Henry James Books

Lyndall Gordon's "A Private Life of Henry James" is a very interesting and readable book.The author argues that we can come to an understanding of what made Henry James tick by a close examination of 2 significant females in his life.These are his cousin,Minny Temple, and a contemporary American female novelist,Constance Fenimore Woolson.Gordon argues quite convincingly that Minny Temple,who died tragically very young was the model for Milly Theale,in "The Wings of the Dove" and probably also influenced other Jamesian character portraits,such as Isabel Archer in "The Portrait of a Lady".There has to be some truth in this,since the similarities are fairly obvious.Constance Fenimore Woolson was a successful writer who came to understand that Henry James was going to become one of the Greats of Literature and went to great lengths to be around him and to get close to him.She and James spent a year living together in a house in Italy,contrary to anyone's idea at the time of correct behaviour.What happened between them is the central subject of the book,which begins with the striking image of James,in a gondola in Venice,way out on the lagoon,tipping Constance's clothes into the water after her death,trying to ensure that the clothes all disappeared beneath the water.Added to this mystery is the question of how Connie died:did she fall from a balcony or did she take her own life?Was rejection by James part of the mystery?
Gordon writes plausibly and her documentation is impressive.Whether we would want to go all the way with her is another question.Did James USE his cousin and his writer friend in his efforts to get "inside the heads" of the women of his day?What,if anything,did James feel about these two?
Was he just cynically trolling for good ideas to put into his writings.James' sexuality is certainly an area of interest to anyone who reads and loves his books.What were his real feelings for these two remarkable women in his life?

This absorbing book tells the story of Henry James� friendships with Minnie Temple and Constance Fenimore Woolson. Minnie inspired James to create the characters of Isabel Archer, the heroine of The Portrait of a Lady, and of Milly Theale, the heroine of The Wings of the Dove.

Both Minnie and Constance looked to James for more than he was prepared to give. He drew them into communion, then left them exposed when he withdrew into the sanctuary of his writing. Minnie died of tuberculosis in 1870 at the age of 25, after James rejected her pleas for a closer relationship; her consequent loss of morale accelerated her death. After fifteen years of friendship with James, Constance killed herself in 1894 at the age of 52. Their tragic deaths spurred his creativity.

James� greatest achievements depended on their generosity: the idea of the solitary genius is just a myth: genius cannot emerge in a void. He paid them the supreme artistic tribute of portraying them forever as heroines, but he paid them too little attention as real women. He rejected what few but he knew that they offered. He understood the claims that they made on life, but would not, could not, meet them. James� visionary moralism was born of his �merciless clairvoyance�.

These two wonderful independent-minded women provoked James� creative attention; they figured for him creative possibilities that he celebrated in his greatest fiction. They enabled him to understand a woman�s point of view, a perspective that became central to his art. Like George Eliot and Charles Dickens, James exposed the social corruption and moral bankruptcy of the bourgeois men and women of his time. But only James and Eliot, with Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch and Gwendolen Harleth in Daniel Deronda, created heroines who transcended the limits of their society. In each of these novels, the heroine�s integrity and altruism rise above the bullying interference and interests of others.

The title piece in this collection of essays on literary fiction is a witty and informative account of what happened in 2003-4 when two novelists of distinction (David Lodge and Colm Toibin) coincidentally chose to base new works on the miseries (the failure of "Guy Domville") and then final splendor (the "Major Phase" of novel writing) in the life of the incomparable Henry James. Particularly insightful is Lodge's detailing of certain novelties in recent decades in the marketing and publicizing of literary fiction. Prizes such as the Man Booker and comparative reviews in the media helped in the present case to create an atmosphere of competition between the novelists neither Lodge nor Toibin sought. For publishers and sneaky literary agents, not literary quality but mere "timing was all." Lodge's judgment is that the earlier published Toibin "won" their media induced contest. As for the comparative literary worth of the two books, Lodge reserves judgment, as he has yet to read Toibin's effort.

A central irony Lodge savors is the accidental parallel of his case to that of James and George Du Maurier. Just as James' play "Guy Domville" failed, his friend Du Maurier had a popular triumph with the novel "Trilby," a triumph James himself had always sought, for no writer was hotter after the buck or widespread acclaim than James. James' problem, apparently, was that he couldn't write badly enough for popular success, no matter how hard he might have tried. Du Maurier's happier fate came from a work dealing with subject matter James himself - irony of ironies - had earlier considered treating.

Lodge's urbane consolation concerning his own novel's worth lies in his conclusion that despite the modern engines of marketing and publishing practices, "timing is not all." Rather, the question with literary fiction and cultural mission is still Dr. Johnson's, "Does the literary work withstand the test of time?" "Only time" and not corporate business timing "will tell."

David Lodge had the unfortunate experience of writing a novel (Author, Author) about the middle-aged Henry James which was published a few months after Colm Toibin wrote The Master, a novel about the middle-aged Henry James. Oh dear. It turns out other authors also had the same general idea--a Jamesian Zeitgeist, which, I suppose, James himself, would have found "delicious"; perhaps the setting for another Lesson from the Master. Well, guess who got all the plaudits? Indeed, guess who is now regarded--at least in the United States--as the expert on one all things Jamesian? I'll give you a hint. His name does not rhyme with "dodge" or "hodge-podge." And hodge-podge is what this book under review appears to be at first glance. The first part is a long, painful, autobiographical sketch of what it has been like for Lodge to be in the unfortunate situation described above. At turns funny and depressing, this piece alone is worth the price of the book. The second part is a grab-bag of critical essays which once again underline what an insightful writer Lodge can be. So, was Lodge robbed? I've read both Author, Author and The Master and, yep, he was pinched. Too bad--but, then again, we wouldn't have gotten this book.

(This review is for the unabridged audio book, read by the author, Simon Winchester).

This is the tale of how the greatest and most definitive dictionary in the English language came to be, thanks to the unlikely crossing of paths between a British scholar and an American who was committed to a mental asylum. While the topic of dictionary-making may seem dull, this book weaves a tale of violence, the American Civil War, insanity, murder and Victorian England's sensibilities in a way that oddly makes for a very compelling read.

This being the very first audio book I've ever listened to, I have to say that it was an excellent way to spend a long-distance trip by car. And it's a fairly short "read" - as it only takes up 7 1/2 hours over the span of 6 discs (short by audio book standards).

The author has a mellifluous English accent that propels the story forward, while at the same time gently reminding the reader that most of the action in the story takes place in late-19th and early 20th century Britain (with large detours in the U.S. and occasionally elsewhere).

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has a remote interest in the etymology of words, reading or even dictionaries.

It is an interesting book, explaining how the Oxford English Dictionary was put together by volunteers supplying definitions and quotes for every word in the English language. In the back of the book is a call for additional volunteers to work on keeping the dictionary current! The man who made the largest number of contributions was Captain William Chester Minor, late of the United States Army, whose residence at the time he was making contributions was Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane, Crowthorne, Berkshire. He was committed to Broadmoor for the murder of George Merrett in February 1872. Captain Minor suffered from what today would be diagnosed as Schizophrenia - although his problem was not diagnosed until 18 November 1918 after the British government formally returned the aged Civil War captain to the United States Army. Interestingly, the author makes the statement that schizophrenia, then called dementia praecox, is early onset Alzheimer's, or at least it was so believed in 1918.

Though it was written before "The Meaning of Everything" it could easily serve as a chapter or appendix to the book. Winchester does a superb job of telling both the early history of the OED while at the same time setting down the 'odd' collaboration between Professor JAH Murray (of Oxford) and the Madman Dr. WC Minor (or the Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum). Their relationship was to span forty years and affect the OED in a way that no other relationship did.

Minor (who was an American Doctor and Civil War Veteran) had come to England to "try and get his head straight" after the horrors he saw during the Civil War. While in England he murders an innocent man and is sent to the 'Lunatic Asylum' for the rest of his life. While there he gets involved with the creation of the OED by sending in slips that demarcate word meanings and usage. His work (voluntary) is so specific and exact that he is asked by Murray to 'find' citations for certain words and to also look for earlier usages and meanings.

Murray finally meets Minor after seven years of correspondence an is amazed at the work this so called 'lunatic' has been able to send into the OED over a period of years. They never become what you would call 'fast friends' but do establish a corresponding association that is both respected and admired by all those who work on the OED.

I listened to this book on CD and found Winchester's reading of his own book to heighten the enjoyment of it. Knowing when to put emphasis on the proper parts of the book to specifically call your attention to a passage or section, made the book thoroughly enjoyabale.

Zeb Kantrowitz

The first time that I had ever heard about the Oxford English Dictionary, I was a freshman at Bryn Mawr-- straight from the sticks. I had tested out of needing to take the freshman English classes, and had plunged straightaway into classes that were aimed at upper classman. While eventually that turned out to be fine, my very first class was with a peach of a gentleman who clearly found me an unlettered barbarian who should have been sent back to the freshman comp classes-- or even worse. I was not only an unlettered barbarian, but a *stubborn* unlettered barbarian and we fought about absolutely everything. A little bit over midway through the semester, he marked me down on a paper because I used the word "meld". He scribbled in the margin: "Not a word!" Furious, I went to the library and came back with a popular dictionary and I held the entry for "meld" under his nose during his office hours. He icily slammed the book shut and glared at me. "If it is not in the Oxford English Dictionary," he said, "it is not a word!"

That began my lifelong love-hate relationship with the OED. At least with the idea of the OED. I've somehow never managed to acquire my own copy. (I keep telling B. that I'd love one for my birthday, but I'm pretty sure that he doesn't believe that I'm serious.) But still, The Professor and the Madman was kind of a natural for me. People have been recommending it to me ever since it appeared; I've had several offers to lend it to me (I don't borrow books); I've had it regularly suggested on Amazon. I finally picked up my own copy second-hand. And now, reader, I've finally read the book.

And-- honestly-- it's a little bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice book. It's one of these new breed of nonfiction books that read mostly like magazine articles writ large. Winchester delivers a very good magazine article writ large. It is surely entertaining, very interesting, decently written and a good story. What else could you want?

I would have *perhaps* wanted a little more about the history of the Dictionary and a little bit less about Minor. But this isn't a fair remark, as that was the subject of the book. But that would have added more substance, and if I have a criticism it is surely that the book is not very substantial.

Know someone who loves words? This is probably an excellent gift. It's unlikely to be controversial, and they will probably get a kick out of it. Do not expect too much, and you will not be disappointed.

(I really appreciated, by the way, that Winchester included a list of suggestions for further reading. I will definitely be following some of those up.)

Absent the anti-Christian bias of his geological disaster books, Winchester writes a very good tale about a fascinating sidebar of history during the compilation of the OED. The madman was an American military surgeon (son of missionaries to Sri Lanka!) who served in the Union army during the Civil War, whose slow spiral to insanity culminated in the shooting of an innocent man in London 15 years later. The professor was the editor of the OED who corresponded with the madman for 20 years at the asylum outside London where he made a full-time career of volunteering word lists and quotes to the OED editorial team.

How their histories shadowed and paths crossed, and how the OED came to be, make for a great story. The book was lavishly praised and worthily so, reading like a psychological thriller that can't be put down. I literally read through this in less than 24 hours in just a few sittings.

We all need to learn healthy bouderies to let good people in & keep unhealthy people out. Good "how to" book.

Great explaination of the constant struggle to maintain a healty border in your life. Let the good in and the bad out. Detailed explaination and easy read. Like any other book, not a instant life "fixer" but does have application to a better you.

the beginning was kinda slow, but once you get passsed it, it had really helpful and pertinent information in a much easier format.

for those like me who think God left it up to me to do his work and for others who just don't know how to keep someone out of their space, this book is perfect. it was a life changer for me. now i just remind myself "boundries" and know that God didn't leave me in charge down here, that he is in charge and working on al situations. it let me know that i am interfering with his work. i can now sleep at night knowing that he is in charge and that it's not up to me to fix up everyones lives

Written by psychologists and incorporating a Biblical perspective, Cloud and Townsend offer anecdotal, clinical and spiritual evidence as they explain the need for limits in our lives. Individual chapters address specific relational areas, e.g. family, marriage, children, workplace. The language and terminology are easy to understand, and the overall tone is encouraging.

This analysis of policies of George H.W. Bush and William J. (Bill) Clinton offers a cogent, critical, where necessary, analysis of these Presidents and their foreign policies. It also offers an analysis of the shortcomings of both men, in domestic, as well as foreign relations. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of Bush and Clinton.
Bush, the economy, which may have cost him the election. Clinton, foreign policy and a military diminished by cuts, to promote the domestic agenda, which, some might feel made us more vulnerable. It's well read and gives a fairly detailed analysis in a short space of time [refers to abridged audio cassette]. Worth listening to, and makes me wonder if Mr. Halberstam would write an analysis of the current Bush's policies [or perhaps, lack of policies, save to tick off (to put it politely) those who'd seek America's downfall, e.g., radical Islamists, North Korea, Iran, and others, what he'd make of it. Let's hope he does.

A solid explanation of what happened in the Balkan's vis-à-vis US foreign policy. When reading books on recent history or current events I try to take into account the author's political bias and maintain vigilance for hidden agendas. Mr. Hablerstam's book appears to be an even-handed treatment of the subject. Like many Americans, I struggled for understanding of the events in media accounts of the conflict. This book was written in an easily understandable and engaging style. It offers about as thorough an understanding of the Balkan crisis that can be accomplished in a single volume. I highly recommend this book.

David Halberstam delivers another masterpiece in his book on how the Balkan crisis came about. This book is very fair condemning Bush Sr, Clinotn and all of the generals including Colin Powell for their actions in this area. The United States dropped the ball in stabilizing this region leaving it to the European Union to debate about. Our unwillingness to commit troops has led to more than a decade of crisis and halberstam delivers the story in great detail. Highly recommend if you are just starting to learn about the crisis as it is a very fair and well written account.

As I finished this book, I couldn't help think how out of date it feels. Although Halberstam mentions terrorist threats on the very last page of the book; the African embassy bombings, the USS Cole attack, the Khobar towers bombing, and President Clinton and Sandy Berger's chase after Al Queda appear nowhere. Honestly, most of the other large-scale foreign policy incidents of the 1990s (Somalia, Haiti, Iraq) take a back seat to the Bosnian and Kosovar conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. This book's subtitle could aptly be "The Vietman War and its impact on the American foreign policy response to the break-up of Yugoslavia."

Nevertheless, War in a Time of Peace is a very good read. Although it could be editted a little better (there are many repititive bits and some sloppy portions of narrative), Halberstam's familiar prose style keeps things moving. It is clear that many of the key players were interviewed and the book provides great insights on George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Brent Scowcroft, Sandy Berger, Richard Holbrooke, James Baker, Colin Powell, Wesley Clark, and many other 1990s powerbrokers. Although not as good as The Best and the Brightest or The Fifties (an underrated Halberstam classic), I am glad that I read this book. If you want to learn more about some of the tough decisions of the Clinton presidency, which ostensibly started as the domestic policy presidency, and the way we looked at security threats (and politcal threats) in the 1990s, this is a very good book. Too bad the events of 2001 to 2003 have changed the world completely and we can never go back to the safer (and simpler) 1990s.

The end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s seemed to usher in a new era of hope, promise, and peace. This book shows that the last expectation was wholly false. The 1990s saw more American military interventions into other countries than any other decade of American history. Haiti, Iraq, Mogadishu, Kosovo and Croatia are some of the numerous battlefronts on which American troops were sent to serve. This book chronicles this decade, and shows how the US was inexplicably drawn into each of these conflicts one by one. Key throughout most of these episodes was a Clinton administration that was reluctant to go to arms. This book shows how many times it was pressure from the media, Congress, or the opposing party (Republicans) that convinced the Clinton administration that force was necessary. In a way, this book resembles Halberstam's classic on the Vietnam War; the Best and the Brightest. In both cases, a reluctant president was slowly but steadily cornered into committing troops. This book highlights the major characters involved in the military excursion of the 1990s; Colin Powell, Tony Lake, Al Gore, Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine Albright, various UN officials and government officials of other countries.

All in all a great book. This should be required reading for any course on modern American history, or modern world history. I highly recommend it.

Classic story about the duality of personality personified as two sides of one person and manifested as two physical appearances--the taller more mature Dr. Jekyll and the shorter stunted Mr. Hyde. Hyde of course represents evil, unalloyed with any good, which remains part of Dr. Jekyll--who is fatally flawed with a mixture of mostly good, but awareness of evil.

In the end, evil triumphs.

The story follows a similar pattern in Victorian literature as told by Wilde in "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Classified in the library as a juvenile book, when it shouldn't be.

I did not receive this item. The other item I ordered was shipped separately and it was received, but this one was not. What a ripoff.

I was VERY disappointed with this purchase. The cover you see on this site is NOT the cover that was sent. I choose this item because I wanted this plain cover. Not what came.

This publication has long since been public domain and unless you are purrchasing this for a good cause, you are wasting your money. If you want this publication FOR FREE, kindleclassics.org is a good place to get it. The formating is very easy to read (unlike this particular copy, as it doesn't have any quotation marks at all). The only disadvantage with using kindleclassics.org is you have to connect your kindle to your computer in order to get them on your kindle, but it's a very easy plug and play operation.

Mr. Hyde is a known murderer. Dr Jekyll is an honorable doctor in the scientific community. These people's lives should never cross, but why is Hyde the heir of Jekyll. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Luis Stevenson is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. The plot focuses on the duality of man and our capability to do both good and evil. The book does not take long to read and can probably be read in under 2 hours depending on your reading speed. This book is not hard to understand, it is written in prose. This book is not a murder fest and is probably better off for that. The book is written as a mystery. It would be better to compare it to a Hitchcock horror film than to Saw. I like it because it was a chance for me to read a classic, but not spend a month reading it. The plot was interesting and raised some interesting questions. All in all it is an interesting, but not time-consuming book.

I read this, my first H. James novel, on the recommendation of a friend while I was commencing a trip to Rome. It was an excellent choice. I must say I was not entirely on board in the early stages of the book, set in England. Marraige proposals were happening too fast for my taste. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by the witty repartee, which reminded me much of Wilde. The wit diminishes and the intensity increases on the continent, especially in its Roman locale, and it was here that I found myself much more interested. The book has a soul. Its characters are richly painted and became interesting--I enjoyed them all. The novel also has a beautifully symmetric construction. In its early stages I thought James was trying too hard to perfect his European literary colleagues; by the end, the novel stood on its own. So, despite some minor growing pains, I can recommend and will likely read another by HJ. Peter Washington's introduction in the Everyman edition (James' New York version) is an added benefit.

Some fictional works retell the stories of other fictional works but from a different point of view. The retellings may occupy roughly the same time as the story they are retelling. Examples are John Gardner's novel Grendel (Beowulf), Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Hamlet), and M. Z. Bradley's novel The Mists of Avalon (King Arthur). The retellings may fill in a bit of fictional history that the original story only touches on. Examples are Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea (Jane Eyre) and Haire-Sargeant's H: The Story of Heathcliff's Journey Back to Wuthering Heights (Wuthering Heights). As a subject of such treatments, Portrait of a Lady seems ripe for the picking. Surely Gilbert Osmond and Madame Merle have their own story to tell apart from the events in the novel, and most likely they have their own version of the events that they share with Isabel Archer.

Like the previous reviewer I also have the unabridged audiobook recording put out by Brilliance Audio but I like it, but having the adapter really makes a difference and I listen to most of my audiobooks with headphones anyway using my Walkman and CD/cassette tape boombox. I found my adapter in Barnes and Noble but it can also be found in the company's mail order catalog and online web site. The Catalog is called Audiobookstand and the website is [...]. BTW: You can listen to these audiobooks without an adapter if your car or home stereo receiver, cassette or CD player has balance control and with that you basically just follow the same directions of the adapter. I tried it and it worked fine with no annoying sounds but I did have to adjust the balance a few times until I got it just right! As for the adpater, I personally found investing in it well worth it because I will often use my walkman to listen to audiobooks and because these unabridged audiobooks are pretty inexpensive with prices that range from 10 dollars to around 20 dollars verses companies that offer unabridged audio recordings for the same book at 50 dollars and higher. This audio cassette recording of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady is read by Laural Merlington who is one of the best readers of audiobooks but even with that said I can understand why the previous reviewer was annoyed about the special adapter thing but I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who has the BookCassette adapter or a stereo with a fully functioning balance controll knob and I also recommend the paperback book or the hardcover book.

This is a review of the unabridged audio cassettes. It would have been nice if the Amazon description had mentioned that these cassettes will not play on a Walkman or other audio player without a special adapter (and the adapter only works with headphones). I have listened to many books on tape but this is the first one that has required an adapter; I have no idea where to purchase the adapter (which appears to be specific to the publisher) and I am not thrilled about doing that to listen to one book, anyway. The tapes will play on a full stereo system with some adjustments, but you have to be able to switch the stereo completely to the left, which results in a really annoying sound.

When Isabel Archer, a bright and independent young American, makes her first trip to Europe in the company of her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, who lives outside of London in a 400-year-old estate, she discovers a totally different world, one which does not encourage her independent thinking or behavior and which is governed by rigid social codes. This contrast between American and European values, vividly dramatized here, is a consistent theme in James's novels, one based on his own experiences living in the US and England. In prose that is filled with rich observations about places, customs, and attitudes, James portrays Isabel's European coming-of-age, as she discovers that she must curb her intellect and independence if she is to fit into the social scheme in which she now finds herself.

Isabel Archer, one of James's most fully drawn characters, has postponed a marriage in America for a year of travel abroad, only to discover upon her precipitate and ill-considered marriage to an American living in Florence, that it is her need to be independent that makes her marriage a disaster. Gilbert Osmond, an American art collector living in Florence, marries Isabel for the fortune she has inherited from her uncle, treating her like an object d'art which he expects to remain "on the shelf." Madame Serena Merle, his long-time lover, is, like Osmond, an American whose venality and lack of scruples have been encouraged, if not developed, by the European milieu in which they live.

James packs more information into one paragraph than many writers do in an entire chapter. Distanced and formal, he presents psychologically realistic characters whose behavior is a direct outgrowth of their upbringing, with their conflicts resulting from the differences between their expectations and the reality of their changed settings. The subordinate characters, Ralph Touchett, Pansy Osmond, her suitor Edward Rosier, American journalist Henrietta Stackpole, Isabel's former suitor Caspar Stackpole, and Lord Warburton, whose love of Isabel leads him to court Pansy, are as fascinating psychologically and as much a product of their own upbringing as is Isabel.

As the setting moves from America to England, Paris, Florence, and Rome, James develops his themes, and as Isabel's life becomes more complex, her increasingly difficult and emotionally affecting choices about her life make her increasingly fascinating to the reader. James's trenchant observations about the relationship between individuals and society and about the effects of one's setting on one's behavior are enhanced by the elegance and density of his prose, making this a novel one must read slowly--and savor. Mary Whipple

Just finished reading Washington Square by Henry James. A masterpiece of character sketching of an autocratic all knowing father and a devoted daughter who shows an astonishing strength of mind when pushed to the limit of endurance by both her lover and her father. What a page turner this book turned out to be even though nothing happens in terms of events. The absence of the mother in Catherine's case adds to the tragedy of the situation. The mother is role is replaced by that of a silly and cunning aunt whose character is the only one that seems hard to believe. One is happy that the patriarch Dr. Sloper with all his money power is snubbed in the end and even his threat to cut catherine off from her inheritance doesnt quite give him the satisfaction he craves " to have done the right thing". A celebration of womanhood and a must read for everyone.

Washington Square is a compact, tightly constructed story that focuses with almost unwavering gaze upon the Sloper family, or more particularly, on Catherine Sloper, a sweet, ordinary, rather dull young lady who falls in love with a man her father is convinced loves her purely for the inheritance she stands to gain upon his death. This early novel of Henry James' alternates between biting, witty exchanges amongst the characters and introspective, sensitive exploration of the feelings and thoughts of Catherine and her father. The narrator - never named, though at times he is quite chatty towards the reader - chooses not to take sides, instead displaying the different facets of each character as they are, leaving questions of personality and intent up to the reader.

It is usual in a novel involving a young lady and a potentially disastrous suitor that the female in question be beautiful, intelligent, resourceful, kind - even if she doesn't know it. These stories tend to follow her development from innocent to experienced, which is one of the many reasons why Washington Square plays out so differently. Catherine is, we are told, 'not ugly; she had simply a plain, dull, gentle countenance. The most that had ever been said for her was that she had a "nice" face'. Later, her father compares Catherine's intelligence to that of a bundle of shawls. He often laments Catherine's lack of qualities, and so does Catherine, and so does everyone else. She is a submissive, almost subservient in her attitudes, willing to submerge her ideas - if she has any - and bend with the will of her father. Enter love, however, and slowly a change begins to take place.

Morris Townsend is the man Catherine falls for. She had never experienced the interest of a male before, indeed, her life seems to have been somewhat sheltered. When Morris enters her life Catherine's father, Dr Sloper, who never had much hope for his daughter, becomes determined to prevent them from marrying. Sloper is the type of father who wishes a specific future for his child, so they will 'be happy', and yet when their happiness chooses a different direction, they become stubborn, obstinate, and, in this case, quite hurtful and damaging.

Neither Morris nor Dr Sloper are particularly admirable characters. Granted, both are intelligent and even charming, with the novel's most enjoyable moments coming from the interaction between the two. They snipe at one another during their very clever exchanges where epigrams fly and bon mots are thrown about with abandon. However, Morris is shown - rather bluntly - to be interested in Catherine's money and not herself, which he finds tiresome, and Dr Sloper is concerned with breaking the tiny backbone that has emerged from he knows not where within Catherine's heart.

Do we love Catherine? Is that the intent of this novel? The answer is - no. Catherine truly is plain, in the sense that there isn't much to her. She is confused by the larger forces in her life which seem to determine the direction of her future without any real input from herself. She believes that both Morris and her father have her best interests at heart, even when it is clear to the reader they do not. Whenever poor Catherine dares to speak her mind, Morris or her father are ready and willing to stamp it down. Her father can be quite manipulative. After asking Catherine to give Morris away, he says, 'Have you no faith in my wisdom, in my tenderness, in my solicitude for your future?', and later, when she stands by her man, he asks, 'You make nothing of my judgment, then?' Poor Catherine is left to wonder what to think, when all she knows is she loves her father and wants to marry Morris.

During the course of the novel, Catherine develops attitudes which distinctly reject her father's plans, but she also, to the surprise of Morris, refuses to go along with everything he says, either. There is a clear impression throughout the work that, should she choose Morris, she will be exchanging one master for another - the names may change, but the overall life of Catherine will not.

Henry James is known for his dense - some call it impenetrable - prose, and for his fondness for deeply exploring the inner workings of his characters. Washington Square is slightly different to his others works in this regard, perhaps because it is an earlier novel. The prose can be quite circumlocutory, with multiple clauses embedded within a single sentence, long rambling comma filled descriptions and niceties of expression that seem to exist purely to avoid stating the blunt truth of the matter. But it is these techniques which serve also to highlight the confusing world around Catherine, and the difficulty she finds in untangling the intention of the two very strong men who wish to control her life. James, at his best, is a phenomenal writer, and happily for the reader of Washington Square he is completely in charge of the material. The narrator is confident in expressing the feelings and thoughts of the major and minor characters, using tact, grace, eloquence and insight to create his little portraits.

Whether or not Catherine will marry Morris and defy her novel, though an important part of the novel, is not the primary thrust of James' work. It seems clear from the outset the direction the story will take, and this initial belief becomes true. Where the strengths of the story lie is in the growing independence of Catherine, her understanding of herself as a person capable of expressing intent and determining the direction of her life by herself. Catherine is an innocent in a world which is, invariably, destructive towards such people. She learns this the hard way, but there is something undeniably 'Catherine' that remains, even to the bitter end. Washington Square, while not a masterpiece on the level of The Portrait of a Lady, nevertheless explores its theme well, and does so with an assured hand. Catherine's life, though somber and small by today's standards, does evoke sympathy within the reader. The final line is very sad, because it was inevitable, and because, deep down, the reader knows that it is the best life Catherine could have had.

Very accessible short novel of manners set in Manhattan, New York.
Quiet Catherine Sloper is an Heiress. She is not beautiful, intelligent or charming. She is steadfast.
Her widowed father is a respected Physician, who had married a rich woman. He is disappointed in Catherine but consoles himself with the idea that her nature is docile, obedient and unromantic. He considers it quite unlikely that she will ever have a young man in love with her.
Catherine attends her paternal Cousin Marian's betrothal party. She is introduced to Morris Townsend, an impecunious cousin of the betrothed young man.
Morris finds Catherine very attractive and begins to court her, to her great delight. We soon find out what Dr Sloper thinks of this courtship.
This a story of innocence, betrayal, greed and hubris. Catherine, the despised, finally comes into her own. Recommended.

Nominally a story of young romance, Washington Square's plot actually pivots around two sharply defined characters: the young Catherine Sloper, honest and sweet, but embarrassingly average and plain, and her father, Dr. Austin Sloper, articulate and brilliant, but disturbingly cold-hearted and domineering. Henry James professed little liking for his early novel; through the years most readers have ignored his opinion.

The writings of Henry James, especially his later novels, are notable (some might say, infamous) for using lengthy, digressive sentence structures for exploring complex emotional and psychological motivations. Slow paced plots play a subordinate role to nuanced, subtle, ambiguous characterizations. Contrastingly, Washington Square's popularity most likely stems from its straight-forward plot, some suspense, and sharply defined characters.

Catherine was an only child; her mother and baby brother died of complications during childbirth. Years later Dr. Sloper is still grieved and angered by the loss of his beautiful, vivacious, and witty wife. Despite Catherine's love and admiration for him, Dr. Sloper remains distant and cold, viewing Catherine's social ineptness as an ironic parody of his deceased wife.

When the young, handsome, articulate Morris Townsend shows interest in Catherine, Dr. Sloper immediately concludes that his only interest is her wealth, and moves quickly to break them apart. Matters are complicated by Catherine's silly, meddlesome, and manipulative aunt (Mrs. Penniman, the widowed sister of Dr. Sloper) who functions as an uninvited go-between for the two young lovers. Dr. Sloper remains quite confident in his own judgment, but in the early stages of their romance we readers remain uncertain of Townsend's motivation.

My fascination with Washington Square centered not on whether Townsend was genuinely in love with Catherine, but with the way in which Catherine revealed her inner strength in managing her increasingly strained relationship with her insensitive father and in how she ultimately comes to terms with the duplicity of her lover. Washington Square may not have achieved the full psychological subtlety and complexity desired by Henry James, but it is far from a simple, superficial tale of bitter sweet romance.

Washington Square on film: I highly recommend Washington Square, a 1997 production that features Jennifer Jason Leigh as Catherine, Albert Finney as Dr. Sloper, Ben Chaplin as Morris Townsend, and Maggie Smith as Catherine's aunt. This casting is superb, with all four characterizations faithful to the novel.

There are a few unnecessary scenes, however, that portray Catherine as overly clumsy and inept. Also, Morris Townsend on occasion is unrealistically effusive in his praise and admiration. A little more of Henry James's subtlety and nuance would have been better. Washington Square was directed by Agnieszka Holland.

Washington Square in print: This novella is widely available in various anthologies, or published alone, in inexpensive paperbacks from Signet Classics, Penguin Classics, and others. I particularly like a Simon and Schuster, hard cover edition (ISBN 0-684-81911-2) with 16 pages of high quality, black and white historical photographs, many belonging to the Museum of the City of New York historical collection.

Although Henry James is best known for The Portrait of a Lady (Penguin Classics), this slender volume of a young woman's lifetime is one that resonates for the oddest reasons. With a protagonist who is entirely passive, a plot that is somewhat uneventful and a cast of supporting characters that are entirely unsympathetic, "Washington Square" is a novel that encapsulates a life hardly worth reading about. Paradoxically, that is precisely why it should be read, and why it's so surprisingly memorable.

Catherine Sloper is shy, plain, dull and a little slow in her studies. Her mother was none of these things, leaving her somewhat of a disappointment to her father, an accomplished and well-respected doctor, a man who Catherine adores and longs to please. Well aware of her spiritless nature, Catherine is astonished when she receives the attention of the handsome and charming Morris Townsend, and is soon devotedly in love with her new suitor. Encouraged by her romantic and foolish Aunt Lavinia Penniman, Catherine accepts Morris's proposal of marriage. Unfortunately, her father is not at all impressed by the match, (believing Morris to be a mercenary after her dowry) and forbids Catherine from seeing him on the threat of disinheritance. Torn between the two most important people in her life, the listless and confused Catherine decides to wait. But will her beloved wait for her, or is she deceived by his true intentions?

Catherine's complete ordinariness is what makes her special within the context of the novel, as I am hard-pressed to think up another heroine who is so uncommonly common. Though she is a pleasant enough person, there is nothing remotely interesting to her, save the predicament she finds herself in. Her situation is frustrating to behold, as the poor girl is torn between her intelligent, infallible father and her charming, loving fiancée. Although her father has his daughter's best interests at heart, he handles the affair with such practicality and stubbornness that his crusade against Townsend eventually dwindles into a battle of will between himself and his daughter, and then petty revenge and one-upmanship. Likewise, though Morris Townsend seems faithful and loving, declaring that he has no interest in Catherine's inheritance whatsoever, we cannot shake a sense of untrustworthiness in him. Despite Catherine's plainness, you can't help but feel that neither man deserves her.

To be privy to Catherine's inner struggles is to witness a tiny and insignificant life within literature, with none of the romance, passion or tragedy of Lizzie Bennett, Tess Durbeyfield, Cathy Earnslaw, Jane Eyre, or any other literary heroine that comes to mind. Although Mrs Penniman alleviates some of the gloom with her far-flung intrigues and romances, her presence ultimately brings more harm that good to her young charge. Catherine is a woman who suffers in silence, without witness or companionship, a testimony to how passive-aggressiveness, lost opportunities and selfishness can destroy the life of one who has no means of fighting back. Every single individual on earth would like to believe that they are special, unique and important in some way, and the mediocrity of a life ill-spent becomes quite terrifying by the close of the novel. Catherine's attempts to assert some control over her father and her suitor are pitiful to behold, though they are victories, they are tiny ones within the context of her life. It's almost as if James uses Catherine as a vessel for every individual who has simply "misplaced" their life, and the emptiness that follows those who don't have the means, strength or fortitude to fight against those that hold them in sway. Make sure it never happens to you.

I'm a seasoned reader of the classics and have enjoyed other novels by James. This book took me four months to read and nearly killed me. After having read great literature almost non-stop for 10 years, I took a year's break from reading after this book. Enough said. I spent time reflecting on it - surely the hard slog was worth it? What was I missing? Other reviewers seemed to find depth to the book...But no, I wasn't touched or transformed, I learned nothing from the characters and felt no sympathy towards them. I felt empty and exhausted at the end. Perhaps that was the intended impact of the novel? If so, I give it 2 stars for achieving at least that.

The reader tries valiantly to appreciate this work of psychological fiction from a century ago. Henry James is rightly celebrated as an author, both as a weaver of words and as a caster of characters, and so the reader valiantly tries. But even though James is a master of his craft, the way here is hard going.

In this work dating from 1902, Henry James writes favoring obscurity over clarity, circuitousness instead of directness and vagueness rather than subtlety. When the reader struggles valiantly onward, it is much as if one were to attempt to hack one's way through the trackless Amazonian rain forest using only tweezers and butter knife, all the while, wondering whether is it worth so much to learn so little. It is a question each reader must answer for herself or himself.

The reader longs to appreciate and honor the characters, Kate Croy and Merton Densher, to honor their love as well as their concern about marriage on less of an income then they might wish; however, the reader who looks upon the heart is tempted to wonder what kind of a love this might be, that hesitates to move forward on a pathway of insufficient pounds and pence, or that plans and proposes underhanded pragmatic methods to acquire such means. The reader longs to appreciate and honor the character of Milly Theale, the dove, the extraordinarily wealthy heiress who had previously met and fallen in love with Dresher, yet has kept her feelings to herself. This tragically romantic figure, based on James' cousin Minny, can bring the reader to the point of tears, but only if the reader cuts through some inordinately thick pea soup verbiage.

The underling plot is engaging enough, but, critics aside, even the most valiant reader is daunted by James' relentless surge of fifty-word sentences, such as:

"The fact of the adventure was flagrant between them; they had looked at each other, on gaining the street, as people look who have just rounded together a dangerous corner, and there was therefore already enough unanimity sketched out to have lighted, for her companion, anything equivocal in her action."

Why this jumble of words, why these awkward turns of phrase? A diagrammer's despair, to be sure. To have to read a steady succession of such sentences is something akin to having molasses poured all over one's body and then being set down over a nearby fire ant's nest.

James found his most famous (memorable and thankfully short!) phrase from "Dove", "To turn one's face to the wall", in Scripture, in Hezekiah's action in Isaiah 38:2. The meaning of the phrase, a turning away from everything and everybody, with nothing to look forward to but death, was highlighted in a sermon by the Rev. Thomas Bradbury, published in 1877 (see page 565 of "Grove Chapel Pulpit" of that sermon preached on Nov. 4, 1877), and was generally quite familiar to the scripturally literate reader of James' day. Later generations sometimes think it James' invention, but the source from whom he borrowed is, as it were, the Almighty. If one must borrow, why not the best?

One longs to see what other great authors would have done, given the same plot, settings and characters. No doubt, Trollope would have told the story just as leisurely, but with fewer lapses and greater finesse--and more love for the protagonists. Dickens would have enriched the descriptions of place and made more ironic/comic use of most of the supporting characters. Austen would have given us a tale replete with bon mots, tender and surprising scenes, and characters that even when they are at their worst, are deeply loved by their creator. Fitzgerald would have given us more visual and aural delights, and pared the prose to pithiness. Well, we are left with the ponderous mind of Mr. James, who at times had no idea how very amorphous his work could be.

Kudos to all valiant readers who persist to the end.

Skimming through the reviews here, I don't seem to find any by people who love and enjoy Henry James's last three novels. I do. The prose takes getting used to (and critics of James's own time, including H. G. Wells, said it was like a hippopatomus trying to pick up a pea), and all the characters are rich and so, by American standards, can't have any problems and must never have done anything wrong. Even the "poor" protagonists have jobs and aren't starving: they just want to be very wealthy indeed.

But once you get used to the prose it's brilliant and witty, and nobody in the history of fiction has done people trying to kid themselves about how rotten they are better than James does. Milly Theale, the absolute angel who gets exploited by everybody and doesn't even mind, is not the kind of character who would be believable in an ordinary novel. But James makes her acceptable, because we see how complex her thoughts are, and how difficult her situation AS SHE HERSELF SEES IT, is. No other writer can do this sort of thing, and it takes James's sort of prose to do it this well.

Some people prefer earlier James works, and THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY is a brilliant and intense novel that isn't quite so hard to read as THE WINGS OF THE DOVE. But the good woman in that book gets utterly crushed (James had guts and almost never sold out to what his readers might want by way of a happy ending); she never knows what hit her until it's too late. The good woman in WINGS knows everything, and finds a way to forgive her torturers, while at the same time torturing them back again with that very forgiveness. And does she know all that? Does she know that being nice will hurt her tormenters even worse than they hurt her? In the later Henry James, even the good characters know everything. That's why these novels are hard to read, in every sense. But my goodness how they pay off, and how a real James fan can find passages in them to treasure forever.

He writes about people who are trying to think while suffering deeply. He's one of the very very few writers who do, or can.

By the time Henry James had written WINGS OF THE DOVE in 1902, most of his best work was behind him. In many of these novels and short stories, James had shown a fascination with the theme of the new world American bumping into the old world European. Just as James himself seemed unable to label himself definitively as one or the other, so do many of his characters muck about with some Americans coming off as country bumpkins while other Americans have old-world fineness and grace hardwired into their genes. In WINGS OF THE DOVE, Milly Theale is an American heiress whose inner qualities James deliberately obscures. She is wealthy, beautiful, good-hearted--and dying. Milly seems too good to be true, and of course she is; she suffers not only from the dread disease of cancer but the equally dread disease of emotional blindness. Milly decides to take a trip to Europe, where she encounters her doppleganger, Kate Croy. Millie sees Kate as having a feral aggressiveness that Millie admires but can never duplicate. Yet, both Kate and Millie soon discover points in common: they like and admire one another, and more disturbingly they both love the same man, Merton Densher. James complicates the plot in a manner worthy of a soap opera. Kate discovers that Millie is dying and hatches a plan breathtaking in its audacity. Merton, who is both poor and secretly engaged to Kate, must worm his way into the affections of Millie, whom he will marry. Then, after her expected demise, he will inherit Millie's fortune, and thus be free to marry Kate.

The problem with this plan becomes clear when we find out that it is one thing for two otherwise honorable people to contemplate deceitful actions and quite another for them to actually have the mental toughness to carry it out. James keeps the reader involved in this unlikely plan by shifting focus from victim to plotter. Millie is so good so kind that her only flaw is her inability to see what is right in front of her nose and yet this is quite enough to cause her undoing. If Kate were no more than a heartless backstabber, then the novel would have a huge hole in the plot where there ought to be some convincing motivation. James sidesteps this dilemma by making both Merton and Kate fully rounded characters, both of whom are fully aware of what they are doing and why, but unable to come up with another scenario that would permit them to marry. Kate is now the dramatic center. It is she who sizes up her own unhappy situation. It is she who correctly assesses Millie's feelings for Merton. And it is she who weighs cost versus benefit and decides that the latter outweighs the former. Of course, their plans go predictably awry when Millie discovers their plan and breaks up with Merton. Millie dies, and astoundingly, her will yet provides money for Merton. And it is here that James allows the moneyed world of the obtuse American to meld with that of the flawed but decent European. Kate and Merton then must ponder whether their consciences will permit them to accept the largesse of a woman who has forgiven them from beyond the grave.

WINGS OF THE DOVE is a superb novel that explores what it means to be kind and decent. For those who might be inclined to these noble qualities, Henry James suggests that decency and self-interest need not be mutually exclusive so long as one can be honest enough with all concerned. Such difficult questions are not limited only to a Kate and Merton who must stare at an envelope and decide whether it holds their future or their past.

I know H. James is considered one of the "Greats" of American literature and I question my taste for hating most of his writing. With few exceptions I think he is a pretentious purveyor of obscurantism. I read Wings of the Dove many years ago in the days when I would not allow myself to set aside books I did not enjoy. I recently picked up a collection of his short stories and remembered why I disliked him so much. Now in my old age I had no pangs of conscience when I happily closed the book before finishing it. If more of the stories had been like Daisy Miller I would have proceeded further but unfortunately much of the writing reminded me of Wings. I am currently seeking relief from Henry's turgid prose by reading Hemingway. I'd trade in a Henry for an Ernie any day. It's also difficult to like Mr. James' snobbish, shallow and unsympathetic characters. The more sympathetic ones were obscured by his heavy hand and my impatience with his style.

Great read! The dialogue is well written and believable. Story moves at a fast but comfortable pace. Engaging....

Great book! Can't get enough of James Lee Burke's books!!!!! Once you start to read them you can't put them down.

This is the first book in the James Lee Burke series with Detective Dave Robicheaux. Takes place in New Orleans, reads like a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler story - old fashioned, hard-boiled detective story. Rich in characters and a sense of Louisiana. Doesn't take long to read, but I highly recommend it!!

There's nothing like a James Lee Burke novel! Neon Rain is the beginning of the Dave Robicheaux series, and it is an excellent read. Burke's style is unique -- he likes to make the reader think. Nothing is ever spoonfed to us.

For example, there is this dark passage about a very bad man, the antagonist, dying from cancer, alone:

"Somewhere down inside him, he knew that his fear of death by water had always been a foolish one. Death was a rodent that ate its way inch by inch through your entrails, chewed at your liver and stomach, severed tendon from organ, until finally, when you were alone in the dark, it sat gorged and sleek next to your head, its eyes resting, its wet muzzle like a kiss, a promise whispered in the ear."

With no other description of the scene - the sterile hospital room, the nurses who lack compassion, the long nights, the brutal pain - the hopelessness of the character's situation is absolutely clear, encapsulated in this one metaphor. Death was a rodent. We have a taste of fear in our mouths that won't leave us when we put a marker in place and close the book. We know this wicked man's death was justice delivered, but we feel vulnerable to the rat ourselves. So there is some small element of conflict there as we sympathize with the dying man. Burke played on our fears, kept us intrigued to the very end, and then left us with just enough discomfort that the story will stay with us for a long time.

Burke's characters are complex, flawed, interesting. Life is messy and doesn't always treat them fairly, so my heart aches for these characters as they experience tragedies, abuses, mistakes, bad choices. But it's not just the characters that are intriguing. He knows how to make the scene come alive - literally.

I highly recommend any of James Lee Burke's novels. Neon Rain is top-notch.

James Lee Burke is not your average crime fiction writer. "The Neon Rain," the first Dave Robicheaux novel, is so full of atmosphere and real people that I felt like I was living in New Orleans while reading the book (I wasn't; I live in Northern California). Burke can describe settings like no one else I've read. The bayous are drenched in humidity; thunderstorms come alive and arc through your subconscious; even the cracks in the sidewalk cause you to mentally step over them. And his characters are so deep, so flawed, so human, that when you're introduced to them, you're almost compelled to greet them with a mental handshake.

Burke has a knack for not quite letting you guess exactly where he's taking you. In that regard, he's much like Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos. Simply put, Burke is a great writer, and Robicheaux is one of the more intriguing characters in fiction literature, joining my personal list of favorites which includes Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, Matthew Scudder, John Corey, Nick Stefanos, Shane Scully, Mitch Rapp and Ridley Jones.

Buy it. Read it. Then do what I was forced to do. Buy the whole Robicheaux series. "The Neon Rain" will leave you no choice.