbled out of the carriage, Catherine was always at her post, and had a firm and ample seat.
As one can see Catherine has not an easy life. She is a victim of cruel remarks of her brilliant father who does not miss any opportunity, any neat bon-mot, any snide comment, even if it would hurt her feelings. And his remarks can cut to the quick, really. She is a victim of her foolish aunt Lavinia whose unbridled appetite for love affair and secret romance makes her push Catherine into the hands of fortune hunter. She is a victim of a handsome con man who made her to believe she was loved and wanted because of herself not her money. Finally, she is a victim of own good character and just awakened heart.
But I do not see a victim in her at all. I see a woman whose way to independence and self-determination is long and bumpy, I see a woman whom any humiliation and disappointment will not be spared, I see a woman who is fed up with being constantly send to the corner.
Catherine loves her father dearly but at the same time she’s afraid of him. But it lasts until it dawns to her that father doesn’t love her, that he doesn’t see his daughter as an independent, self-reliant person, that he denies her right to own opinion and choices, that even her act of rebellion is to him a kind of entertainment and he only thinks that his dull daughter had, after all, the guts to stand up to him, that Catherine wasn’t to him a partner at all. And once becoming aware of that fact she’s free. She can acknowledge finally the fact that Maurice had trifled with her devotion. She can see that aunt Lavinia eased him the task. And recognition of that liberates her.
From her own point of view the great facts of her career were that Morris Townsend had trifled with her affection, and that her father had broken its spring. Nothing could ever alter these facts; they were always there, like her name, her age, her plain face. Nothing could ever undo the wrong or cure the pain that Morris had inflicted on her, and nothing could ever make her feel towards her father as she felt in her younger years. There was something dead in her life, and her duty was to try and fill the void.
I liked her loyalty and raw honesty, her defiance and stubbornness to make her point, her silent opposition to her upbringing, to her father. Doctor Sloper says at one point of Catherine not being scenic. Poor Doctor, he couldn’t be more wrong. And after all he deserved that little revenge from her hand in the end. Everyone used to see Catherine as poor thing. They couldn’t be more wrong either. And the fact that Doctor saw through Maurice from the beginning and despite that failed I found highly ironic.
After reading the last passage of the novel I couldn't help but smile when this image came to my mind. Let's call it alternative review for Washington Square, though Catherine is too polite to express it that way. But I can say it for her.
4,5/5
September 3, 2018
Heartbreaking glimpse of the dynamic between a cruel father and his dependent daughter, Washington Square is a great short story; however, it is so melancholy I have never reread it because I can never forgive or forget the despotic, mental barbarity of her father.
May 30, 2017
Book Review
4 out of 5 stars for Washington Square, a classic novel written in 1880 by Henry James. Henry James is my favorite American realistic period or classic novelist, and Washington Square is an example of why. This man can take a small situation and write 300+ pages all about it. And this is one of his shorter books. In this classic, the tale of the average woman, who is set to inherit a large sum of money, meets dashing man... but of course, he's only after her money. She's considered plain-looking. He's considered ruthless. They couldn't possibly be in love. And as you follow the course of their "romance," you see what couples and relationships go through during the courting period... at least as it was 150 years ago. James is not shy when it comes to providing detailed descriptions of feelings and actions. You read his words as though you are in your head, thinking about choices and decisions for hours, then acting on them. This is a very direct story... commentary on the normal every day live, the differences between classes, the way in which women must act to find a husband, the efforts men go to so they can be free, the attitudes of society towards older women or those who are not considered great beauties. When you step away from this book, hopefully not too frustrated at the story being so basic and calm, you realize it's a reflection on reality... on what actually was happening at the time. Who would accept it today? Who would tolerate being treated in such a manner? And where do you go when you end up a bit hopeless? Stories like this aren't common nowadays, at least in this form. But when you put yourself into the time period, this is a true treasure.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.
4 out of 5 stars for Washington Square, a classic novel written in 1880 by Henry James. Henry James is my favorite American realistic period or classic novelist, and Washington Square is an example of why. This man can take a small situation and write 300+ pages all about it. And this is one of his shorter books. In this classic, the tale of the average woman, who is set to inherit a large sum of money, meets dashing man... but of course, he's only after her money. She's considered plain-looking. He's considered ruthless. They couldn't possibly be in love. And as you follow the course of their "romance," you see what couples and relationships go through during the courting period... at least as it was 150 years ago. James is not shy when it comes to providing detailed descriptions of feelings and actions. You read his words as though you are in your head, thinking about choices and decisions for hours, then acting on them. This is a very direct story... commentary on the normal every day live, the differences between classes, the way in which women must act to find a husband, the efforts men go to so they can be free, the attitudes of society towards older women or those who are not considered great beauties. When you step away from this book, hopefully not too frustrated at the story being so basic and calm, you realize it's a reflection on reality... on what actually was happening at the time. Who would accept it today? Who would tolerate being treated in such a manner? And where do you go when you end up a bit hopeless? Stories like this aren't common nowadays, at least in this form. But when you put yourself into the time period, this is a true treasure.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.
May 22, 2021
"
James Writes Fiction as if it were a Painful Duty
"- Oscar Wilde
“One of the Nicest Old Ladies I Ever Met”-Faulkner, describing James
On my journey to read most modern "classics" as well as at least one novel by each renowned author, I've repeatedly avoided Henry James. Several years back I started on one and found myself daydreaming that my late grandmother was offering a sudsy soliloquy on a couple of "nice" and "clean" romances of her time (the 1930s). In all events, I finally opted for Washington Square, primarily because it's his shortest novel.
Despite a few pretty turns of prose and exquisite character delineation, I found the driving narrative and dialogue passionless and soporific, with characters so melancholy and settings so glum, I soon did not care one wit about what happened. Instead, as I read, my terrible need to be put out of my misery was, lucky for me, ultimately staunched by my innate sense of survival.
In sum, this is the unhappy story of a rich, controlling, widowed father and his only child Catherine, whom the dad deems "unattractive," "unintelligent" and "uninteresting."
I too find alliteration effective to describe a novel that is Unbearable, Unrelatable Ennui.
A young man asks his daughter to marry shortly after meeting her at a society party in Washington Square, NYC. Daddy suspects a money motive and forbids the marriage, else he'll disinherit the daughter. It sounded like a good plot. Oh well, to say any more would ruin for you a story that I could not force myself to finish.
My Conception of "Catherine Sloper" (as played by James Spader)
President Teddy Roosevelt was overly cruel when he called Henry James "a little emasculated mass of inanity." To Oscar Wilde's assessment though, I shout AMEN!.
“One of the Nicest Old Ladies I Ever Met”-Faulkner, describing James
On my journey to read most modern "classics" as well as at least one novel by each renowned author, I've repeatedly avoided Henry James. Several years back I started on one and found myself daydreaming that my late grandmother was offering a sudsy soliloquy on a couple of "nice" and "clean" romances of her time (the 1930s). In all events, I finally opted for Washington Square, primarily because it's his shortest novel.
Despite a few pretty turns of prose and exquisite character delineation, I found the driving narrative and dialogue passionless and soporific, with characters so melancholy and settings so glum, I soon did not care one wit about what happened. Instead, as I read, my terrible need to be put out of my misery was, lucky for me, ultimately staunched by my innate sense of survival.
In sum, this is the unhappy story of a rich, controlling, widowed father and his only child Catherine, whom the dad deems "unattractive," "unintelligent" and "uninteresting."
I too find alliteration effective to describe a novel that is Unbearable, Unrelatable Ennui.
A young man asks his daughter to marry shortly after meeting her at a society party in Washington Square, NYC. Daddy suspects a money motive and forbids the marriage, else he'll disinherit the daughter. It sounded like a good plot. Oh well, to say any more would ruin for you a story that I could not force myself to finish.
My Conception of "Catherine Sloper" (as played by James Spader)
President Teddy Roosevelt was overly cruel when he called Henry James "a little emasculated mass of inanity." To Oscar Wilde's assessment though, I shout AMEN!.
October 13, 2024
A finely drawn psychological portrait of the upheaval caused by a suitor entering the life of a honest and just woman. The conclusion is a bit weaker than I expected, but the quality of writing and the fine insight in human nature are clear
I don’t belief in lovely husbands, only in good ones
Trying to satisfy both an unbending father and an ambitious suitor forms the start of something akin to a college on Game Theory: The Marriage Edition in this novel by Henry James.
We are introduced to Dr Sloper and his not very assertive daughter Catherine Sloper.
After his wife died, Dr Sloper has brought her up, together with an aunt who is quite a character, and he is clear on his expectations of her:
My dear Austin, do you think it is better to be clever than good?
Good for what? You are good for nothing if you’re not clever.
The number of times Catherine is described as plain, dull, gentile, or She was not clever and even nothing to be proud of, nor anything to be ashamed of lead to quite some paranoia versus her first suitor, Morris Townsend.
He had been living in queer corners and seems rather opportunistic, as even acknowledged by those close around him.
Catherine falls for him and even though her father admonish her to hold out for someone who is more accomplished (striking the following tone: You are sumptuous, opulent, expensive)a real conundrum ensures, since Catherine is At the age of 22 she was after all a rather mature blossom.
We have some suitors getting to know each other, where Morris scores some point but also arouses even more suspicions (As an anatomist it is really a pleasure to me to see such a beautiful structure - interesting appraisal of a son in law).
Overall Catherine her father seems both rather cruel and quite reasonable, I wouldn’t be so chill in this courting of my only child by apparently a good for nothing opportunist. However James in Washington Square keeps the reader subtly metronoming between positions and sympathies.
Even a 12 month tour to Europe doesn't change the situation of stubborn people being entrenched in their various positions. Aunt Lavinia is crazy, the nerve of Morris Townsend indicates a fine salesman, and in the end no-one gets the realisation of their will, leading to a quite grim resolution. Reconciliation, and taking a step towards each other seems impossible, and despite all the material comforts the characters in James his world feel sad and cold, if very much recognisable even now.
Quotes
In any other capacity I am perfectly prepared to like you; as a son-in-law I abominate you
Do you know you sometimes disappoint me
That idea is in very bad taste
Gracious heaven, what a dull woman, exclaimed Morris to himself
A perfect castle of indolence
Upon my word, you are a queer family
She would touch me if she didn’t irritate me
A woman never should keep a man dangling
What is your business, your business is to be with me
When you are quiet you are perfect
She enjoys it like someone enjoys the amputation of a crushed leg
I’m not angry, anger doesn’t last this way for years
I don’t belief in lovely husbands, only in good ones
Trying to satisfy both an unbending father and an ambitious suitor forms the start of something akin to a college on Game Theory: The Marriage Edition in this novel by Henry James.
We are introduced to Dr Sloper and his not very assertive daughter Catherine Sloper.
After his wife died, Dr Sloper has brought her up, together with an aunt who is quite a character, and he is clear on his expectations of her:
My dear Austin, do you think it is better to be clever than good?
Good for what? You are good for nothing if you’re not clever.
The number of times Catherine is described as plain, dull, gentile, or She was not clever and even nothing to be proud of, nor anything to be ashamed of lead to quite some paranoia versus her first suitor, Morris Townsend.
He had been living in queer corners and seems rather opportunistic, as even acknowledged by those close around him.
Catherine falls for him and even though her father admonish her to hold out for someone who is more accomplished (striking the following tone: You are sumptuous, opulent, expensive)a real conundrum ensures, since Catherine is At the age of 22 she was after all a rather mature blossom.
We have some suitors getting to know each other, where Morris scores some point but also arouses even more suspicions (As an anatomist it is really a pleasure to me to see such a beautiful structure - interesting appraisal of a son in law).
Overall Catherine her father seems both rather cruel and quite reasonable, I wouldn’t be so chill in this courting of my only child by apparently a good for nothing opportunist. However James in Washington Square keeps the reader subtly metronoming between positions and sympathies.
Even a 12 month tour to Europe doesn't change the situation of stubborn people being entrenched in their various positions. Aunt Lavinia is crazy, the nerve of Morris Townsend indicates a fine salesman, and in the end no-one gets the realisation of their will, leading to a quite grim resolution. Reconciliation, and taking a step towards each other seems impossible, and despite all the material comforts the characters in James his world feel sad and cold, if very much recognisable even now.
Quotes
In any other capacity I am perfectly prepared to like you; as a son-in-law I abominate you
Do you know you sometimes disappoint me
That idea is in very bad taste
Gracious heaven, what a dull woman, exclaimed Morris to himself
A perfect castle of indolence
Upon my word, you are a queer family
She would touch me if she didn’t irritate me
A woman never should keep a man dangling
What is your business, your business is to be with me
When you are quiet you are perfect
She enjoys it like someone enjoys the amputation of a crushed leg
I’m not angry, anger doesn’t last this way for years
November 26, 2012
Henry James is Gangnam style
Gangnam style
Catherine Sloper is warm and humanle during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist
I’m a guy called Morris Townsend
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, Catherine Sloper, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end
I don't want your money Catherine Sloper
I don't want your money Catherine Sloper
No, yeah, no,yeah
I want you
Morris Townsend, gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Henry James is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh
Catherine Sloper looks quiet but plays bridge
She puts her hair down when the right time comes
She covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensile girl like that
I’m a guy called Morris Townsend
I said it once now I say it again
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
Oh oh, the daddy is the flying man baby
Dr Austin Sloper, a wealthy and highly successful physician
You know what I mean baby
You know what I'm saying baby
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Yeah!
Watch out – here comes the daddy
Boo hoo – gangnam style
Boo hoo – gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Gangnam style
Catherine Sloper is warm and humanle during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist
I’m a guy called Morris Townsend
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, Catherine Sloper, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let’s go until the end
I don't want your money Catherine Sloper
I don't want your money Catherine Sloper
No, yeah, no,yeah
I want you
Morris Townsend, gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Henry James is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh
Catherine Sloper looks quiet but plays bridge
She puts her hair down when the right time comes
She covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensile girl like that
I’m a guy called Morris Townsend
I said it once now I say it again
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy
On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby
Oh oh, the daddy is the flying man baby
Dr Austin Sloper, a wealthy and highly successful physician
You know what I mean baby
You know what I'm saying baby
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Parasitic spendthrift, oh no no
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Fat, balding, cold-eyed, but still somewhat attractive
Yeah!
Watch out – here comes the daddy
Boo hoo – gangnam style
Boo hoo – gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Henry James is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
February 27, 2022
You could make an argument that a lot of evil in the world is caused by vanity. Putin is the latest example. And certainly vanity is responsible for a large measure of unhappiness. Essentially because it stops us from seeing situations clearly and thus from knowing ourselves. I'm not entirely sure James saw this novel as a study of the destructive power of vanity but this is how I read it.
The patriarch of the novel is a wealthy doctor whose beautiful and brilliant wife has died. He is disappointed in his daughter who is plain and reticent. This is his vanity. He wants a daughter with more surface sheen. When she is courted by an immensely handsome cad he puts his foot down and all the novel's conflict begins. Catherine, the daughter, allows herself to be tricked by the mercenary stagecraft of her suitor. This is her vanity at work. Her father has a spinster sister who sees the situation as a means of vicariously experiencing the romantic adventure her life has denied her and, in defiance of her brother, becomes the suitor's champion.
For me the father was the most sympathetic character because, aside from the cad, he was the only one able to see the truth of the situation. The men in this novel are more cynical than the women. The women essentially are prisoners of romantic fantasy. In the hands of another novelist the father would have been more of an ogre and the daughter more sexually charged thus heightening the dramatic tension. But Henry James' books are too demurely manicured to allow anything but intimations of the unruly. Ultimately James wants us to feel Catherine has emerged with dignity but to my mind vanity has deluded her and caused her to squander her life.
The patriarch of the novel is a wealthy doctor whose beautiful and brilliant wife has died. He is disappointed in his daughter who is plain and reticent. This is his vanity. He wants a daughter with more surface sheen. When she is courted by an immensely handsome cad he puts his foot down and all the novel's conflict begins. Catherine, the daughter, allows herself to be tricked by the mercenary stagecraft of her suitor. This is her vanity at work. Her father has a spinster sister who sees the situation as a means of vicariously experiencing the romantic adventure her life has denied her and, in defiance of her brother, becomes the suitor's champion.
For me the father was the most sympathetic character because, aside from the cad, he was the only one able to see the truth of the situation. The men in this novel are more cynical than the women. The women essentially are prisoners of romantic fantasy. In the hands of another novelist the father would have been more of an ogre and the daughter more sexually charged thus heightening the dramatic tension. But Henry James' books are too demurely manicured to allow anything but intimations of the unruly. Ultimately James wants us to feel Catherine has emerged with dignity but to my mind vanity has deluded her and caused her to squander her life.
January 20, 2018
STICKY SQUARE
Since I plan to be walking around Washington Square in a few months, I picked up this book for a reread. I can’t even remember exactly when I first tackled it, but I am delighted with my revisit - (the book and the square). And rereads are lately becoming highly enjoyable ventures.
My enjoyment with Washington Square may lead to a rerun and a completion task of the major novels by Henry James. I am already familiar with a few but I have read them at different times in my life and in no particular order. It is time I consolidate my impression of his writing.
What I did not expect in this revisit is the degree in which I relished lounging in James prose. Even though this is an early work, I felt such pleasure in drinking his writing as if the lines of his book were fresh water drunk avidly after a long walk or run in the heat of a summer day. Reading James had an almost sedative effect.
I was somewhat taken aback when I found how familiar some of his syntax seemed to me. The way he strung words together evoked a similar pleasure to that of recognizing a painter’s work just by the texture of the brushstroke.
I noticed his attention to prepositions, which for a non-English speaker, is therefore more baffling. He shifts them and this shifting had at times an equivalent effect to that of a purple dub in a shadow.
- I am told he lives upon her.
- Lives upon her?
- Lives with her.....
This example also contains another one of James’s idiomatic uses. The repetitions in his dialogues of expressions that seems ambiguous not only to the reader but the characters in the novel as well. Like throwing light to an obscure corner in a poorly lit room. Here is another sample:
- Why are you so dry, Catherine?
- So dry?
- So cold—so irresponsive.
The main character is an exercise of the maxim ‘show and not tell’. We are told from the beginning, mostly by hearing her father’s hammering opinion, that Catherine Sloper is a non-interesting character. She is bland, dull and insipid. In the early pages I asked myself, then, how James would deal with the challenge he had clearly set himself: how he would win the reader’s interest in someone that he first presents as offering no interest. So, in spite of the chorus that accompanies every appearance of Catherine, singing or extolling her lack of luster, the reader gradually, very gradually, sees emerging out of her flat mist a very enigmatic, firm, and rightful figure. She is ‘substantial’ after all. But then she could not be otherwise if she were ‘going to stick’. This is after all a story of Catherine’s ‘stickiness’.
I imagine that many other readers would not share my reaction to Doctor Sloper, for I found myself liking him. Of course he is the culprit of much that Catherine has to suffer. He is responsible for branding her and thereby determining her life. More so than the right to arbitrate his progeny that any father may feel entitled to. But I also liked his rightfulness, his intuition, and also that his curiosity seemed to take the upper hand over his drive to authoritarianism.
In this reading I paid particular attention to the fleeting references to time and place. Which streets or avenues are mentioned, the topography of that rapidly changing city, what are the perceived differences between Europe and the still forming new country, etc. Although this is most of all a study of character, the visual elements for me stood out precisely because there are not many of them.
Beautiful work. So, soon Roderick Hudson and Daisy Miller…
January 3, 2014
My first completed book of the year and one that has totally altered my view of Henry James and his fiction. Instead of being what I had thought of as the somber "master" of cold 19th century fiction, he is a man with sharp and perceptive humor, a clever sense of inequalities between sexes and in society. My enlightenment is partially responsible for my rating, though I also enjoyed the novel!
The story is really quite simple...wealthy father knows what is best for future heiress daughter. Rogue suitor comes to town and captures her heart but does not pull the wool over daddy's eyes. Silly Aunt plays go-between and girl falls as deeply in love as a 19th century novel allows us to see. But James does not stop there he provides so much more by giving us asides filled will sarcastic, humorous "digs" at various characters, revealing deeper traits.
In one exchange with his sister, Mrs. Almond, Dr. Sloper and she are discussing are discussing how the doctor will manage the situation.
"'You are shockingly cold-blooded!' said Mrs. Almond.
'I need to be with all this hot blood about me. Young
Townsend, indeed, is cool; I must allow him that merit.'" p 144
And later, James briefly summarizes three of the main actors.
"Mrs. Penniman, of the three persons in Washington
Square, had much the most of the manner that belongs to
a great crisis. If Catherine was quiet, she was quietly
quiet...If the doctor was stiff and dry, and absolutely
indifferent to the presence of his companions, it was so
lightly, neatly, easily done,that you would have had to
know him well to discover that...he enjoyed having to be
so disagreeable. But Mrs. Penniman was elaborately
reserved and significantly silent; there was a richer
rustle in the very deliberate movements to which she
confined herself, and when she occasionally spoke, in
connection with some very trivial event, she had the air of
meaning something deeper than what she said." p 152
And, as a final, briefer selection describing Mrs. Penniman once more:
"'You leave him in good hands,' she said, pressing her lips
to Catherine's forehead. (She was fond of kissing people's
foreheads; it was an involuntary expression of sympathy
with the intellectual part.) p 159
I have perhaps fallen for the style more than the story here but one adds to the other. Certainly, I will seek out many more of James' novels in the future. The intimidation of the past is gone!
Wonderful introduction for me as I've only read A Turn of The Screw in the past.
The story is really quite simple...wealthy father knows what is best for future heiress daughter. Rogue suitor comes to town and captures her heart but does not pull the wool over daddy's eyes. Silly Aunt plays go-between and girl falls as deeply in love as a 19th century novel allows us to see. But James does not stop there he provides so much more by giving us asides filled will sarcastic, humorous "digs" at various characters, revealing deeper traits.
In one exchange with his sister, Mrs. Almond, Dr. Sloper and she are discussing are discussing how the doctor will manage the situation.
"'You are shockingly cold-blooded!' said Mrs. Almond.
'I need to be with all this hot blood about me. Young
Townsend, indeed, is cool; I must allow him that merit.'" p 144
And later, James briefly summarizes three of the main actors.
"Mrs. Penniman, of the three persons in Washington
Square, had much the most of the manner that belongs to
a great crisis. If Catherine was quiet, she was quietly
quiet...If the doctor was stiff and dry, and absolutely
indifferent to the presence of his companions, it was so
lightly, neatly, easily done,that you would have had to
know him well to discover that...he enjoyed having to be
so disagreeable. But Mrs. Penniman was elaborately
reserved and significantly silent; there was a richer
rustle in the very deliberate movements to which she
confined herself, and when she occasionally spoke, in
connection with some very trivial event, she had the air of
meaning something deeper than what she said." p 152
And, as a final, briefer selection describing Mrs. Penniman once more:
"'You leave him in good hands,' she said, pressing her lips
to Catherine's forehead. (She was fond of kissing people's
foreheads; it was an involuntary expression of sympathy
with the intellectual part.) p 159
I have perhaps fallen for the style more than the story here but one adds to the other. Certainly, I will seek out many more of James' novels in the future. The intimidation of the past is gone!
Wonderful introduction for me as I've only read A Turn of The Screw in the past.
October 30, 2020
Ο ΧένριΤζέιμς έχει την ικανότητα να ανεβαίνει με απίστευτη αναγνωστική λαγνεία στα ουράνια σμήνη λέξεων της αφηγηματικής του λύτρωσης, και με ένα απαλό, ειρωνικό χτύπημα της μαγικής του πένας
να προσγειώνει τον αναγνώστη του στο έδαφος
του ρεαλιστικού προσδιορισμού ξανά ...
Αυτό το κείμενο είναι εύκολο και απλό, σκιαγραφημένο για πνευματικά ταξίδια και μια καλή αρχή για
τη βύθιση στα απροσμέτρητα κενά των
ανεκπλήρωτων, των ανεπίδοτων, των λησμονημένων, των ανομολόγητων αναστεναγμών.
Των λυγμών που πνίγονται απο κραυγές σιωπηλού πόνου, απο απλά μεγάλα και βαθιά συναισθηματικά υπερχειλισμένα φορτία αγάπης.
Η γραφή του είναι τόσο ακριβής μα και τόσο ανθρωπιστική που καταφέρνει να αναλύσει με περίτεχνο τρόπο και απαράμιλλο ύφος όλες τις κοινωνικοπολιτικές αμυχές και τις διαπροσωπικές εικόνες των ανθρώπων, ιδιαίτερα εκείνων μιας συγκεκριμένης τάξης των Αμερικανών στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα.
Ο Τζέιμς δείχνει εδώ πώς να περιστρέφει μια ιστορία καθαρής λαμπρότητας και κομψότητας, όπως έκανε με το "The Turn of the Screw".
Και ενώ πρόκειται ουσιαστικά για μια ιστορία αγάπης κοινότοπης και γλυκερής, καταφέρνει να ξεφύγει
απο τα επουσιώδη και τα μοιρολατρικά δρώμενα και να καταλήξει στα άκρως αντίθετα στερεοτυπικά της εποχής, περί έρωτος και παντοτινής αφοσίωσης
σε μεγάλες αγάπες που εξιδανικεύουν προσομοιώσεις αιωνίων δεσμών απο πρότυπα παρελθοντικών τραγωδιών στο βωμό της ανεκπλήρωτης ψυχικής και σωματικής ένωσης.
Όλα γίνονται με σκληρά χάδια έκφρασης και πονηρά παιχνίδια συναισθηματικών φαντασμάτων που δεν τρομάζουν πολύ τον αναγνώστη, απλώς τον προετοιμάζουν με την πλαστικότητα και το σκληρό πλαίσιο πεθαμένων παραμυθιών.
Εδώ ο τυχοδιώκτης δανδής ορίζεται εξ αρχής ως προικοθήρας ολκής.
Η ανύμφευτη κόρη της αριστοκρατικής τάξης με τεράστια προίκα, αντιστρόφως ανάλογη των χαρακτηρισμών που θα την ήθελαν όμορφη και έξυπνη, γίνεται μια προσηνής γεροντοκόρη παλαιών ηθικών αρχών.
Η χήρα θεία, αδελφή του μπαμπά που ανατρέφει την μέλλουσα γεροντοκόρη, είναι μια ανόητα ρομαντική κουτσομπόλα που γεμίζει τη ζωή της με το να
μπερδεύει τις ζωές των άλλων.
Ο πατέρας ως ηγετική μορφή και ισχυρή προσωπικότητα είναι ο μεγαλοαστός γιατρός,
χήρος
και εμπνευσμένα διορατικός σχετικά με τις ανθρώπινες συμπεριφορές. Είναι ο βλοσυρός τιμωρός της ψευτιάς και της δολοπλοκίας σε σημείο που καταλήγει να αποτιμά με ευθυκρισία την αγαπημενή του μοναχοκόρη ως υπερήφανη γεροντοκόρη παρά ως απελπισμένη και ίσως δυστυχισμένη μέσα σε έναν ξεπουλημένο γάμο.
Η Πλατεία της Ουάσιγκτον είναι ένα δημοφιλές μυθιστόρημα του Τζέιμς για τις ρομαντικές και καυστικά σκούρες και πικρές μυθιστορηματικές του πινελιές, ακόμα κι αν δεν ήταν ποτέ αγαπημένο είδος του ίδιου του δημιουργού.
Ο χαρακτηρισμός του συγγραφέα προς την τελική ευθεία της ιστορίας μας παρατηρείται καλά, δεν υποχωρεί ποτέ στις τυπικές προσδοκίες, και μεταφέρεται ρεαλιστικά - και σχεδόν σκληρά - στο τέλος.
Ο Χένρι Τζέιμς είναι γνωστός για την πυκνή του σχεδόν αδιαπέραστη- πεζογραφία, και για την αγάπη του για τη βαθιά εξερεύνηση των εσωτερικών λειτουργιών των χαρακτήρων του.
Η Πλατεία Ουάσιγκτον είναι ελαφρώς διαφορετική
από τα άλλα έργα του σε αυτό το θέμα, ίσως επειδή
είναι παλαιότερο μυθιστόρημα.
Η πεζογραφία μπορεί να είναι αρκετά περιληπτική,
με πολλές ρήτρες ενσωματωμένες σε μία πρόταση, περιγραφές γεμάτες μορφολογικά στοιχεία έκφρασης που φαίνεται να υπάρχουν καθαρά για να αποφύγουν
να δηλώσουν τον αμβλύ και αληθινό προσδιορισμό
του θέματος.
Φαίνεται να λειτουργεί έξω από τις κανονικές δυαδικές διακρίσεις που βρίσκει κανείς στα πρώτα έργα του James.
Αλλά αυτές οι τεχνικές χρησιμεύουν επίσης για να αναδείξουν τον μπερδεμένο κόσμο γύρω από την
ηρωίδα και τη δυσκολία που βρίσκει στο
ξεκαθάρισμα της πρόθεσης των δύο πολύ ισχυρών ανδρών ( πατέρας vs εραστής )
που θέλουν να ελέγξουν τη ζωή της.
Ο Τζέιμς, στην καλύτερη περίπτωση, είναι ένας φανταστικός συγγραφέας και ευτυχώς για τον αναγνώστη της πλατείας Ουάσιγκτον είναι πλήρως υπεύθυνος για το υλικό που παραδίδει στην αγκαλιά της λογοτεχνίας.
🌸🌸😈😈😈📚📚
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
να προσγειώνει τον αναγνώστη του στο έδαφος
του ρεαλιστικού προσδιορισμού ξανά ...
Αυτό το κείμενο είναι εύκολο και απλό, σκιαγραφημένο για πνευματικά ταξίδια και μια καλή αρχή για
τη βύθιση στα απροσμέτρητα κενά των
ανεκπλήρωτων, των ανεπίδοτων, των λησμονημένων, των ανομολόγητων αναστεναγμών.
Των λυγμών που πνίγονται απο κραυγές σιωπηλού πόνου, απο απλά μεγάλα και βαθιά συναισθηματικά υπερχειλισμένα φορτία αγάπης.
Η γραφή του είναι τόσο ακριβής μα και τόσο ανθρωπιστική που καταφέρνει να αναλύσει με περίτεχνο τρόπο και απαράμιλλο ύφος όλες τις κοινωνικοπολιτικές αμυχές και τις διαπροσωπικές εικόνες των ανθρώπων, ιδιαίτερα εκείνων μιας συγκεκριμένης τάξης των Αμερικανών στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα.
Ο Τζέιμς δείχνει εδώ πώς να περιστρέφει μια ιστορία καθαρής λαμπρότητας και κομψότητας, όπως έκανε με το "The Turn of the Screw".
Και ενώ πρόκειται ουσιαστικά για μια ιστορία αγάπης κοινότοπης και γλυκερής, καταφέρνει να ξεφύγει
απο τα επουσιώδη και τα μοιρολατρικά δρώμενα και να καταλήξει στα άκρως αντίθετα στερεοτυπικά της εποχής, περί έρωτος και παντοτινής αφοσίωσης
σε μεγάλες αγάπες που εξιδανικεύουν προσομοιώσεις αιωνίων δεσμών απο πρότυπα παρελθοντικών τραγωδιών στο βωμό της ανεκπλήρωτης ψυχικής και σωματικής ένωσης.
Όλα γίνονται με σκληρά χάδια έκφρασης και πονηρά παιχνίδια συναισθηματικών φαντασμάτων που δεν τρομάζουν πολύ τον αναγνώστη, απλώς τον προετοιμάζουν με την πλαστικότητα και το σκληρό πλαίσιο πεθαμένων παραμυθιών.
Εδώ ο τυχοδιώκτης δανδής ορίζεται εξ αρχής ως προικοθήρας ολκής.
Η ανύμφευτη κόρη της αριστοκρατικής τάξης με τεράστια προίκα, αντιστρόφως ανάλογη των χαρακτηρισμών που θα την ήθελαν όμορφη και έξυπνη, γίνεται μια προσηνής γεροντοκόρη παλαιών ηθικών αρχών.
Η χήρα θεία, αδελφή του μπαμπά που ανατρέφει την μέλλουσα γεροντοκόρη, είναι μια ανόητα ρομαντική κουτσομπόλα που γεμίζει τη ζωή της με το να
μπερδεύει τις ζωές των άλλων.
Ο πατέρας ως ηγετική μορφή και ισχυρή προσωπικότητα είναι ο μεγαλοαστός γιατρός,
χήρος
και εμπνευσμένα διορατικός σχετικά με τις ανθρώπινες συμπεριφορές. Είναι ο βλοσυρός τιμωρός της ψευτιάς και της δολοπλοκίας σε σημείο που καταλήγει να αποτιμά με ευθυκρισία την αγαπημενή του μοναχοκόρη ως υπερήφανη γεροντοκόρη παρά ως απελπισμένη και ίσως δυστυχισμένη μέσα σε έναν ξεπουλημένο γάμο.
Η Πλατεία της Ουάσιγκτον είναι ένα δημοφιλές μυθιστόρημα του Τζέιμς για τις ρομαντικές και καυστικά σκούρες και πικρές μυθιστορηματικές του πινελιές, ακόμα κι αν δεν ήταν ποτέ αγαπημένο είδος του ίδιου του δημιουργού.
Ο χαρακτηρισμός του συγγραφέα προς την τελική ευθεία της ιστορίας μας παρατηρείται καλά, δεν υποχωρεί ποτέ στις τυπικές προσδοκίες, και μεταφέρεται ρεαλιστικά - και σχεδόν σκληρά - στο τέλος.
Ο Χένρι Τζέιμς είναι γνωστός για την πυκνή του σχεδόν αδιαπέραστη- πεζογραφία, και για την αγάπη του για τη βαθιά εξερεύνηση των εσωτερικών λειτουργιών των χαρακτήρων του.
Η Πλατεία Ουάσιγκτον είναι ελαφρώς διαφορετική
από τα άλλα έργα του σε αυτό το θέμα, ίσως επειδή
είναι παλαιότερο μυθιστόρημα.
Η πεζογραφία μπορεί να είναι αρκετά περιληπτική,
με πολλές ρήτρες ενσωματωμένες σε μία πρόταση, περιγραφές γεμάτες μορφολογικά στοιχεία έκφρασης που φαίνεται να υπάρχουν καθαρά για να αποφύγουν
να δηλώσουν τον αμβλύ και αληθινό προσδιορισμό
του θέματος.
Φαίνεται να λειτουργεί έξω από τις κανονικές δυαδικές διακρίσεις που βρίσκει κανείς στα πρώτα έργα του James.
Αλλά αυτές οι τεχνικές χρησιμεύουν επίσης για να αναδείξουν τον μπερδεμένο κόσμο γύρω από την
ηρωίδα και τη δυσκολία που βρίσκει στο
ξεκαθάρισμα της πρόθεσης των δύο πολύ ισχυρών ανδρών ( πατέρας vs εραστής )
που θέλουν να ελέγξουν τη ζωή της.
Ο Τζέιμς, στην καλύτερη περίπτωση, είναι ένας φανταστικός συγγραφέας και ευτυχώς για τον αναγνώστη της πλατείας Ουάσιγκτον είναι πλήρως υπεύθυνος για το υλικό που παραδίδει στην αγκαλιά της λογοτεχνίας.
🌸🌸😈😈😈📚📚
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
April 5, 2022
Consider ca este unul dintre romanele mai accesibile ale lui Henry James, atat ca tematica dar si ca maniera de scriere, ridicand dificultati mai putine unui cititor care il descopera pentru prima data de exemplu.
Autorul creaza portrete morale cu cel mai mare rafinament si le confera atemporalitate, acestea potrivindu-se in orice societate din orice secol deoarece oamenii si-au schimbat hainele, decorul sau obiceiurile insa morala si caracterul lor au ramas aceleasi. Asa cum ne-a obisnuit, dialogurile sunt vii, inteligente, vivace, uneori taioase, prin care se spune tot dar se ascunde suficienta subtilitate incat sa-l faca pe cititor sa gandeasca.
Henry James abordeaza drama in mod ironic sau amuzant insa niciodata batjocoritor sau cu scopul de a rani ci pentru a invata, a moraliza, a lua aminte.
Actiunea ne infatiseaza viata unui doctor apreciat, alaturi de fiica si sora sa, matusa Pennimann, intr-o frumoasa casuta din piata Washington. Acesta isi doreste foarte mult ca fata sa Catherine, care n-a fost inzestrata cu frumusete, sa fie inteligenta. Iata ca Henry James ridica iarasi tematica frumusetii si daca in "Americanul" o aveam pe Claire de Cintre ca frumusete absoluta iar in "Comorile din Poynton" vorbeam despre frumusetea locului perfect, in acest roman ne intalnim cu 'frumusetea ratiunii'.
Adevarata drama o are in prim plan pe Catherine care esueaza in a fi inteligenta si nefiind nici frumoasa cade victima unui barbat care si-a risipit averea si nu este deloc pe placul tatalui ei ca petitor. Prinsa intre tatal autoritar si matusa romantioasa, ea incearca sa-si asculte inima dar sa si faca ceea ce este moralmente corect. Am simtit ca este o alegere imposibila pentru o femeie, intre ratiune si dragoste.
Desi detin un exemplar vechi, coperta cartii mi s-a parut foarte inspirata pentru ca infatiseaza o tanara domnita ce sta intr-o cutie de lemn parand ca va fi strivita de peretii rigizi ai acesteia, reprezentandu-i pe tatal, matusa si logodnicul ei.
Finalul, ca in cazul tuturor cartilor lui Henry James este unul moral si tinde sa faca dreptate sau sa pedepseasca.
Nu as putea sa inchei fara cateva citate interesante sau ironice, relevante in stilul autorului:
"...Cititul este o ocupatie plictisitoare numai ca [...] trebuie sa citesti multe carti pana iti dai seama."
"Pentru ea dragostea insemna o pasiune aprinsa, istovitoare, in timp ce, in aceste momente, sufletul ei era plin de dorinta de a sta in umbra si de a se sacrifica."
"Nu cred in sotii minunati, a replicat doamna Almond. Cred numai in sotii buni."
"E la fel de inteligenta ca si maldarul ala de esarfe, isi spuse doctorul, superioritatea ei constand in aceea ca, in timp ce esarfele se mai pierdeau ori alunecau din caleasca, Catherine era intotdeauna la post, bine asezata pe locul ei."
"Pazeste-te de mania indreptatita a unui vanator de zestre pacalit!"
Autorul creaza portrete morale cu cel mai mare rafinament si le confera atemporalitate, acestea potrivindu-se in orice societate din orice secol deoarece oamenii si-au schimbat hainele, decorul sau obiceiurile insa morala si caracterul lor au ramas aceleasi. Asa cum ne-a obisnuit, dialogurile sunt vii, inteligente, vivace, uneori taioase, prin care se spune tot dar se ascunde suficienta subtilitate incat sa-l faca pe cititor sa gandeasca.
Henry James abordeaza drama in mod ironic sau amuzant insa niciodata batjocoritor sau cu scopul de a rani ci pentru a invata, a moraliza, a lua aminte.
Actiunea ne infatiseaza viata unui doctor apreciat, alaturi de fiica si sora sa, matusa Pennimann, intr-o frumoasa casuta din piata Washington. Acesta isi doreste foarte mult ca fata sa Catherine, care n-a fost inzestrata cu frumusete, sa fie inteligenta. Iata ca Henry James ridica iarasi tematica frumusetii si daca in "Americanul" o aveam pe Claire de Cintre ca frumusete absoluta iar in "Comorile din Poynton" vorbeam despre frumusetea locului perfect, in acest roman ne intalnim cu 'frumusetea ratiunii'.
Adevarata drama o are in prim plan pe Catherine care esueaza in a fi inteligenta si nefiind nici frumoasa cade victima unui barbat care si-a risipit averea si nu este deloc pe placul tatalui ei ca petitor. Prinsa intre tatal autoritar si matusa romantioasa, ea incearca sa-si asculte inima dar sa si faca ceea ce este moralmente corect. Am simtit ca este o alegere imposibila pentru o femeie, intre ratiune si dragoste.
Desi detin un exemplar vechi, coperta cartii mi s-a parut foarte inspirata pentru ca infatiseaza o tanara domnita ce sta intr-o cutie de lemn parand ca va fi strivita de peretii rigizi ai acesteia, reprezentandu-i pe tatal, matusa si logodnicul ei.
Finalul, ca in cazul tuturor cartilor lui Henry James este unul moral si tinde sa faca dreptate sau sa pedepseasca.
Nu as putea sa inchei fara cateva citate interesante sau ironice, relevante in stilul autorului:
"...Cititul este o ocupatie plictisitoare numai ca [...] trebuie sa citesti multe carti pana iti dai seama."
"Pentru ea dragostea insemna o pasiune aprinsa, istovitoare, in timp ce, in aceste momente, sufletul ei era plin de dorinta de a sta in umbra si de a se sacrifica."
"Nu cred in sotii minunati, a replicat doamna Almond. Cred numai in sotii buni."
"E la fel de inteligenta ca si maldarul ala de esarfe, isi spuse doctorul, superioritatea ei constand in aceea ca, in timp ce esarfele se mai pierdeau ori alunecau din caleasca, Catherine era intotdeauna la post, bine asezata pe locul ei."
"Pazeste-te de mania indreptatita a unui vanator de zestre pacalit!"
April 16, 2017
James presents the story of a wealthy doctor's wholly unremarkable daughter, and her whirlwind
courtship with an untrustworthy gold digger.
While reading this book is certainly not the worst thing that will ever happen to you, the whole experience is a bit like having tea with your Aunt Gertrude: expect a staid, rather dull affair where everyone minds his or her manners, trivialities are discussed, and then all go home . . . lulled into complacency, but still feeling slightly peckish.
courtship with an untrustworthy gold digger.
While reading this book is certainly not the worst thing that will ever happen to you, the whole experience is a bit like having tea with your Aunt Gertrude: expect a staid, rather dull affair where everyone minds his or her manners, trivialities are discussed, and then all go home . . . lulled into complacency, but still feeling slightly peckish.
September 5, 2021
Henry James and I have an on again, off again love affair. Although Portrait of a Lady is one of my all time favorites, I found The Ambassadors irritating and Turn of the Screw a chore. I'm so happy that we are definitely back together with the riveting Washington Square! I was transfixed by James' multi-layered rendition of Catherine's relationship with her love interest, her aunt and her father in this gem of a novel.
I listened to the audiobook, perfectly read by Lloyd James.
I listened to the audiobook, perfectly read by Lloyd James.
April 1, 2018
Henry James should have gone with the more apt and obvious title Two Shitty Men Say Mean Things To Two Silly Women.
October 5, 2018
An early work by Henry James (1880) and rather brief, The plot is straightforward. Dr Sloper lives with his daughter Catherine and hus widowed sister Mrs Penniman. They live in Washington Square and Sr Sloper is reasonably well off and Catherine also has some money left by her mother. Dr Sloper (and the narrator) describe Catherine as rather plain and unitelligent. Into this family scene enters Morris Townsend, a very handsome and penniless young man who woos Catherine (and charms Mrs Penniman) and wins her heart. Her father is implacably opposed to the match and makes his feelings clear both to Morris and Catherine. The romance plays out and ends and pretty much everyone remains unhappy.
Being by James, it is, of course well written, but apparently James disliked it. I am sure that James read Trollope and when I first noted the names of the main characters, Dr and Miss Sloper, I immediately thought of Slope in Barchester Towers. There seems to be no particular link, though both are cruel and sure of the own rightness, but the names are strikingly similar. James is said to have based it on a true story. The men are irredeemably awful, but the women are not much better for putting up with them.
I have a vague recollection of Albert Finney being in the film as Dr Sloper and there has even been an opera I think. Anyway, I enjoyed it. a good book for a dyed in the wool cynic to read; I told you it would end in tears!!
Being by James, it is, of course well written, but apparently James disliked it. I am sure that James read Trollope and when I first noted the names of the main characters, Dr and Miss Sloper, I immediately thought of Slope in Barchester Towers. There seems to be no particular link, though both are cruel and sure of the own rightness, but the names are strikingly similar. James is said to have based it on a true story. The men are irredeemably awful, but the women are not much better for putting up with them.
I have a vague recollection of Albert Finney being in the film as Dr Sloper and there has even been an opera I think. Anyway, I enjoyed it. a good book for a dyed in the wool cynic to read; I told you it would end in tears!!
August 28, 2017
I'm of two minds when it comes to this book. On the one hand, the writing and James' observations are exquisitely on point, and he is able to create such a fleshed out story with so little story-line. On the other, I disliked all the characters. I did sympathize with Catherine, and in a way, even with Morris, but I did not connect to them. I've found this to be the case with other books by Henry James as well as Edith Wharton. They are such masters of language, but for me, they are not as acutely talented in drawing out characters with whom I have an affinity. I never perceived great passion or chemistry between any of the characters, so the "love story" did not strike me as terribly authentic or believable. That being said, I did strangely enjoy it. After reading far too much news in recent months, and quite a number or creepy thrillers, I felt a need for beautiful language, and eloquence in a world where some days it seems there is decidedly too little of either. I wasn't looking for a book to break my heart or fully engage all my emotions. I read this because I trust James to provide something of linguistic beauty, and in that respect, I was quite satisfied.
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
March 12, 2019
“if you are going to be pushed you had better jump”
― Henry James, Washington Square
* I understand it is anachronistic to include a picture of Washington Square's arch when it wasn't around (errected in 1892) when the novella was published (1880) or set (pre-Civil War NYC). Oh, well, but I like it.
In the spirit of Jane Austin or Brontë, Henry James gets his family love drama on. Washinton Square slowly unfolds the story of simple Catherine's romance with Morris Townsend. Set against this ill-fated relationship is simple Catherine's brilliant but cold father who suspects Morris Townsend of mercenary designs on simple Catherine's fortune (from her mother and eventually from him). Working to fascilitate this relationship is simple Catherine's aunt Lavinia, and Dr. Sloper's sister, who is romantic in her view of Morris Townsend, despite her brother's suspicions.
The novel, at its core, suspends simple Catherine between the judgement of her father and the narcissim of Morris Townsend. Trapped, Henry James gives her only one simple way of escape -- growth.
The narrative is straight. The prose is clean. It isn't the greatest James novel I've read so far, but it is still fascinating in its clarity and its power. I didn't like Dr. Sloper, but I respected him. Lavinia irritated me. Simple Catherine grew on my throughout the novel. And, as a father of a daughter, I couldn't view Morris Townsend with anything BUT contempt.
― Henry James, Washington Square
* I understand it is anachronistic to include a picture of Washington Square's arch when it wasn't around (errected in 1892) when the novella was published (1880) or set (pre-Civil War NYC). Oh, well, but I like it.
In the spirit of Jane Austin or Brontë, Henry James gets his family love drama on. Washinton Square slowly unfolds the story of simple Catherine's romance with Morris Townsend. Set against this ill-fated relationship is simple Catherine's brilliant but cold father who suspects Morris Townsend of mercenary designs on simple Catherine's fortune (from her mother and eventually from him). Working to fascilitate this relationship is simple Catherine's aunt Lavinia, and Dr. Sloper's sister, who is romantic in her view of Morris Townsend, despite her brother's suspicions.
The novel, at its core, suspends simple Catherine between the judgement of her father and the narcissim of Morris Townsend. Trapped, Henry James gives her only one simple way of escape -- growth.
The narrative is straight. The prose is clean. It isn't the greatest James novel I've read so far, but it is still fascinating in its clarity and its power. I didn't like Dr. Sloper, but I respected him. Lavinia irritated me. Simple Catherine grew on my throughout the novel. And, as a father of a daughter, I couldn't view Morris Townsend with anything BUT contempt.
December 10, 2016
Washington Square (1880) was originally published in two different magazines as a serial and Henry James himself didn't really think much of it as a small novel, and I would partly agree with that.
Structurally simple in it's approach the story basically recounts a conflict between father and daughter over her wishes to wed a gentleman called Morris Townsend, who he greatly disproves of.
The father, Dr. Sloper is a cold but intelligent man who after losing his wife seems to struggle with the realization that his Catherine is growing up, while Catherine is child like and has a quivering nervousness that seems like she is going to burst into tears at any given moment, which she regularly does. She is also one of the most dullest characters I have ever come across!, But saying that I found it extremely difficult to like anybody. Things would improve later on, but the whole novel never really gets out of first gear. As a father only wants what's best for their children he believes Morris is only after Catherine's inheritance once married. He would take her to Europe and try to shake the memories of him away, the fact he will never give his blessing to such a marriage only confounds that he really does love her, in spite of his harsh treatment. This was always an easy read, and the fact many compare James's writing with that of Jane Austin, I was expecting something more, but as a psychological study of family during the latter part of the 19th century, it just about delivered.
Structurally simple in it's approach the story basically recounts a conflict between father and daughter over her wishes to wed a gentleman called Morris Townsend, who he greatly disproves of.
The father, Dr. Sloper is a cold but intelligent man who after losing his wife seems to struggle with the realization that his Catherine is growing up, while Catherine is child like and has a quivering nervousness that seems like she is going to burst into tears at any given moment, which she regularly does. She is also one of the most dullest characters I have ever come across!, But saying that I found it extremely difficult to like anybody. Things would improve later on, but the whole novel never really gets out of first gear. As a father only wants what's best for their children he believes Morris is only after Catherine's inheritance once married. He would take her to Europe and try to shake the memories of him away, the fact he will never give his blessing to such a marriage only confounds that he really does love her, in spite of his harsh treatment. This was always an easy read, and the fact many compare James's writing with that of Jane Austin, I was expecting something more, but as a psychological study of family during the latter part of the 19th century, it just about delivered.
August 16, 2024
People who expressed themselves roughly called her stolid. But she was irresponsive because she was shy, uncomfortably, painfully shy. This was not always understood, and she sometimes produced an impression of insensibility. In reality she was the softest creature in the world.
É possível uma rapariga que é retratada como uma autêntica mosquinha morta, sem um pingo de formusura, viço ou argúcia dar uma excelente protagonista? Claro que sim, pela pena do grande Henry James, criador do mais variado leque de heroínas, em que não há duas iguais e cada uma tem o seu próprio encanto, mesmo que bem escondido, como no caso de Catherine Sloper.
Contra tudo e contra todos, incluindo o narrador muito presente e incisivo, fiquei instintivamente do lado de Catherine, já que ninguém parecia gostar realmente dela, apesar de ser uma rapariga leal, firme, tranquila e de bom coração. Para o pai, ela é uma profunda desilusão porque não só não é o rapaz que desejava, como fica a dever muito à beleza e à inteligência.
She grew up peacefully and prosperously, but at the age of eighteen Mrs. Penniman had not made a clever woman of her. Dr. Sloper would have liked to be proud of his daughter; but there was nothing to be proud of in poor Catherine. There was nothing, of course, to be ashamed of; but this was not enough for the Doctor, who was a proud man and would have enjoyed being able to think of his daughter as an unusual girl.
Para o seu pretendente, parece ser só a herdeira de uma grande fortuna...
“He is in love with this regal creature, then?” the Doctor inquired humorously. “Oh, father,” cried the girl, still more faintly, devoutly thankful the carriage was dark. “I don’t know that; but he admired her dress.” Catherine did not say to herself in the dark, “My dress only?” Mrs. Penniman’s announcement struck her by its richness, not by its meagreness. “You see,” said her father, “he thinks you have eighty thousand a year.”“I don’t believe he thinks of that,” said Mrs. Penniman; “he is too refined.” “He must be tremendously refined not to think of that!”
...enquanto para a tia que a criou não passa de um joguete dos seus devaneios românticos de alcoviteira.
While she was engaged in this speculation, Catherine broke out, with a certain sharpness, “Why are you so contradictory, Aunt Penniman? You seem to think one thing at one time, and another at another. A year ago, before I went away, you wished me not to mind about displeasing father; and now you seem to recommend me to take another line. You change about so.” This attack was unexpected, for Mrs. Penniman was not used, in any discussion, to seeing the war carried into her own country—possibly because the enemy generally had doubts of finding subsistence there.
É uma personagem despretensiosa e estóica que acaba por surpreender todos os que a subestimam, ainda que pague um preço elevado por isso.
If she doesn’t let go, she will be shaken off—sent tumbling into the dust! That’s a nice position for my daughter. She can’t see that if you are going to be pushed you had better jump. And then she will complain of her bruises.” “She will never complain,” said Mrs. Almond. “That I shall object to even more. But the deuce will be that I can’t prevent anything.” “If she is to have a fall,” said Mrs. Almond, with a gentle laugh, “we must spread as many carpets as we can.”
É possível uma rapariga que é retratada como uma autêntica mosquinha morta, sem um pingo de formusura, viço ou argúcia dar uma excelente protagonista? Claro que sim, pela pena do grande Henry James, criador do mais variado leque de heroínas, em que não há duas iguais e cada uma tem o seu próprio encanto, mesmo que bem escondido, como no caso de Catherine Sloper.
Contra tudo e contra todos, incluindo o narrador muito presente e incisivo, fiquei instintivamente do lado de Catherine, já que ninguém parecia gostar realmente dela, apesar de ser uma rapariga leal, firme, tranquila e de bom coração. Para o pai, ela é uma profunda desilusão porque não só não é o rapaz que desejava, como fica a dever muito à beleza e à inteligência.
She grew up peacefully and prosperously, but at the age of eighteen Mrs. Penniman had not made a clever woman of her. Dr. Sloper would have liked to be proud of his daughter; but there was nothing to be proud of in poor Catherine. There was nothing, of course, to be ashamed of; but this was not enough for the Doctor, who was a proud man and would have enjoyed being able to think of his daughter as an unusual girl.
Para o seu pretendente, parece ser só a herdeira de uma grande fortuna...
“He is in love with this regal creature, then?” the Doctor inquired humorously. “Oh, father,” cried the girl, still more faintly, devoutly thankful the carriage was dark. “I don’t know that; but he admired her dress.” Catherine did not say to herself in the dark, “My dress only?” Mrs. Penniman’s announcement struck her by its richness, not by its meagreness. “You see,” said her father, “he thinks you have eighty thousand a year.”“I don’t believe he thinks of that,” said Mrs. Penniman; “he is too refined.” “He must be tremendously refined not to think of that!”
...enquanto para a tia que a criou não passa de um joguete dos seus devaneios românticos de alcoviteira.
While she was engaged in this speculation, Catherine broke out, with a certain sharpness, “Why are you so contradictory, Aunt Penniman? You seem to think one thing at one time, and another at another. A year ago, before I went away, you wished me not to mind about displeasing father; and now you seem to recommend me to take another line. You change about so.” This attack was unexpected, for Mrs. Penniman was not used, in any discussion, to seeing the war carried into her own country—possibly because the enemy generally had doubts of finding subsistence there.
É uma personagem despretensiosa e estóica que acaba por surpreender todos os que a subestimam, ainda que pague um preço elevado por isso.
If she doesn’t let go, she will be shaken off—sent tumbling into the dust! That’s a nice position for my daughter. She can’t see that if you are going to be pushed you had better jump. And then she will complain of her bruises.” “She will never complain,” said Mrs. Almond. “That I shall object to even more. But the deuce will be that I can’t prevent anything.” “If she is to have a fall,” said Mrs. Almond, with a gentle laugh, “we must spread as many carpets as we can.”
August 12, 2023
I have a special fondness for this novel, and I’m not sure why. I think it’s the drama under the surface, the palpable restraint that I love and find deliciously haunting. But it’s also the character of Catherine Sloper, a good daughter, a dull woman, not your typical dramatic heroine. Restraint is something that comes part and parcel with goodness, as anyone who is good will know and relate to in their bones. So it’s a perfect blend of character and tone, I guess, that I find so intriguing and masterful.
The writing is slow and probing and languorous, but that works for this short novel with its simple plot (unlike some of James’ longer novels where it’s painful!). The story revolves around Washington Square in New York City, built in the 1800’s to house the wealthy and posh. Doctor Sloper resides there with his daughter Catherine and his sister Lavinia, who was brought into the family after the death of his wife and infant son. Catherine attracts the handsome Morris Townsend, who, since she isn’t beautiful, must be after her money.
The Doctor’s prejudices and expectations, Lavinia’s romantic whims, Morris’s desire for the rich way of life, and Catherine’s submissiveness are all aspects of the Washington Square scene, making the place a character in itself, in the impact this lifestyle has had on those attempting to live it.
“…the foot of Doctor Sloper’s white marble steps, above which a spotless white door, adorned with a glittering silver plate, seemed to figure for Morris the closed portal of happiness …”
So there are the societal expectations, and then the personal ones. Catherine’s father does not appreciate her. Doctor Sloper is disappointed that she is not beautiful and will never be accomplished. He has no appreciation for her kindness, her respect, her dutifulness.
We are so susceptible to being manipulated by those we love, particularly those we may have long depended on, like our parents. When it comes to romance, these influences have more impact than we’d like to believe, contrary to the happily-ever-after love stories we are drawn to. Real life is more complicated, and our relationships are more like Venn diagrams than the separateness we long for when we first fall in love. All this must be navigated, and Catherine has a uniquely difficult road to walk.
“She had an entirely new feeling, which may be described as a state of expectant suspense about her own actions.”
My first Henry James, and still a favorite.
The writing is slow and probing and languorous, but that works for this short novel with its simple plot (unlike some of James’ longer novels where it’s painful!). The story revolves around Washington Square in New York City, built in the 1800’s to house the wealthy and posh. Doctor Sloper resides there with his daughter Catherine and his sister Lavinia, who was brought into the family after the death of his wife and infant son. Catherine attracts the handsome Morris Townsend, who, since she isn’t beautiful, must be after her money.
The Doctor’s prejudices and expectations, Lavinia’s romantic whims, Morris’s desire for the rich way of life, and Catherine’s submissiveness are all aspects of the Washington Square scene, making the place a character in itself, in the impact this lifestyle has had on those attempting to live it.
“…the foot of Doctor Sloper’s white marble steps, above which a spotless white door, adorned with a glittering silver plate, seemed to figure for Morris the closed portal of happiness …”
So there are the societal expectations, and then the personal ones. Catherine’s father does not appreciate her. Doctor Sloper is disappointed that she is not beautiful and will never be accomplished. He has no appreciation for her kindness, her respect, her dutifulness.
We are so susceptible to being manipulated by those we love, particularly those we may have long depended on, like our parents. When it comes to romance, these influences have more impact than we’d like to believe, contrary to the happily-ever-after love stories we are drawn to. Real life is more complicated, and our relationships are more like Venn diagrams than the separateness we long for when we first fall in love. All this must be navigated, and Catherine has a uniquely difficult road to walk.
“She had an entirely new feeling, which may be described as a state of expectant suspense about her own actions.”
My first Henry James, and still a favorite.
July 19, 2021
“No, no estoy enfadada. El rencor no dura tanto tiempo, aunque las impresiones sí cuando han sido fuertes...”
Estoy gratamente sorprendido con esta novela, honestamente pensé que me gustaría pero no al nivel que me ha gustado, y es que es de esas historias en las que capítulo tras capítulo sucede algún acontecimiento que no pasa para nada desapercibido. En pocas palabra, la lectura me ha parecido fascinante.
La historia va de una joven llamada Catherine, que cierto día —en una fiesta en casa de su tía Almond— conoce a un muchacho muy atractivo llamado Morris Townsend, quien inmediatamente muestra interés en ella. Catherine, por el contrario, es descrita como una chica no tan atractiva físicamente pero con una inteligencia y unos intereses muy bien definidos, además de ser la heredera de una fortuna considerable que le dejaría su padre. Por lo tanto, las preguntas que nos podríamos hacer son: ¿será acaso el interés del muchacho totalmente sincero con nuestra protagonista? ¿O es que habrá alguna artimaña detrás de todo? ¿O quizá la idea de que el joven Townsend sea un peligro para Catherine está solo en los pensamientos de su padre, el doctor Sloper? Vale la pena averiguarlo.
Con unas descripciones muy sutiles pero significativas, que te transportan al Nueva York de mediados del siglo XIX, unos personajes que se hacen querer u odiar (dependiendo de por quien sienta el lector mayor inclinación), un narrador al que le gusta meterse a dar su opinión de vez en cuando, y un final rápido pero memorable, esta pequeña novela se posiciona como mi favorita del autor y muy probablemente mi mejor lectura (junto con 22/11/63) de lo que llevo leído este mes.
En conclusión, si se desea leer algo corto, una historia y unos diálogos muy bien escritos y una protagonista que se convierte en un personaje digno de recordar, sin duda esta obra es el ideal para ello.
Estoy gratamente sorprendido con esta novela, honestamente pensé que me gustaría pero no al nivel que me ha gustado, y es que es de esas historias en las que capítulo tras capítulo sucede algún acontecimiento que no pasa para nada desapercibido. En pocas palabra, la lectura me ha parecido fascinante.
La historia va de una joven llamada Catherine, que cierto día —en una fiesta en casa de su tía Almond— conoce a un muchacho muy atractivo llamado Morris Townsend, quien inmediatamente muestra interés en ella. Catherine, por el contrario, es descrita como una chica no tan atractiva físicamente pero con una inteligencia y unos intereses muy bien definidos, además de ser la heredera de una fortuna considerable que le dejaría su padre. Por lo tanto, las preguntas que nos podríamos hacer son: ¿será acaso el interés del muchacho totalmente sincero con nuestra protagonista? ¿O es que habrá alguna artimaña detrás de todo? ¿O quizá la idea de que el joven Townsend sea un peligro para Catherine está solo en los pensamientos de su padre, el doctor Sloper? Vale la pena averiguarlo.
Con unas descripciones muy sutiles pero significativas, que te transportan al Nueva York de mediados del siglo XIX, unos personajes que se hacen querer u odiar (dependiendo de por quien sienta el lector mayor inclinación), un narrador al que le gusta meterse a dar su opinión de vez en cuando, y un final rápido pero memorable, esta pequeña novela se posiciona como mi favorita del autor y muy probablemente mi mejor lectura (junto con 22/11/63) de lo que llevo leído este mes.
En conclusión, si se desea leer algo corto, una historia y unos diálogos muy bien escritos y una protagonista que se convierte en un personaje digno de recordar, sin duda esta obra es el ideal para ello.
May 3, 2020
Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο αποτελεί ακόμα μια διαπίστευση της συγγραφικής ιδιοφυΐας του Χένρι Τζέιμς. Ο Αμερικανός συγγραφέας αφηγείται μια μάλλον τυπική ιστορία, η οποία διαδραματίζεται στην Νέα Υόρκη του 19ου αιώνα. Όμως το κάνει με τον δικό του ξεχωριστό και μοναδικό τρόπο.
Σταδιακά σε όλη την ιστορία, αφαιρεί όλα αυτά τα στοιχεία που μπορεί να προσφέρουν εύκολες συγκινήσεις στον αναγνώστη, αποφεύγει να χρησιμοποιεί τεχνικές εντυπωσιασμού και μένει σταθερός στην αφήγηση του και στην δόμηση των χαρακτήρων του. Μας συστήνει αρχικά τον φαινομενικά ευγενή γιατρό Σλόπερ, την αγαθή κόρη του Κάθριν και την ελαφρόμυαλη κουτσομπόλα θεία Λαβίνια. Μια τυπική οικογένεια της οποίας τα ήρεμα νερά θα τα ταράξει ένας νεαρός προικοθήρας ονόματι Μόρις Τάουνσετ, ο οποίος θα αναπτύξει μια διαφορετική σχέση με τα μέλη τις οικογένειας. Ο Τζέιμς προετοιμάζει το έδαφος για να εμφανιστεί ο μνηστήρας που θα δημιουργήσει τριγμούς στα θεμέλια της οικογένειας ενώ παράλληλα μας φανερώνει κρυφές πτυχές του χαρακτήρα όλων των ηρώων μετατρέποντας την ιστορία από ψυχογράφημα σε ένα κοινωνικό σχόλιο για την Αμερική του προπερασμένου αιώνα.
Ένας μεγάλος συγγραφέας μπορεί να μετατρέψει την πιο απλή ιστορία σε αριστούργημα κι αυτό ακριβώς κάνει σε αυτό το βιβλίο ο Τζέιμς. Η γραφή του και κυρίως το ύφος του θα πρέπει να αποτελεί πρότυπο για όλους τους εν δυνάμει συγγραφείς. Γιατί εν τέλει αν δεν ξέρεις να πεις μια ιστορία καλύτερα να μην την πεις καθόλου...
5/5
Σταδιακά σε όλη την ιστορία, αφαιρεί όλα αυτά τα στοιχεία που μπορεί να προσφέρουν εύκολες συγκινήσεις στον αναγνώστη, αποφεύγει να χρησιμοποιεί τεχνικές εντυπωσιασμού και μένει σταθερός στην αφήγηση του και στην δόμηση των χαρακτήρων του. Μας συστήνει αρχικά τον φαινομενικά ευγενή γιατρό Σλόπερ, την αγαθή κόρη του Κάθριν και την ελαφρόμυαλη κουτσομπόλα θεία Λαβίνια. Μια τυπική οικογένεια της οποίας τα ήρεμα νερά θα τα ταράξει ένας νεαρός προικοθήρας ονόματι Μόρις Τάουνσετ, ο οποίος θα αναπτύξει μια διαφορετική σχέση με τα μέλη τις οικογένειας. Ο Τζέιμς προετοιμάζει το έδαφος για να εμφανιστεί ο μνηστήρας που θα δημιουργήσει τριγμούς στα θεμέλια της οικογένειας ενώ παράλληλα μας φανερώνει κρυφές πτυχές του χαρακτήρα όλων των ηρώων μετατρέποντας την ιστορία από ψυχογράφημα σε ένα κοινωνικό σχόλιο για την Αμερική του προπερασμένου αιώνα.
Ένας μεγάλος συγγραφέας μπορεί να μετατρέψει την πιο απλή ιστορία σε αριστούργημα κι αυτό ακριβώς κάνει σε αυτό το βιβλίο ο Τζέιμς. Η γραφή του και κυρίως το ύφος του θα πρέπει να αποτελεί πρότυπο για όλους τους εν δυνάμει συγγραφείς. Γιατί εν τέλει αν δεν ξέρεις να πεις μια ιστορία καλύτερα να μην την πεις καθόλου...
5/5
August 9, 2023
3.5-stars, rounded down up.
Another Henry James novel scratched off my list, and perhaps the last. I might like to re-read The Turn of the Screw at some point, but I don’t think I will tackle another. This one is quite adequate in both the story and the characterization, but I suspect I read him more because he was admired by Edith Wharton (I keep trying to discover what she found), than that I fully appreciate him myself.
This is a shorter novel, which I think contributes to its being one of his better works. When he writes shorter pieces, he maintains a kind of discipline and focus that he seems to lose in his longer ones. Catherine, our heroine, is an interesting female character. She is a bit naive when the story begins and remarkably stubborn in the face of her father’s strong dislike of her choice of beaus. As it would happen, we know almost immediately that her father is right, but that does not make his treatment of her palatable in the least.
Her second family member, Aunt Lavinia Penniman, is even worse, in my estimation. I cannot remember when I have disliked a character more. She is thoughtless, self-centered and manipulative; and it delights me that Catherine does not make a model of her behavior.
James is adept at character studies, and Catherine is both interesting and unusual. Like Wharton, he knows the New York upper-crust and I suspect does not like them very much. At least he fails to think their money is their salvation and he knows the dangers that threaten the heart when money becomes the motivation.
Another Henry James novel scratched off my list, and perhaps the last. I might like to re-read The Turn of the Screw at some point, but I don’t think I will tackle another. This one is quite adequate in both the story and the characterization, but I suspect I read him more because he was admired by Edith Wharton (I keep trying to discover what she found), than that I fully appreciate him myself.
This is a shorter novel, which I think contributes to its being one of his better works. When he writes shorter pieces, he maintains a kind of discipline and focus that he seems to lose in his longer ones. Catherine, our heroine, is an interesting female character. She is a bit naive when the story begins and remarkably stubborn in the face of her father’s strong dislike of her choice of beaus. As it would happen, we know almost immediately that her father is right, but that does not make his treatment of her palatable in the least.
Her second family member, Aunt Lavinia Penniman, is even worse, in my estimation. I cannot remember when I have disliked a character more. She is thoughtless, self-centered and manipulative; and it delights me that Catherine does not make a model of her behavior.
James is adept at character studies, and Catherine is both interesting and unusual. Like Wharton, he knows the New York upper-crust and I suspect does not like them very much. At least he fails to think their money is their salvation and he knows the dangers that threaten the heart when money becomes the motivation.
August 15, 2022
Early on in the novel, James inserts a digressive autobiographical tour of Washington Square in the 1840s, the time and place of his childhood. This "topographical parenthesis," as he called it, doesn't seem coincidental. If this brilliant psychological family drama reveals anything about the Washington Square of his childhood, then "being unloved" is at its kernel. When there is no love, what is left in life? Can the heroine's impressive fortitude and unwavering sincerity in the world of deception sustain her, can she reinvent her life on her own? James' answer is quietly unsettling...
4.5/5
4.5/5
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