Details Books As Washington Square
| Original Title: | Washington Square |
| ISBN: | 0451528719 (ISBN13: 9780451528711) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Morris Townsend, Dr. Sloper, Catherine Sloper |
| Setting: | New York City, New York(United States) Greenwich Village, New York City, New York(United States) |
Henry James
Paperback | Pages: 240 pages Rating: 3.68 | 17426 Users | 1319 Reviews
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Washington Square
The plot of Washington Square has the simplicity of old-fashioned melodrama: a plain-looking, good-hearted young woman, the only child of a rich widower, is pursued by a charming but unscrupulous man who seeks the wealth she will presumably inherit. On this premise, Henry James constructed one of his most memorable novels, a story in which love is answered with betrayal and loyalty leads inexorably to despair."-- from the Introduction by Peter Conn
In Washington Square (1880), Henry James reminisces about the New York he had known thirty years before as he tells the story of Catherine Sloper and her fortune-seeking suitor Morris Townsend. This perceptively drawn human drama is James' most accessible work and an enduring literary triumph.
Washington Square Press' Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. This edition of Washington Square has been prepared by Peter Conn, Andrea Mitchell Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. It includes his introduction, notes, selection of critical excerpts, and suggestions for further reading as well as a unique visual essay of period illustrations and photographs.
Define About Books Washington Square
| Title | : | Washington Square |
| Author | : | Henry James |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 240 pages |
| Published | : | April 6th 2004 by Signet Classics (first published 1880) |
| Categories | : | Classics. Fiction. Literature. 19th Century. American. Historical. Historical Fiction. Romance |
Rating About Books Washington Square
Ratings: 3.68 From 17426 Users | 1319 ReviewsCommentary About Books Washington Square
I played Catherine in a production of "The Heiress," the stage version of this novel, so I read it and studied it several times. James' ability to analyse the middle to upper middle classes of his era were brilliant. The characters in this novel are shown with all their faults. They are victims of their time and culture, yet each could have made other choices and had other outcomes.Here we are in New York City in the mid-1880's, a bit before Edith Wharton's time, but in the same social milieu. This is a kind of novel of manners, a mid-19th Century soap opera. Our author is Henry James, so be prepared for the long, convoluted, comma- and semicomma-laden sentences akin to those of Jane Austen.Yet 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
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
Henry James should have gone with the more apt and obvious title Two Shitty Men Say Mean Things To Two Silly Women.
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
Victorian books are embroidered with stock characters, with backstories that can be summed in a sentence. A sententious physician. A meddling older woman. A maiden aunt, with a sole romantic disappointment in her lonely past. It doesn't occur to you to think about what awful drama that sentence drags behind it, but it's occurred to Henry James. What was that disappointment? Would that maiden aunt have been better off undisappointed? So here's James's wonderful heroine: plain, dull Catherine
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,
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