Read an Excerpt

From Gabriel Brownstein's Introduction to The Portrait of a Lady :
"The Portrait of a Lady is often discussed as a novel of manners, a sociological study of the contrasts in mores and styles of Americans and Europeans. It's also described as a psychological novel, charting the complex interplay between the minds of its major characters and exploring relentlessly and finely the consciousness of its heroine, Isabel. But these characterizations, while not entirely mistaken, obscure a central characteristic of the novel: The Portrait of a Lady is a fairy tale, or as James put it in the 1906 preface, a "fable". With whatever authority he presents the psyches and social milieus of his Europeans and Americans and Europeanized Americans, and however carefully observed the locales—and the authority and care are absolute—the project of The Portrait of a Lady is about as close to a work of social science as it is to a conventional potboiler. Americans and Europeans, in the novel, are types: As Leon Edel, James's great biographer and critic, has it, "In James' fiction, Americans are often presented as if they still possess the innocence of Eden;" and furthermore, "it is striking how often the adjective 'corrupt' precedes the word 'Europe'" (article in Scribner's American Writers, Vol. 2, pp. 320-323). As they appear in The Portrait of a Lady, these representatives of the old and new worlds are rendered vividly, and they may feel to the reader momentarily real, but in the end they are figures in a novelist's dreams and meditations; they are as conceptual as they are concrete. Similarly, "American girl" is not a category ofmind or state of consciousness; it is a kind of representational ideal. In the author's terms, the phrase "American girl" is almost redundant. Both the words conjure innocence and (in their way) beauty. Both words also auger doom. If, as Edel argues, America is an Eden, then a fall will come, as surely as a girl will become a woman or die. The phrase "American girl" also carries with it a hint of contradiction, a fight between the two words: While an American is liberated, a girl is subject to all kinds of boundaries and limits. "American girl," then, is a phrase that conjures a story, a cheerful two words that together gather storm clouds. American girls are doubly doomed among the limits of European society; an American girl going to Europe is a pure white lamb bound to be ruined. The Portrait of a Lady bears the details and precision of psychological and social realism, but the novel is structured like a kind of old-fashioned legend. We have an ordinary girl, Isabel, who on venturing into Europe becomes a sort of princess, an heiress related to her uncle, the banker Daniel Touchett, who in his kindness, power, and benevolence is as good as a king. Once in this strange land, Isabel is wooed by two Princes Charming, paragons of American and British manhood: Caspar Goodwood, the inventor-athlete-businessman, and Lord Warburton, the nobleman-politician-reformer. But she marries neither and is instead entranced by Madame Merle, a kind of witch—an evil sorceress of society and good manners—who marries her off to the "sterile dilettante," as Ralph Touchett puts it, Gilbert Osmond, an ogre of high aesthetics, who in the end does not find Isabel's beauty up to the mark. This story is beauty and the beast in its most primitive form: the princess enslaved by a monster. But the monster in The Portrait of a Lady is a monster of aesthetics; Osmond is a painter, a collector of fine things, a disparager of vulgarity. And Isabel is no ordinary beauty: She has beauty based in character, in potentiality, in innocence, and in liberty of mind—in her being an American and a girl. This novel is not just a beautiful story; it is a story about beauty, a story in which the destruction of beauty is threatened by beauty's great admirer. The book opens with a meditation on a kind of perfect scene, Ralph and Daniel Touchett, along with Lord Warburton, taking tea on the lawn of Gardencourt. The time of day is aestheticized, "the perfect middle of a splendid summer afternoon," which the narrator tells us "could be only an eternity of pleasure." The house is aestheticized, even its brick face, "with the complexion of which time and the weather had played all sorts of pictorial tricks, only, however, to improve and refine it." Daniel Touchett, for his part, has an "aesthetic passion" for Gardencourt, and even Touchett's "beautiful collie dog" gets into the rapture, "watching the master's face almost as tenderly as the master took in the still more magisterial physiognomy of the house." This sort of highly aestheticized contemplation and pictorial scene-setting is replete throughout the novel, notably at the introduction to Osmond's villa in Florence, where the narrator describes "a small group that might have been described by a painter as composing well." The windows of Osmond's place, we are told, are "extremely architectural." Osmond's beard is "cut in the manner of the portraits of the sixteenth century," and he is described as a "gentleman who studied style." Not only are the settings beautiful, but these beauties are contemplated by a narrator whose precision and delicacy and aesthetic passions are rivaled only by his characters."

informational source:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781593080969&z=y#EXC

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opinions

Probably, it will be interesting for you to know what other people think about the book. Here are some interesting opinions, which I found on forums:

*I found that reading this book makes me love descriptive paragraphs. Henry James tried to write the description so long but it is not boring, on the contrary, its sound challenging.

*I never understood why Isabel chose Gilbert. It seemed contradictory to her stated independence that she should rush into a relationship with this fellow who appeared ambivalent to her one way or the other. Both Caspar and Warburton seemed genuinely, if not dangerously, to care for Isabel. Each of them seemed infatuated with Isabel on an emotional level. I didn't get that Caspar was in it for the sport, but it seems to border on the pathetic that neither one of them seemed able to let her go. On other hand, I couldn't understand why Isabel, once confronted with Gilbert's true nature and the underlying lie upon which her relationship was conceived, chose to imprison herself in a marriage in which she could or would never be happy. I was hoping that she would ditch them all, take her money, and run. Instead, I just felt sorry for her.

*Henry James can do no wrong for me, however convoluted his sentences, and this is a masterpiece of psychological drama

*The only Henry James novel I've read (albeit I have not read many) in which the emotional elements cut through his thick prose and really moved me deeply. The ending made me cry.

* I love this book and read it several times. Yes, James's sentences tend to be long and involved, but I like that--it slows down my reading and makes me pay attention to all the words

*Frankly, Henry James was so wordy with such tortured sentence structure, it was almost impossible to develop empathy with his heroes and heroines. This book is a perfect example of how difficult it can be. This book argues heavily for Cliff's Notes and Classic Comics

information sources:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20966

http://www.librarything.com/work/9984

"The Portrait of a Lady" what is it about?

Isabel Archer, originally from Albany,New York, is invited by her aunt to visit her rich uncle Daniel Touchett at his estate near London, following the death of her father. There she meets her cousin Ralph Touchett, a friendly invalid, and the Touchetts' robust neighbor, Lord Warburton. Isabel later declines Warburton's sudden proposal of marriage. She also rejects the hand of Caspar Goodwood, charismatic son and heir to a wealthy Boston mill owner. Although Isabel is drawn to Caspar, her commitment to her independence contradicts such a marriage, which she feels would be sacrificial to her freedom. The elder Touchett grows ill and, at the request of his son, leaves much of his estate to Isabel upon his death shortly afterwards.
With her legacy Isabel travels through the Continent and meets an American expatriate, Gilbert Osmond, in Florence. Although Isabel had previously rejected both Warburton and American businessman Caspar Goodwood, she accepts Osmond's marriage proposal. Isabel is unaware that the marriage was actively promoted by the accomplished but untrustworthy Madame Merle, another American expatriate who Isabel had met at the Touchetts' estate.
Isabel and Osmond settle in Rome, and the marriage rapidly sours due to Osmond's overwhelming egotism and lack of genuine affection. Isabel grows fond of Pansy, Osmond's daughter presumably by his first marriage, and wants to grant her wish to marry Ned Rosier, a young art collector. The snobbish Osmond would rather Pansy accept Warburton's gauche proposal of marriage (after he had previously proposed to Isabel).
This leads to even more strain on Isabel's marriage. She learns that Ralph is dying at his estate in England, and prepares to go to him for his final hours. Osmond selfishly opposes her plans to visit Ralph. Meanwhile, Isabel learns from her sister-in-law that Pansy is really the daughter of Madame Merle, who had an adulterous relationship with Osmond for several years.
Isabel confronts Madame Merle, then leaves to comfort the dying Ralph in England, where she remains until his death. Goodwood encounters her at Ralph's estate and begs her to leave Osmond and come away with him. He passionately embraces and kisses her, but Isabel will not consent to his demands. She returns to Osmond in Rome.

About Henry James

Henry James (1843-1916), American-born writer, gifted with talents in literature, psychology, and philosophy. James wrote 20 novels, 112 stories, 12 plays and a number of works of literary criticism.
Henry James was born on April 15, 1843 in New York City into a wealthy family. His father, Henry James Sr. was one of the best-known intellectuals in mid-nineteenth-century America. In his youth James traveled back and forth between Europe and America. He studied with tutors in Geneva, London, Paris, Bologna and Bonn. At the age of 19 he briefly attended Harvard Law School, but preferred reading literature to studying law. James published his first short story, "A Tragedy of Errors" two years later, and devoted himself to literature. In 1866-69 and 1871-72 he was a contributor to the Nation and Atlantic Monthly.
From an early age James had read the classics of English, American, French and German literature and Russian classics in translation. His first novel, Watch And Ward (1871), was written while he was traveling through Venice and Paris. After living in Paris, where he was contributor to the New York Tribune, James moved to England, living first in London and then in Rye, Sussex. During his first years in Europe James wrote novels that portrayed Americans living abroad. In 1905 James visited America for the first time in twenty-five years, and wrote "Jolly Corner".
Among James' masterpieces are Daisy Miller (1879), where the young and innocent American, Daisy finds her values in conflict with European sophistication and The Portrait Of A Lady (1881) where again a young American woman becomes a victim of her provincialism during her travels in Europe. The Bostonians (1886) was set in the era of the rising feminist movement. What Maisie Knew (1897) depicted a preadolescent young girl, who must chose between her parents and a motherly old governess. In The Wings Of The Dove (1902) a heritage destroys the love of a young couple. James considered The Ambassadors (1903) his most 'perfect' work of art. James's most famous short story must be "The Turn of the Screw", a ghost story in which the question of childhood corruption obsesses a governess. Although James is best known for his novels, his essays are now attracting a more general audience.
Between 1906 and 1910 James revised many of his tales and novels for the New York edition of his complete works. His autobiography, A Small Boy And Others, appeared in 1913 and was continued in Notes Of A Son And Brother (1914). The third volume, The Middle Years, appeared posthumously in 1917. The outbreak of World War I was a shock for James and in 1915 he became a British citizen as a declaration of loyalty to his adopted country and in protest against the US's refusal to enter the war. James suffered a stroke on December 2, 1915. He died three months later in Rye on February 28, 1916.

To begin with...

I’ve decided to devote my blog to Henry James and to one of his most successful work «The Portrait of a Lady». Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about American’s authors and especially about theirs works; but when I was given a task to decide what author I would write about, I found out that Henry James’s works fill a highly important place in American Literature.
Moreover, «The Portrait of a Lady» is probably one of the most stunning achievement of Henry James early period (1860-1870) when he was transforming himself from a talented young American into a resident of Europe, a citizen of the world, and one of the greatest novelists of modern times.
Therefore, here you will find un information about Henry James, analysis and interpretation of «The Portrait of a Lady» and a lot of useful information, including presentation of Web sites relating to this topic