Retrato de una dama - Tomo I

by Henry James, Ana Eiroa Guillén (Translator)

"Retrato de una dama" es una de las grandes novelas del siglo XIX. La protagonista es Isabel Archer, una bella joven norteamericana que recibe una sustanciosa herencia y decide emprender un viaje por Europa. Su familia quiere que se case pronteo, pero ella defiende su independencia, hasta que los acontecimientos se precipitan de un modo inesperado. Quintaesencia del arte de Henry James, retrato especular de Estado Unidos y Europa y aguda indagación de la psicología femenina, esta portentosa novela nunca agota su lectura.

330 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Henry 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."

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me costó agarrarle el ritmo pero una vez que lo hice no podía parar, me esta gustando mucho la historia.

[Yael Cornejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Qué difícil calificar la primera mitad de un libro largo, sin adentrarme mucho me gusta la forma de escribir del autor y cómo narra la historia.
Ojalá la historia siga tomando un curso interesante.

Edit:
Una vez terminadas ambas partes puedo decir que en esta primera parte el autor plantea un escenario que tiene buena pinta y personajes con personalidades interesantes que prometen un buen climax y un cierre de la historia donde todo puede pasar.

Como el tema y la historia planteada se ve interesante, la narración larga, específica y a veces complicada no se vuelve un factor importante en cómo vas adentrándote en la historia.