Product Description
Eugenia, an American expatriate brought up in Europe, arrives in rural New England with her charming brother Felix, hoping to find a wealthy second husband after the collapse of her marriage to a German prince. Their exotic, sophisticated airs cause quite a stir with their affluent, God-fearing American cousins, the Wentworths and provoke the disapproval of their father, suspicious of foreign influences. The arrival of the frivolous, handsome Felix is especially enchanting to Gertrude Wentworth, who is struggling against her sombre puritan upbringing. One of Henry James's most optimistic novels, The Europeans (1878) is a subtle and gently ironic examination of manners and morals, deftly portraying the impact of Old World experience on New World innocence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Compared to Earlier and Later Works ...
... The Europeans seems indeed to be merely "a sketch", a practice piece, worth reading only for James's masterly prose and for occasional sparkles of wit. Or perhaps it should be taken as James's effort to 'cash in' on the perennial market for romance novels for women readers, a market that was a lucrative in the 19th C as it remains today. That latter interpretation, I confess, is hindered by the absence of passion exhibited in any the four entangled 'love stories' of the narration. Marriages do occur eventually; I hope that's not too much of a spoiler, since I won't disclose how many or whom.

One could also interpret The Europeans as a study of miscommunication. The title characters, a sister and brother whose mother was American but who have 'grown up' as thorough Europeans, come to visit their American cousins whom they've never met or known, who live quiet, sober lives in a Massachusetts village. The reader is 'encouraged' to suppose that the sister is both fleeing a milieu in Europe that has gone sour and seeking a 'fortunate' matrimonial opportunity. The American cousins and their social set are people of substantial means and insubstantial culture. Perplexed in every way by the arrival of such exotic relatives, nonetheless they generously welcome the travelers into their quaint puritanical family circle. What ensues is a minuet of misperceptions and miscues.

James seems to have learned a good deal about the structural mechanics of novel-writing in the short time between "The American" and "The Europeans". Whereas in the former, he sometimes labors over describing a character in excessive external detail, in the latter he allows his characters to portray themselves through actions and dialogue. It's a subtler style of narrative, on a par with the polished best of Jane Austen or George Eliot.But of course the 19th C British 'novel of manners' was the model of all of Henry James's novels, a form he never abandoned. It's also quite plausible that James consciously intended "The Europeans" as a sequel to "The American," a thematic coda. It's not as exciting or insightful as its immediate predecessor, and it's barely a prophecy of the brilliance James would soon achieve in "The Bostonians". But it's too artfully written not to be entertaining as a display of craft.

Less brilliant than other James' works
This is not one of my favourites (and it was not among the James' fovourites, either). Both characters and plot do not live up to the very high standard I got used to, reading HJ.

I read this book soon after "Washington square", and while I was really shocked by how brilliant and powerful that novel is, this one has not had such a strong effect (not that it is bad, simply it is not too good).

The foreign cousins
This minor work by James is another brick in the tall wall of his obsessive study of the cultural and behavioral differences between Europeans and Americans at the turn of the Century (XIX to XX, of course). The prose is, as always, elegant and intricate, with a rich and sophisticated language that every admirer of James enjoys so much, but it is no doubt much lighter than his masterworks. Eugenia and Felix Young, children of Americans but raised in Europe, arrive in Boston to look for their uncle Wentworth and his children. He has few memories of her departed sister, the Youngs' mother, and doesn't even remember she left two kids when she died. So the Youngs are well received but naturally elicit all kinds of suspicion. What are the refined Eugenia, married to a Baron of Münster, and the artistically inclined Felix up to? What's the objective of their visit? The members of the Wentworth household react differently, according to their own expectations, attractions, rejections, and delusions. Brother and sister become an exotic attraction, a couple of rather decadent noble people playing king and queen of a rural, puritan, and prude environment. In particular, Felix elicits the total admiration and infatuation of the young and independently-minded Gertrude. It's a funny and pleasant read, which prefigures future, more complex plots and characters by James.

The Europeans
The Europeans by Henry James. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

Henry James is one of the best American writers. Reading this novel has made me very excited to read further works by James, as I plan to read the entirety of his literary output. It is the brilliance and charm of 'Europenas' that has instilled in me this excitment.

Sloppy edition
The edition I had (Bibliobazaar) is so full of spelling mistakes (Eg. P:41, instead of "Munster", "M; auunster", and this repeated throughout the book) that I regretted not specifying a certain edition. I feel I got a very cheap edition for my money. ... Read more

Product Description
THE OUTCRY is James' last novel. At the heart of the story is a questions of attribution: Lord Theign owns a painting which has for generations been known as a Moretto, but which may in fact be a Montavano, and whereas a Moretto, costing a mere 10,000 pounds holds no interest whatsoever for the acquisitive Mr Bender, a Montavano - at 100,000 pounds - most definitely does. In typical Jamesian fashion the vulgarities of the attribution and notoriety of the painting are kept off stage. Written first as a play and then novelised, THE OUTCRY is only available in this Penguin edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Slight but satisfying example of late James
For those who admire the style of the later Henry James, and enjoyed the final three "big" novels - The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and the Golden Bowl - this much shorter and lighter novel - almost a short story by James' standards - will be a very pleasant diversion.

Obviously adapted from his play without much attempt to disguise this fact, the novel is driven by the characters' sharp and often witty dialogue. The characters are well drawn, and the story is unusually straightforward for James. While there remain the usual elliptical phrases and circumlocutions we've come to expect in his later novels, these have been toned down in the interests of dramatic momentum and the book is actually an easy read.

While it is certainly not one of the great James novels, it is nevertheless recommended to those who enjoy reading this author. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"He had given himself away to a band of adventurers." (p.34)
This longish short story tells the tale of a young teacher hired by a "...housefull of bohemians that wanted tremendously to be Philistines."He's quite taken with his pupil, a young man who returns the affection of his teacher and sees through his parent's social climbing ways.

It is the usual world of Henry James, monied turn of the centry Europe, although in this instance the Ameicans abroad are not-so-innocent and not-so-monied.And while there is a reasonable amount of action in the story, no one is going to confuse it with Dashiell Hammett.Perhaps Proust on one of his less verbose days.

The strength of the story is nuance.The negotiations between the mother and the teacher are especially strong and a classic Jamesian quote is contained in the only point of view change from the teacher's that I recall in the story: "If Mr. Moreen hadn't have been such a man of the world he would have perhaps have spoken of the freedom of such neckties on the part of a subordinate."

"He had given himself away to a band of adventurers." (p.34)
This longish short story tells the tale of a young teacher hired by a "...housefull of bohemians that wanted tremendously to be Philistines."He's quite taken with his pupil, a young man who returns the affection of his teacher and sees through his parent's social climbing ways.

It is the usual world of Henry James, monied turn of the centry Europe, although in this instance the Ameicans abroad are not-so-innocent and not-so-monied.And while there is a reasonable amount of action in the story, no one is going to confuse it with Dashiell Hammett.Perhaps Proust on one of his less verbose days.

The strength of the story is nuance.The negotiations between the mother and the teacher are especially strong and a classic Jamesian quote is contained in the only point of view change from the teacher's that I recall in the story: "If Mr. Moreen hadn't have been such a man of the world he would have perhaps have spoken of the freedom of such neckties on the part of a subordinate."

Unusual James
This is a great tale from James' middle period.It's also, from my experience of James (Portrait, Wings of the Dove, and about a dozen short novels and stories), not what I expect from him.The family of theeponymous pupil is a great grotesque creation, comic and unfortunate, andthe child himself is vividly drawn.Enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Henry James is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Henry James then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Portrait of a Lady
I loved reading this book! The way James developed his characters was fascinating, and there was always the right amount of suspense. It takes a while to get in sync with his writing style (verbose and circuitous), but well worth the effort! I'm off to Volume II... and I hope there is more resolution in this one.

Difficult navigation
As an ebook this one did not allow one to navigate by advancing by chapter with the five-way controller.The table of contents was not interactive.If you leave your place in the book to look at another location in the book you will not easily be able to find the place you left off unless you remember the location.The sync to furthest page read did not work either.I don't know if that is a gliche with this book or a kindle 2 problem.I read this for a book club so it was very annoying not to be able to easily jump from chapter to chapter as we were discussing it.One would have to use the search facility to find the chapters which are in Roman numerals.

As a work of fiction, Henry James goes into great depth to describe his characters.Approximately the first third of the book was used for this purpose.The plot was slow moving at this point. If you have patience to stick it out it will become a little more interesting and complex.The story was sad.The ending was depressing. I found James writing style tedious. ... Read more

Product Description
A handsome, authoritative edition of twenty-one classic stories from James's latest and greatest period includes "The Turn of the Screw," "The Figure in the Carpet," and "The Altar of the Dead." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Short Stories of Henry James: Worth the Effort
The short stories of Henry James are a microcosm of his novels: bafflingly complex, syntactically convoluted, and thematically multi-layered.He wrote more than 100 between 1864 and 1910, of which perhaps a few dozen are much read today. Complicating any discussion of his short prose is to define "short." Many of his short stories are long enough to qualify as novellas but regardless of the length, any fiction of Henry James promises to take the reader into the world of the microverse, a highly stylized and internalized arena where action counts less than thought and "how" far more than "what." For those who come to his short fiction after having read, say THE GOLDEN BOWL or THE AMBASSADORS, such readers have learned patience, secure in the knowledge that the inner workings of the mind are surely more interesting than the slam-bang world of reality.

There are a few themes that James uses often both in his short and long fiction.He likes to place cultured and intelligent protagonists in an alien environment just to watch them squirm on a foreign alter, or what is more sinister, to maintain them in a familiar ground, only to change the laws of physics or rationality--and then watch them squirm. He employs the doppelganger, or double of the protagonist, one who might be his present or future version, or again more sinister, one who might be a spectral reincarnation. Many of James' heroes fear marriage and must battle an encrusted society that demands it.James was also fascinated with innocence, especially in children and child-like adults. In such stories, the world exists only to corrupt such innocence. Finally, James rarely used one theme in isolation. He much preferred to onion his stories with overlapping themes, all of which are centered on James' rich and allusive prose style, allowing him to meld the complexity of content with the complexity of style.I have chosen a few of his short prose fiction as examples of the quintessential Henry James.

In "The Aspern Papers," James writes of a narrator who must balance the need to obtain art (the papers of the deceased American poet Aspern) while maintaining his ethics while so doing.The narrator travels to Venice for these papers only to discover that their current owners are quite unwilling to give them up. He promises to marry one of them in return for their delivery to him, thinking all the while they are too naïve to see through his scheme. In the end, he tries to steal them, only to learn that they have burned them, one page at a time.James' narrator is one of a long series of such who speak of integrity more than show it.

In "The Jolly Corner," James uses the "double" of the protagonist to point out how one man's life could have been had things been different. Spencer Brydon, an American expatriate returns to America, only to meet his ghostly alter ego, one who Brydon might have become had he stayed at home. Perhaps James had in mind Lambert Strether of THE AMBASSADORS, who is also the model of what the alter ego might have been: a money-grubbing capitalist with no one to tell him "Live!"

James uses "The Pupil" to depict the loss of childhood innocence. The caddish and grifting transplanted American Moreen family hires fellow American Pemberton to tutor their son. They refuse to pay him agreed on wages, all the while exhorting him with the nobility of his task.They offer him custody of their son, which he understandably refuses, but the boy is crushed since he favors Pemberton over his parents.

Art versus life come into conflict in "The Real Thing."The narrator is hired by a couple, punningly named the Monarchs, to paint them as exemplars of the "real thing" of nobility.It is his realization that the reality of their claim does not allow him to create the illusion of a second-rate knock off. He is unwilling to further society's need to measure a life by glorifying its phony aspect.

In these stories and in Henry James' others, he presents the reader with a subjective examination of the inner workings of the mind. For those readers who wish to enter such a microverse, they will find that James' admittedly baffling style will be seen as more as a part of that journey than an impediment.

Misleading Information
Why is Amazon listing this book, Henry James:Complete Stories 1892-98 as available new? I ordered it in February and never received it.Amazon notified me frequently of continuing delays and, then, a few weeks ago cancelled the order, the book being unavailable. This is one of two volumes of James's stories which Amazon lists but has been unable to provide. I've written the same review for the other one.

I have since ordered a used copy and received it without delay!

The stories, of course, all five volumes are perfection, delight, wondrous!The edition is beautiful:print is very small and on thin paper but still easy to read.The hardback bindings hold the pages together securely yet allow the reader to hold the book open without a lot of effort. The little ribbon marker is a nice touch.

Little Gems from The Master
Henry James (1843-1916) was nicknamed The Master by admiring fellow-authors towards the end of his life.He is truly a noble, gifted, psychological author depicting a by-gone era but including timelessinsights about human beings and their general and mental situations in hiswritings.He is a master of lengthy prose (too lengthy for some!) TheseLibrary of America editions of James's writings are wonderful,high-quality, unabridged books with expert editing (notes) at the back ofthe volume.They have a knack for selecting the best editions of theauthor's writings where more than one version was published in the author'slifetime. The short stories of this volume are from the mature period butbefore James'final developed style of fictional writing.There are alarge number of stories including manywonderful gems such as "OwenWingrave," "The Coxon Fund" and "In the Cage."Tobe fair, most of the stories were written quickly for magazines, and a few("Glasses" comes to mind) just aren't good stories at all, in myopinion.However, most of the stories do succeed quite well. "OwenWingrave" (criticized by Bernard Shaw as being too deterministic andneglecting free will) is actually a penetrating tale about militaryculture, military values, and the role of the military in thenineteenth-century world. "The Coxon Fund" is about a brilliantlecturer supported by the fund but whose life and the lives of hissupporters are full of pitfalls outside of the Fund's influence.The storyshows how the successes andfailures of the Fund(and the Lecturer) havesubtle and not-so-subtle ramifications for each of the characters. With"In the Cage", the author steps outside of his accustomedhigher-class and higher-educated mix of characters to present the plight ofa penetrating lower-class telegram processor and her insights on life andher suitor.I found it a nice rendition of late-nineteenth century London.I encourage readers to explore this and other Library of America editionsof James' writings. ... Read more

Product Description
When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. A story of intense poignancy, Isabel's tale of love and betrayal still resonates with modern audiences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Diana the Huntress
Isabel Archer, the 'lady' portrayed here, is well christened. She is "arch" in every sense, a virgin as cold as the moon in her first phase, and a true American 'princess' whose self-esteem far exceeds her self-knowledge. But this is an "arch" novel through and through, from the coyly stilted conversations to the shockingly severe come-uppance our heroine eventually suffers. This Portrait of a Lady is a good deal less flattering than the portrait of another lady by John Singer Sargent on the cover of this Penguin edition. Don't be gulled! Isabel Archer is an insufferable narcissist, who 'makes her own bed' and stubbornly chooses to sleep in it. But this is a novel that dares to demand the reader's involvement with a whole cast of insufferable narcissists: the arch-dilettante Gilbert Osmond, the arch-American self-made businessman Casper Goodwood, the arch-Brit Lord Warburton, the arch-queen of mean Mrs. Touchett, the arch-professional invalid her son Ralph Touchett, the arch-bluestocking Henrietta Stackpole, and the arch-diva Madame Merle. In the whole cast of personages, only Isabel's uncle, the old Mr. Touchett, could plausibly be called 'sympathetic', and he dies early in the narrative. It's quite a feat of bravado, I'd say, to write a long novel about half a dozen thoroughly dislikable people, and it may require equal bravado for a reader of 2010 to enjoy it.

Henry James was a remarkably BAD novelist by any standards except his ineffable own, and those of his staunch professorial admirers. I'm not a professor, but I admire James's fiction immensely, even when I enjoy it only after I finish it. He's prolix, verbose, pompous, verbally 'arch' at times to an infuriating degree. He 'tells' rather than 'shows', the cardinal sin for a writer of modern sensibilities. He reveals himself outside the frame of the narrative, smirking with omniscience. He often seems to be improvising his story as he goes, yet he professes to know where it's going. He would have us believe, I think, that he's the very vanguard of psychological realism in fiction, yet his tales often hinge on successions of improbable coincidences. Again and again, characters appear and depart as 'conveniently' as in any Victorian stage melodrama. There are altogether too many "aha!" moments in most of his longer narratives.

All those flaws are prominent in "The Portrait of a Lady", a novel which appears to be the continental divide between James's energetic earlier style and his obtuse/insightful later mannerism. It's a remarkably BAD novel, as bad as any GREAT novel I've ever read. It seems awkwardly plotted. It lurches fore and aft in time with grand ungainly toad hops. The conversations, as the editor Geoffrey Moore asserts, are horribly contrived. They are NOT as unrealistic, however, as Moore supposes; I've heard precisely such mannered exchanges between real people of the ambience in which James moved and of which he wrote. In his depiction of individual human beings, James was never less than perfectly attuned. The 'odious seven' of this novel are virtually tangible presences.

I confess that I didn't like The Portrait of a Lady while I was reading it, not until the last third of it. I wanted it to get somewhere sooner. In fact, I wanted it to be over. Only my hope of seeing Isabel Archer, that twit, get roundly besmirched by Life kept me reading. Then, when Life served her hash, I felt myself unexpectedly merciful - sympathetic - to her. And then again, old Henry J had something else in mind for me ...

Something quite profound.

There's a lot in this novel that reminds me of George Eliot's finest masterpiece "Middlemarch". I have to guess that the 'resonance' was intentional on James's part: two unhappy marriages between life-seeking clever young women and life-loathing dry older men. But Eliot's heroine is so much simpler, less ambiguous, than James's New Woman. The juxtaposition makes the conclusion of James's account yet more disturbingly potent. In the end, James's tale really is psychologically deeper than Eliot's.

I'm left with a question here: is Henry James the novelist I love to hate, or the writer I hate to love?

*^*^*^

Second thoughts:
I finished The Portrait on an airplane several days ago, and it's been sticking in my craw. (I never realized before that "craw" was a synonym for "mind".)
There are aspects of this novel that seem to sprawl beyond the story it tells, an 'allegorical' structure such as I tried to imply by linking Isabel Archer to Diana, the goddess of the Moon in its phases and of a-sexuality. Isabel is utterly a-sexual. But now another 'allegory' strikes me as plausible. Could it be that Isabel represents Henry James himself, in his eternally self-conscious pose as The American in Europe? Thus we'd have to take Casper Goodwood as the America - American Life - from which James desperately fled to Europe but never quite eluded.

Far-fetched and high-faluting, obviously. But that's what I learned to do in college lit classes.

Freedom Frustrated
Isabel Archer, James' best known heroine is also perhaps his most frustrating."Taken up" by a self-centered aunt, she is brought to Europe to see what she makes of it and herself. Just barely disentangling herself from her American suitor, Caspar Goodwood, the men she encounters, Ralph Touchett, Lord Warburton and Gilbert Osmond all offer various possibilities.An uncle's bequest proves to be more hindrance than help and unfortunately she makes the worse possible choice.

POAL is a wonderful, if infuriating study of one's potential being frustrated. Indeed, it wonders whether that thing we call "possibilities" even actually exist, or are they always elusive, and illusionary. Larger question such as freedom, duty, and responsibility are all turned over (sometimes again and again and again).It is a striking achievement, however, a 21st century reader one may find Isabel Archer's adherence to duty a vice rather than a virtue.I certainly did.

The Portrait of a Really Long (but Good) Novel
Enjoyable read; could have been shortened up a bit; the highly descriptive details take up about half of the novel, but overall a really good story. Good life lessons about trusting those around you and not being too proud to admit your mistakes. Amazingly written by a male to describe a female's perspective on love and relationships. Definitely give it a read, but allow yourself a good month to read it.

The sequel
"The Portrait of a Lady" has always been my favorite novel, so much so I've decided to write a sequel because James left his heroine sort of hanging. I'm not the only to think this, most critical essays on the novel comment on this and the possible reasons. Given that, I have started a blog [...] to answer the question, what happens when Isabel Archer Osmond returns to Rome. I am not blogging the sequel, just the process of thinking out where to take Isabel after her return to Rome. She is still in her twenties, a long life yet to go. Please visit my blog and share your comments; let's get a good dialogue going. Thanks. VB

A Book About Wonderful Women
Isabel Archer, a headstrong young woman, relishes her freedom. She has dreams of travel, exploration, and discovery, and none of these dreams include a husband. Her aunt comes to see her after the death of her father, and brings her onto a path which can lead to her freedom. But does it? She meets several young men who are charmed by her, and, by her choices, eliminates some of her dreams.

This work was written in installments, and it rather takes its time to set up, and lead into, the goldmine at the central core of the story. But what a goldmine it is -- embellished by the long passages, the lengthy descriptions, and the elucidations of the many issues around the themes. James is a master at creating his characters, keeping them consistent, and opening up their psyches.

This is a story about responsibility, duty, societal values, pledges, and of their consequences. It was set in a time when women had very little freedom because of those responsibilities, etc., and most of their choices, as we see very well in Pansy, were made for them. This is also a book about women -- many different and fascinating women and the men who love them, and one in particular who will be difficult to forget after finishing her story. ... Read more

Product Description
The second of James's three late masterpieces, was, in its author's opinion, "the best, all round, of my productions".

Lambert Strether, a mild middle-aged American of no particular achievements, is dispatched to Paris from the manufacturing empire of Woollett, Massachusetts. The mission conferred on him by his august patron, Mrs. Newsome, is to discover what, or who, is keeping her son Chad in the notorious city of pleasure, and to bring him home. But Strether finds Chad transformed by the influence of a remarkable woman; and as the Parisian spring advances, he himself succumbs to the allure of the 'vast bright Babylon' and to the mysterious charm of Madame de Vionnet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

For serious readers only.
High school students, and perhaps college students, should not be assigned to read some authors. Henry James is a case in point.


Henry James is an exquisite writer and perhaps serious college students should be exposed to Henry James' life, the subjects of his books, and his style of writing. But no one, not until they have had life experiences, should read Henry James.


I have read very little of Henry James; I have just completed four of his shorter works (I loved "The Beast in the Jungle"; and appreciated "Four Meetings," "The Pupil," and "The Turn of the Screw").


Today, I can say that I am very, very happy to have completed "The Ambassadors," the first Henry James novel I have read. One can read about the story line, the publishing history and analysis of this novel at wikipedia.


I group James Joyce (Irish), Virginia Woolf (English), and Henry James (American) in the same group, writing at the same time, and about similar subjects.


Some first impressions of "The Ambassadors":


1. It is autobiographical.

2. Henry James had moved (psychologically) from the US to Europe.

3. Henry James wondered if life had passed him by.

4. "The Ambassadors" has much in common with "The Beast in the Jungle"; both explore inner feelings about relationships and missed relationships.

5. Serious readers who have not read Henry James, but are interested, should read three works in this order: a) Leon Edel's biography of Henry James; b) "The Beast in the Jungle"; and, c) "The Ambassadors."

6. The more time one has spent in Paris, the more enjoyable is "The Ambassadors."

7. Henry James writing style is perfect for learning to diagram sentences (which I doubt anyone does any more). His sentences are very, very long. Likewise, his passages are very long. James can take two pages to say that two people look alike.

8. I have found at least one occasion in which James uses a word that doesn't exist in the English language, but looks like it should. In context, one can almost figure out what James was saying but who knows for sure.


I am 58 years old. The protagonist in "The Ambassadors" is 55 years old. He and I are asking the same questions.

Perfect Sleeping Elixer
Whenever I cannot get to sleep I simply reach for this book and, voila, within a few sentences I am drifting off.James wrote dialog that no one in the world has ever uttered.When the topic is obvious and simple, his characters question one another intensely trying to determine what it is they are talking about.When the topic is strange and hidden, amazingly they all understand each other perfectly and silently.If you are into extremely cerebral, S L O WM O V I N G, non-plot, non-action novels, this is for you.Unfortunately I prefer characters who speak as normal folks do, who motivate in their lives, who don't think themselves to death and who are real.I am truly sorry that HJ considered this his finest work.I much prefer his earlier, more accessible and likeable works such as Daisy Miller.

BAH, HUMBUG
I KNOW CRAP WHEN I SEE IT OR IN THIS CASE READ IT! THE BOOK I READ HAD JAMES BOOK PROPOSAL INCLUDED, TOO BAD HE DIDN'T LEAVE IT LIKE THAT-IT WOULD HAVE SAVED PAGES OF DRIVEL. THE BOOK MAY HAVE HAD SOME MERIT WHEN IT WAS READ ALOUD FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIALS, BUT THEY ARE LOST IN THE LAST 100 YEARS.OH, DID YOU KNOW THAT IT APPEARED IN AMERICAN MAGAZINE IN TWELVE PARTS.I READ PORTRAIT FORTY YEARS AGO FOR AN SLU ENGLISH CLASS AND PICKED THE HARDEST BOOK ON THE LIST. I PANNED IT AND GOT IT SOCKED TO ME AS IT WAS THE PROF'S FAVORITE BOOK. HE WASN'T MUCH OF A TEACHER EITHER. I JUST READ WASHINGTON SQUARE, WHICH ISN'T BAD FOR A SHORT ROMANCE NOVEL. I SUSPECT JAMES WAS PAID BY THE WORD AND HE DID NOT HESITATE TO PILE IT UP.DAVID N BLODGETT daveb@gloryroad.net

And you thought Faulkner was difficult
I read this novel twice trying to appreciate its artistry. About half way through I started reading it aloud and I have to admit that I admire James mastery of the English language. However the plot was dull and plodding and I neither liked nor admired any of the charcters.

The theme seemed to be that Americans were stuffy and dull while Europeans were cultured and cosmopilitan. From what I have read of James, he preffered Europe to his native America. I am assuming i will find the same theme in other James works.

My jury is out on this complex opus
Reading "The Ambassadors," I was awed by the subtletly of emotion and social gesture James was able to describe.Clearly here was a crafted that had been years in the honing, and I appreciate the book'sliberation from the plot-heavy mechanics of earlier books like "ThePortrait of a Lady" and "The American."Everything is onlysubtly insinuated; whole lives can hinge upon half-meant gestures orlong-buried social prejudices.In this way, the book has some of thewistful tone of "The Age of Innocence," but more depth if lesselegant prose.

The prose is the thing -- James was dictating by this time(how on Earth does one dictate a novel?), and it shows.His chewyruminations and meandering, endlessly parenthetical sentences are hard todigest.I think James went too far in his late style, and "TheAmbassadors" might have benefited from a sterner editor.Still, thisis an important book, absolutely worth the read. ... Read more

Product Description
The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 2 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Henry James is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Henry James then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
This volume in the Library of America's series on Henry Jamescatches the author as he inaugurates his "middle period,"the years when he wrote many of his best books. The three novelsreprinted here concern women who must choose between competingalternatives. Catherine Sloper of Washington Square, plain andbookish, is romanced by the dashingly handsome Morris Townsend.Buther father, sure that such a man could only love Catherine for hermoney, forbids her to see him. The young heroine of TheBostonians is torn between loyalty to her southern beau and herattraction to one of James's most unusual characters: a wealthy Bostonfeminist!

The Portrait of a Lady, arguably James's greatest novel,introduces us to Isabel Archer, a beautiful, vivacious, andindependently minded American woman who travels to Europe and isseduced by its society. Her circle includes her terminally ill butdeeply loving cousin, Ralph; the noble and adoring Lord Warburton; herwitty and sarcastic friend Henrietta Stackpole; the meticulousaesthete Gilbert Osmond; the mysterious Madame Merle; and CasparGoodwood, her passionate American suitor.Negotiating between thelife each of them offers and represents, Isabel becomes part of one ofthe best books written about women's choices.

Movie buffs will be particularly interested in this volume, forall the novels in it have been made into films. The Bostonianswas a Merchant-Ivory production in 1984. It starred Vanessa Redgraveas the feminist Olive Chancellor, sparring with southern gentlemanChristopher Reeve! The Portrait of a Lady (1996), with NicoleKidman and John Malkovich, was Jane Campion's opulent follow-up toThe Piano. And Washington Square has been made into twomajor movies: the 1997 version starred Jennifer Jason- Leigh andAlbert Finney; but the classic adaptation was William Wyler's 1949film The Heiress, which starred Montgomery Clift, RalphRichardson, Miriam Hopkins, and Olivia de Havilland in anOscar-winning role. It's a real treat to read a superb book and thensee how major filmmakers transform it into cinema that is compellingand entertaining it its own right. --Raphael Shargel ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good entree into James
You want a way to get into a formidable writer, one whose collective work fills up a goodly portion of the Library of America bookshelf -- here's your passport. The three novels in this LOA volume are James' earliest and in some ways his most accessible. The chronological biography in the back is very helpful, as are the notes. The presentation is typical Library of America -- crisp 10-point Linotron Galliard against the characteristic LOA white paper makes for easy reading. At roughly 400 words per page, movement through the work seems swift, a considerable boost to tackling a 600-page novelnovel like "Portrait of a Lady."
James requires a developed taste. He writes of a time and about places and people who may seem remote to contemporary readers. Don't be put off by a failure to penetrate him. This is handsome and ultimately useful volume to have of your shelf in the event that someday you'll try James once again and discover that those people, those places and that time are closer than you thought.

The joys of love. . . .are but a moment long
Henry James, packaged in a beautiful book, with dark print on white pages, is the king of the nuance.To read him, you slow down, you enter his world, a scene of dusk and mood and marrow and sorrow.A novel as sweet as the vision of a cool bath in a marble tub, in a darkened chamber, in a hot land.Characters who sometimes do not get exactly what they want even though they want it.One far removed from current events and politics and global warming and death-defying high wire acts of short-sighted greed which are all net and no tightrope.Far removed and yet existing at the core where the personal is burnt into the societal and where a man sitting on an ottoman while a woman stands next to a fireplace predicts the ruin of the state.

"Washinton Square" by Henry James
I enjoyed "Washington Square" thoroughly. I believe any highschool student should read this if they are looking for a "book" report. I found it captivating and I couldn't put the bookdown. However I was a little disappointed in how the ending turned out, butwhat can I do? ... Read more

Product Description
To read a story by Henry James is to enter a fully realized world unlike any other—a rich, perfectly crafted domain of vivid language and splendid, complex characters. Devious children, sparring lovers, capricious American girls, obtuse bachelors, sibylline spinsters, and charming Europeans populate these five fascinating nouvelles, which represent the author in both his early and late phases. From the apparitions of evil that haunt the governess in “The Turn of the Screw” to the startling self-scrutiny of an egotistical man in “The Beast in the Jungle,” the mysterious turnings of human behavior are coolly and masterfully observed—proving Henry James to be a master of psychological insight as well as one of the finest prose stylists of modern English literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Great selection
This contains:

The Turn of the Screw

Washington Square

Daisy Miller

The Beast in the Jungle

The Jolly Corner

and a good introduction by R. W. B. Lewis, who wrote a Pulitzer prizewinning biography of Edith Wharton.

I think those last three pieces are his best-known nouvelles, and the top two are his best-known short novels. Wow. They're a nice place to start with James, too.

Creepy, but slow.
I didn't manage to finish this...it was just too slow.That said, I really enjoy Henry James use of language, his careful description, and the way he steps into the protagonists.At times, I very much felt the creepy that he intended.

However--get to the point.Dan Brown isn't a fabulous writer, but he could teach James a few lessons about pacing.

HORRIBLE
I never got the book. Do NOT buy from this seller! I NEVER got the book. I had to go buy the book at the store since I needed it for class.

Five Excellent Tales from a Master Craftsman
The Turn of the Screw and Washington Square are novellas. Daisy Miller is intermediate in length while The Beast in the Jungle and The Jolly Corner are short stories. All five are among the best short fiction of Henry James.

In the introduction Professor R. W. B. Lewis only marginally discusses the literary merit and artistry of these five stories; he is more concerned with developing biographical insights about Henry James himself. This fascinating introduction adds considerable value to this collection.

The Turn of the Screw (1898): A reader new to this classic work should read no reviews, no essays, no forwards, and no prefaces. I made that mistake. Without going into details, my first reading of The Turn of the Screw was unduly influenced by my knowing too much too soon.There will be plenty of time after your first reading to immerse yourself in literary criticism and reader reviews.

Washington Square (1881):When the young, handsome, articulate Morris Townsend shows interest in Catherine, Dr. Sloper immediately concludes that his true interest is her wealth, and moves to break them apart. Matters are complicated by Catherine's silly, meddlesome, and manipulative aunt, Mrs. Penniman, who functions as an uninvited go-between for the two young lovers.

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. 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.

Daisy Miller (1878): Henry James is largely remembered and respected for his vivid portrayals of Americans abroad and their encounters with the cultural differences that divided the brash, young, immature American continent from the sophisticated, class conscious Old World.

Daisy Miller appears to be the epitome of incautious innocence. She disregards European customs, seemingly quite assured in her own judgment that she is doing no wrong, only flirting with young gentlemen as would any American girl. As the story progresses, she becomes aware of the building criticism from the expatriate community, but apparently chooses to ignore advice from well-meaning, socially prominent women.

Perhaps what makes this story fascinating is that we readers see Daisy not from the perspective of an omniscient author that is privy to Daisy's innermost thoughts, but through the eyes of a third person, a Mr. Winterbourne, an American bachelor living in Geneva. Winterbourne is obviously fascinated with Daisy Miller and the astute reader (or one who has read this tale several times) may question whether the narrator is perhaps unduly biased.

The Beast in the Jungle (1903): John Marcher had from his earliest time, deep within him, "the sense of being kept for something rare and strange, possibly prodigious and terrible, that was sooner or later to happen" and he had in his bones the foreboding and conviction that it might overwhelm him. Despite its suspense and deep sense of despair, this classic tale has been described as sluggish and overly ornate. Be that as it may, this foreboding tale is memorable.

The Jolly Corner (1908): Returning after decades in Europe to his vacant, empty home in New York, Spencer Brydon would in the gathering dusk "wander and wait, linger and listen, feel his fine attention, never in his life so fine, on the pulse of the great vague place: he preferred the lampless hour and only wished he might have prolonged each day the deep crepuscular spell".

book review
This book has five short fiction tales.The longest story is about 200 pages, and the shortest one is around 90 pages.This book is great for bringing on an airplane, or if you just have a short amount of free time.The stories are easy to read in an hour or so at a time. ... Read more

Product Description
The Bostonians, Vol. I (of II) is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Henry James is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Henry James then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Observant, imaginative, rich with literary allusions and historical echoes, James's travel writings are both literary masterpieces and unsurpassed guidebooks, here together for the first time in one authoritative set (in two volumes: Vol. 1, Great Britain and America: English Hours, The American Scene, Other Travels, and Vol. 2: The Continent: A Little Tour in France, Italian Hours, Other Travels), including four books and 32 essays, most previously uncollected. From a radically changing New York to Provence, Tuscany, and Rome, James visits all the places still on the traveler's itinerary, capturing radiant impressions of French countryside, the hauntingly desolate Suffolk coast, Florentine masterpieces, Venetian color and light. Joseph Pennell's exquisite drawings are reproduced from the original editions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Masterpiece of perception, understanding, and interpretation
Henry James' travel writings on France and Italy are a case study in fine arts perception, understanding and interpretation.He treats each new localeas a new horizon to be engaged, absorbed, and internalized through a hermeneutic of analogical interiority.Roaming within the halls and chambers of French and Italian architecture opens, through the text, new conduits for an understanding of the vast interiority that exists within the self-examining-self.James is a master at relating the space of each location with the thoughts, instincts, relational perceptions and education of the observer. Reading these texts is like engaging each site oneself and discussing with a learned and trusted friend about what one is experiencing, not just what one is seeing. The art work of Joseph Pennell is an amazing addition to these works and masterpieces on their own.Do yourself a favor and buy this book.It will be a cherished addition to your collection and a book you will pick-up time and again to walk with the "Master" through France and Italy as you discuss, reflect and remember literary events that where home to these marvels.If you happen to be planning a trip to either France or Italy, take this along to add a level of historical and cultural depth to your experience.Some of what you will read has disappeared into history, but what remains is a beautiful historical and cultural continuity with Henry James as your guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Easy reading but his stories are not always fulfilling
You get the impression that you are shortchanged at the end on several of his stories; some endings do not bring a lot of satisfaction. Others float here and there without really getting anywhere and there's rarely any action. But when it does occur it's usually at the end. It's not to say that I really do not like Henry James, quite the contrary. I like him because he shows the values that were important in his time.And there is enough variation in the stories to make it worth purchasing and reading. This is a book to bring on vacation.You can read through one story in about two sitting depending on how fast you read.The type is a bit small for me, it would be nice if it were a bit bigger.

Great Short Story Book
This book was purchased as part of the required reading of selected short stories for a Retirement Learning at Vanderbilt course on the art of the short story.

The book is a nice size with excellent type and format and is one of a series of Henry James' short stories catalogued by date.The book has a classy look and has additional information about the other books in the series and lists the stories in each.

There is a wonderful Chronology in the back of the book which tells all about Henry James, his travels and life in general.

The only draw back is that the pages are thin so the book can hold a lot and they can sometimes be a little difficult to separate when turning.

All in all a great volume at a modest price. ... Read more

Product Description
An expertly edited, fine edition of James's stories from the end of his career collects thirty-one tales, including the fantasies "The Great Good Place" and "The Jolly Corner," along with "The Beast in the Jungle." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Love those long paragraphs!
After reading the other review here I had to laugh, it is exactly because of such 'extracts' they posted that I knew I had to read this book!So while they meant it as a criticism, it was pure advertisement for me and I'm so glad they posted it for the book has met all of my expections, James was an incredibly gifted writer and I'm so happy to have 'discovered' him.How glad I am too that he was so prolific!

Writing style unreadable IMHO
This is the first two paragraphs from the last story "A Round of Visits"

If you like this kind of writing then you'll like Henry James.
I didn't care for it.

"He had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was the next day after -- he had disembarked by night on the previous; then everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety -- the anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching him on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured, above all, his pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both bad, one much worse than the other. It wasn't till the next three days had pretty well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly wounded. He had waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at all, with the sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a deep sore inward ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him at the best within doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite reason enough.

He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him, at the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching and projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something he must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some horrid alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there was small joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour wouldn't perhaps bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him, so long as he should stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of the more formidable sorts, or an ominous infant panther smuggled into the great gaudy hotel and whom it might yet be important he shouldn't advertise, couldn't have affected him as needing more domestic attention. The great gaudy hotel -- The Pocahontas, but carried out largely on 'Du Barry' lines -- made all about him, beside, behind, below, above, in blocks and tiers and superpositions, a sufficient defensive hugeness; so that, between the massive labyrinth and the New York weather, life in a lighthouse during a gale would scarce have kept him more apart. Even when in the course of that worse Thursday it had occurred to him for vague relief that the odious certified facts couldn't be all his misery, and that, with his throat and a probable temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for ever brushing him, accounted for something, even then he couldn't resign himself to bed and broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the more within his high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the rage of the elements." ... Read more

Product Description
Henry James's "The Bostonians" is the story of Mississippi Lawyer and Civil War veteran Basil Ransom's conflict with his cousin Olive Chancellor for the allegiance and affection of Boston feminist Verena Tarrant. First serialized in "The Century Magazine" between 1885-1886, "The Bostonians" deals heavily with the then very timely political issue of feminism and the changing role of women in society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Butterfly in the Cactus Garden ...
... of American history. That was Henry james, the mordant celebrant of the society he loved to flee. Henry James was both more and less than a Man of his times; he was a demi-god of observation, aloofly scrutinizing the foibles of everyone around him, a perpetual onlooker perhaps because he never found a means to participate. I suspect he made many people uncomfortable, particularly later in his career when one might well have dreaded becoming a character in his next novel.

"The Bostonians" is an early product of James's observatory. At first glance, it's an elaborately funny satire of Brahmin Boston and its elite intellectual reformers. Note that "funny" contains "fun". The Bostonians is a FUN book! If more readers approached James expecting to have fun, there would be less misperception of his books as 'difficult.' For biting satire, the Henry James of "The Bostonians" could go round for round with his contemporary Mark Twain. But "The Bostonians" is also a pioneering 'psychological' novel. The narrative is certainly "third person omniscient" but James artfully fits that narrative into the mentalities of the two principal characters - Olive Chancellor and Basil Ransom - as penetratingly as fingers in a glove.

Olive is a Bostonian of 'sufficient means', with access to the upper reaches of a class she despises. Bluntly -- though James is never blunt -- she's aman-hating closeted Lesbian. (Anachronistic qualifiers! But in a novel of 1884, the intimate portrayal of such a character's mind was beyond the skill of any other writer.) Olive is neurotically shy, perhaps agoraphobic, and acutely sensitive to any antipathy. She's also a mistress of manipulation, a clever, bitter, lonely woman, quite easy for the reader to dislike, and her interest in the young beauty, Verena Tarrant, is ultimately more selfish than idealistic. Olive is of course an ardent feminist, a 'suffragette', and her small circle of associates are recognizable as archetypes of the feminists of the Gilded Age in America. Curiously, Olive is also the character whose psychology most closely matches that of Henry James, the acute observer forever on the fringe of others' lives.

Basil Ransom is a Southerner, a veteran of the Civil War consumed with frustration at the loss of his plantation wealth, bitterly nostalgic for the chivalric ante-bellum way of life, though the ugly facts of the "peculiar institution" of slavery never seem to color his nostalgia. Basil is stately, tall, handsome, genteel ... and blatantly narcissistic, an impractical fool who fails utterly as a lawyer in New York City, a place he loathes. Nevertheless, he considers himself something of a reformer also, a reactionary prophet who imagines that his essays in fringe publications will somehow someday bring society to its senses and restore the gallant manliness of the Old South. He is, of course, scornful of feminism, a blatant male chauvinist (Anachronistic terms again!) who seriously argues that Verena's destiny is to be his ornament. Sly Henry James, nevertheless, presents Basil quite sympathetically; incautious readers might take the ardent male as the 'hero' of the narrative, might take his side in the competition he wages against Olive for possession of Verena Tarrant. Believe me, that would be a sadly superficial interpretation.

The apex of the romantic triangle in this novel is the immature beauty, Verena Tarrant, the prize for which Olive and Basil will wage their psychological battles. To be anachronistic once more, she is an 'abused' child, a victim of manipulative parents and painfully susceptible to manipulation from both would-be possessive lovers.

A hundred and some years have passed since James invented Basil Ransom, and it's difficult to imagine how readers might have perceived that prickly character in the late 1800s. Today, he seems odiously familiar, the stiff-necked die-hard reactionary, the Lost Cause mythologizer. His 'gentle persuasions' addressed to Verena are pure rant and cant; his little essays in reactionary ideology might have earned him a bright career on the Talk Radio of 2010. When I read "The Bostonians" first, in the 1960s, I'm afraid I was too green and optimistic to recognize the pertinence of James's insights into American character. I thought the book was a depiction of a quaint by-gone era. It's not. It's now!

[Beware! If you don't wish to know how the contest ends, don't read this paragraph!]
The celebrated last sentence of The Bostonians, which projects a future of 'tears' for Verena, is not ambiguous in the least, whatever any critic has written about it. Only a reader ludicrously ignorant of marriage and of abusive relationships could fail to comprehend that Verena will indeed have tears to shed. Her ardent deliverer, Ransom, will soon enough wallow in his own futility. Poverty and frustration will overwhelm him, and he WILL blame her. Ransom will become, in remarkably few unwritten pages, the brutal domestic tyrant and wife-abuser that we modern readers recognize implicitly in his character. In short, this is a tragic ending craftily disguised in the uproarious humor of Verena's elopement with the gallant Basil.

It's interesting to compare The Bostonians with another 'feminist' novel of the same decade, George Gissing's "The Odd Women", which also depicts involves a romantic conflict between a man and a woman of opposing wills. Gissing's novel is quite good, a well-crafted narrative with vivid and plausible portraitures, but it remains external. Next to The Bostonians, Gissing's work seems quite old-fashioned. When I first read The Bostonians for a college literature class, the professor declared rhapsodically that it was" the greatest novel of the 19th C." I silently scoffed then, but now I suspect he had a point. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Man-woman relationships; Americans; Young men; Paris (France); Drama / American; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Literary Criticism / American / General; Study Aids / Book Notes;Amazon.com Review
The Ambassadors, which Henry James considered his bestwork, is the most exquisite refinement of his favorite theme: the collision of Americaninnocence with European experience. This time, James recounts thecontinental journey of Louis Lambert Strether--a fiftysomething man of theworld who has been dispatched abroad by a rich widow, Mrs. Newsome. Hismission: to save her son Chadwick from the clutches of a wicked (i.e.,European) woman, and to convince the prodigal to return to Woollett,Massachusetts. Instead, this all-American envoy finds Europe growing onhim. Strether also becomes involved in a very Jamesian "relation" with thefascinating Miss Maria Gostrey, a fellow American and informal Sacajawea toher compatriots. Clearly Paris has "improved" Chad beyond recognition, andconvincing him to return to the U.S. is going to be a very, very hard sell.Suspense, of course, is hardly James's stock-in-trade. But there is no moremeticulous mapper of tone and atmosphere, nuance and implication. Hishyper-refined characters are at their best in dialogue, particularly whenthey're exchanging morsels of gossip. Astute, funny, and relentlesslyintelligent, James amply fulfills his own description of the novelist as aperson upon whom nothing is lost. --Rhian Ellis ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Best of James, one of the best in the world
This is flat out one of the greatest novels ever written, and it's more fun than any of James's other novels, too. It's nice that he thought such a pleasant book was his best.

If the style is too much for you, wait till you can handle it. On the other hand, if you start out as I did fifty years ago with liking the puzzle and getting a kick out of it, then as you keep coming back it will get clearer and clearer. Meanwhile, on my fourth reread, I'm tremendously enjoying the humor on every page of the first three sections.

Check this out: "Waymarsh had smoked of old, smoked hugely; but Waymarsh did nothing now, and that gave him the advantage over people who took things up lightly just when others had laid them heavily down."

Meanwhile, be advised: the theme, "Live all you can," is laid out openly in the fifth of twelve sections, and is totally present from Section One. Maybe Paris isn't as bad as Americans think it is -- yes, that's the comic point, but it's not what the book builds up to; it's what the book starts out from. We are given the comedy of American Puritanism versus Parisian High Culture right from the start ... and THEN what happens? That's the mystery and charm of the book.

And it couldn't be more charming.

He could trust her to make deception seem right
This is an example of James's international theme.America and Europe are subjected to a compare and contrast treatment.Lambert Strether arrives in Liverpool and travels to Chester to discover that his friend, Philip Waymarsh, someone he is supposed to be meeting, is not present.He encounters Maria Gostrey who is to constitute a presence in a number of the novel's scenes.

Eventually there is a threesome for dinner and in its aftermath an opportunity for Strether to visit with his friend Waymarsh who has been living separately from his wife for fifteen years.Miss Gostrey is a woman of fashion and Mr. Waymarsh can't stand Europe.Miss Gostrey and Strether share a sense that they are superior people and they are failures.

For the first time in his life, Strether dines with a woman in a public place, Miss Gostrey, before going to a play.(Lambert Strether has been sent to Europe by Mrs. Newsome to retrieve her son, Chadwick Newsome, age twenty-eight.Strether edits a review in Woollett (MA) funded by Mrs. Newsome.

Strethermarried young, his wife died, and ten years later his little son died of an illness at school.He regretted the sacrifice of school.He felt that he had banished and neglected his child.In Paris Strether ascertains that Chad is absent from Paris temporarily and does make a friend of Mr. Bilham, Chad's friend.Later Strether finds that Chad is easy-going and that he has been made-over in France.Chad claims he is not being kept in France by a woman, that he is not entangled.(Mr. Bilham speaks of a virtuous attachment.)

Chad Newsome has a connection to Mme. de Vionnet and her daughter and Strether isn't sure what the nature of the connection is.Chad takes Strether to meet a famous artist and Strether wonders whether he has passed the test of being considered an interesting person.Miss Gostrey, recognizing Mme. de Vionnet, wishes to be kept out of the encounter of Strether with Mme. de Vionnet and her daughter, Jeanne.Maria Gostrey and Jeanne's mother had been schoolmates in Geneva.The Comte deVionnet had been a brute.The couple lived apart and the wife had all the merit.

Critics have spoken of a sagging middle in the novels of Henry James.Two issues arise.The first is that there does seem to be a period of waiting, (of spinning),when the hero tries to determine what reality his search has revealed and what action must be undertaken.The second is that the rhythm accurately resembles real life.In other words, say, upon getting to the top of a mountain, one wonders what else there is to do or to anticipate.Contrary to an understandable readerly perception of Jamesian fog, there is hyper-lucidity and that circumstance is quite surprising (as a fruit of analysis).The book is mature James, produced in the same period as THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, and is excellent.Written in an indirect style, the novel is a comedy.

The Ambassadors deals with Americans in Paris in the fin de siecle of the long nineteenth century
Henry James (1843-1916) was American born but spent most of his life in Europe. Henry was the brother of the philosopher Willam (the author of "The Varieties of Religious Experience) and a famous philosopher father. He is one of the greatest authors of American/British literature (HJ became a British citizen five months before his death).
The Ambassadors is one of the three final gems of novels written by James. The other two masterpieces are
"The Wings of a Dove" and his final novel "The Golden Bowl." All of these novels are densely written with long complicated paragraphs, frequent use of foreign language quotations and psychological probes into the minds of the chief protagonists of the works. In our age of texting and internet jargon a James novel is a challenge to the eyes of 21st century readers!
The Ambassadors deals with the fiftyish and bookish Lambert Strether. Strether is engaged to Mrs. Newsome a solid society widow living in splendor in a small New England town. Strether is supposed to travel to Paris in hopes of enticing Mrs. Newsome's son Chadwick to return home where he will be put in charge of the family business. (this business in never specified). Strether becomes enamored of beautiful Paris where he is warmed by the personality of Marie Gostrey and male friends such as Wayland and Little Bilham. James is good at evoking the sights and sounds of Paris. Strether believes Chad and Madame Vionnette are involved in a platonic relationsip. She is ten years older than Chad who has a daughter she is hoping to marry to a rich man.
When Strether fails to persuade Chad to return home, Mrs. Newsome sends her starchy and obese daughter Sarah Pocock and her bovine dull witted husband to Paris. They bring along Mamie the sister of Mrs. Pocock as bait to induce Chad to leave Europe for America. Will Chad return home? Will Strether ditch Mrs. Newsome for a new love?
These are some of the questions this novel asks as its simple plot (explained in James' unique convoluted and verbose style) seeks to resolve.
The Jamesian themes include:
1. Innocent and naive Americans dealing with European customs and an old civilization
2. The need to experience life to the full because we soon go the way of all flesh.
3. The deceptions and secrets which lie underneath the surface of polite society.
James deals with a small sliver of society. His focus is on the wealthy and we learn little of poor and ordinary people. The only time these folks appear is as servants to the toffs. James is a difficult author to love but he is well worth the effort. This is one of the greatest masterpieces from the fluid pen of the aging master whose cosy pre-World War I world of leisure and luxury was about to be ruined forever with the gunshots fired in Sarejvo.

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to."
While Henry James' favorite of his own novels, The Ambassadors (1903), in my opinion as well as E.M. Forster's, doesn't quiet live up to the genius of The Wings of the Dove (1902) or even the earlier The Portrait of a Lady (1881). The familiar James themes are all there--the American abroad, American reactions to European culture, exploration of the terrain of the life unlived--but missing is the truly ecstatic prose and characters with remarkable psychological depth that distinguish the finest of James' works.

The narrative follows "ambassador" Lambert Strether to Paris in pursuit of his widowed fiancée, Mrs. Newsome's, son Chad--whom she believes to be romantically involved with an undesirable woman. Strether's mission is to extricate the wayward youth and return with him to Massachusetts directly. Once in Paris, however, Strether falls under the spell of the city and finds Chad refined rather than corrupted by its influence and that of his charming companion, Madame de Vionnet. The summer wears on with little correspondence between Strether and the Newsomes waiting at home. Impatient to see her son returned and suitably married, Mrs. Newsome sends yet another envoy, Chad's cynical sister Sarah Pocock, to confront the errant Chad and a Strether whose view of the world has changed profoundly. In the end, it is Strether who prevents Chad from returning to America.

The highlight of the text is certainly Strether's speech to Chad's friend Little Bilham in Book Fifth, in which he gives voice to his new sense of things: "Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had? Do what you like so long as you don't make my mistake. For it was a mistake. Live!" It is an expanded vision of life, an affirmation that seems an appealing climax to Strether's confrontation with the realities of his circumstance. The sentiments of Strether's speech, however, are tested in the remaining two-thirds of the narrative.

An unconvincing conversion of an American mind
The Ambassadors, by Henry James is a book that straddles the styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It concerns the plight of the ridiculously-named Lambert Strether, sent from America to Paris to recover the wayward son of a wealthy family. Strether, who, by his own admission, is a failure, looks forward to his marriage (which I found unbelievable) with his boss, the matriarch of the family, if he is successful in bringing Chadwick home. However, while abroad he succumbs to the unemployed, carefree lifestyles of the Americans in Paris of which number Chad is included. Although a third person narrative, all events are filtered through the somewhat dim-witted Strether. Despite very difficult passages with almost endless parenthetical clauses, and such sentences as "...the greatest divergence from which would be precisely the element of any lubrication of their intercourse by levity," the interested reader will become aware of the reality of situations well before Strether. Strether's conversion from American idiot to bohemian is unconvincing. He finds Chadwick "improved" without being able to explain why (Strether is impressed that Chadwick knows how to enter a box seat at a theater - that about sums up the best Strether can say about the young man), he quickly befriends Miss Gostrey without reason (H. James admit that Gostrey is mostly a device to allow for explanation where Strether fails), and is charmed by Madame de Vionnet despite an obviously illicit affair. It takes Mr. Strether endless amounts of thought to figure out the simplest things. This novel has little reward for the persistent.

The introduction by Kyle Patrick Smith in this Barnes & Noble version is nevertheless insightful. ... Read more

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With a mind that took in every nuance of speech, manner, thought andhalf-thought, Henry James set out to define the restless--andsometimes innocent--American imagination in conflict with the greatEuropean tradition. Along the way he discovered the countlesshesitancies, betrayals and self-betrayals that make up the truesubstance of human relationships. This entirely new Portable HenryJames provides seven major tales--among them "Daisy Miller," "TheTurn of the Screw," "The Beast in the Jungle," and "The JollyCorner"--as well as travel writing, correspondence, literarycriticism, autobiography, passages from longer novels, and a samplingof authorial revisions. Also included are parodies by contemporaries,and tributes by W. H. Auden, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot, GrahamGreene, Ezra Pound, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not for the beginner.
I have never enjoyed a writer so much as Henry James. But I could not have enjoyed him without first Shakespeare, Homer, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Hemingway, the Brontes, George Eliot and so many more. I put off reading Henry James because I had heard he was so long-winder, so boring.

Without a doubt, I am convinced that "The Beast in the Jungle" is his best, it is his most autobiographical, it is so sad, and perhaps the best romance (as in "romance") writing I have ever come across.

Life experiences help immensely in one's reading, and this is particularly true for "The Beast in the Jungle."

The "Turn of the Screw" is a great ghost story, but at the end of the day, it is simply a ghost story.

Carrying the "Portable Henry James" on your flights will guarantee you will mind less the missed flights, the delayed flights and the canceled flights.

The Master at His Finest
It has been suggested that Henry James did not "realize" Life -- that he hid from it and missed so much of that which makes life vital.I would rather have lived his life than most others of which I have read or observed.My own life has been one of wildness, bohemian behavior and eccentric passion -- but I have very little to show for having "lived" life to the fullest.Now that I am two years away from sixty, I look at all of my madcap ways and see how lifeless they truly are.We may compare the biography of Henry James to that of another favorite writer, Oscar Wilde.Who, I ask, "lived" the greater life, had the finest experience of existence?

Henry James is said to be merely an observer and interpreter of life and society.I find him so much more.He is one of the few writers whose works take on new life as age advances and maturity allows me to appreciate in more adult fashion the genius of Art.The creation of art is, for me, one of the finest expressions of the human soul -- and no one wrote with more intense interest, curiosity and intelligence than Henry James.

This newer edition of THE PORTABLE HENRY JAMES, superbly edited and introduced by John Auchard, gives us some of James's finest accomplishments as an artist.The book is divided into different categories: I. FICTION; II. REVISIONS;III. TRAVEL;IV. CRITICISM;V. AUTOBIOGRAPHY;VI. CORRESPONDENCE;VII. DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION;VIII. NAMES;IX. PARODY;X. LEGACY.The final section is a fascinating record of approaches to Henry James from his admirers, and includes
"At the Grave of Henry James," a substantial poem by W. H. Auden,
a selection from HENRY JAMES: AN APPRECIATION by Joseph Conrad,
from IN MEMORY by T. S. Eliot,
from HENRY JAMES: THE PRIVATE UNIVERSE by Graham Greene,
from HENRY JAMES by Ezra Pound,
from A BACKWARD GLANCE by Edith Wharton,
and from REVIEW OF THE LETTERS OF HENRY JAMES by Virginia Woolf.

As an introduction to James, this omnibus cannot be beat.One would have wished, perhaps, for a few more short stories, but all in all it is a fine representation.

Best introduction yet to Henry James
This collection gives an excellent overview of James' work and offers the reader a chance to engage a notoriously daunting author at many levels. There are the stories, the essays, the letters, and of course select novels. This is the best place to start.

One upon whom nothing is lost
The indisputable greatness of James relates to his having created a style for presenting experience and human relationships , distinct and deep, yet with real narrative power. The limitations of that greatness are the limitations of James own life and experience. And they relate to his having missed central elements in human experience. Compare for instance the love relationships in Tolstoy to those in James, vital realized relationships fromthose always on the verge of realization .
The great exemplary story for this element in James' life is one of his greatest works, "The Beast in the Jungle" .In this story included in this anthology the hero Marcher waits all his life for the great transformative revelatory - event. In the end that happening turns out to be that nothing is going to happen.
This collection contains some of James' finest stories, plus valuable autobiographical writings.
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With an Introduction and Notes by Martin Scofield, University of Kent at Canterbury Henry James was arguably the greatest practitioner of what has been called the psychological ghost story. His stories explore the region which lies between the supernatural or straightforwardly marvellous and the darker areas of the human psyche. This edition includes all ten of his ghost stories, and as such is the fullest collection currently available. The stories range widely in tone and type. They include 'The Jolly Corner', a compelling story of psychological doubling; 'Owen Wingrave', which is also a subtle parable of military tradition; 'The Friends of the Friends', a strange story of uncanny love; and 'The Private Life', which finds a shrewd, high comedy in its ghostly theme. The volume also includes James's great novella The Turn of the Screw , perhaps the most ambiguous and disturbing ghost story ever written. ... Read more

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A new edition of Henry James's searing study of marriage and infidelity

Set in England, The Golden Bowl is Henry James's highly charged exploration of adultery, jealousy, and possession that continues-and challenges-James's characteristic exploration of the battle between American innocence and European experience. Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father, Adam, lead a life of wealth and refinement in London. They are both getting married: Maggie to Prince Amerigo, an impoverished Italian aristocrat, and Adam to the beautiful but penniless Charlotte Stant. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret-one for which all concerned must pay the price. This story completes what critics have called the "major phase" of James's career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Anything Written by Henry James Equals a Masterpiece!
Absolutely superb, stimulating, satisfying, rewarding masterpiece, one of Henry James' best, and he is probably my favorite author. Actually, I disagree with the review which pronounces this as his best novel--I think that honor would go to "The Ambassadors," which I re-read every few years and have, since I first came upon it in college. I so much love the manner in which he writes, the simple subject matter which he transforms into gripping drama, the lengthy, almost convoluted sentences that force one to remember, to pay attention, to think. All of James' novels, including this one, seem to be written to be re-read again and again. There are simply too many layers, too many subtleties, there is too much psychological action, real human emotion and interaction to absorb in a single read through. I would recommend "The Golden Bowl" to anyone, though those who haven't read a Henry James novel before might start with "Portrait of a Lady," "The American," "Daisy Miller," or something less stylistically complex. I suspect that as one immerses himself in the writings of Henry James, there just won't be enough of his writings to satisfy the whetted appetite for his works.

"the shriek of a soul in pain" ...
While I have not read every novel there is to read, I can say that I have not read anything like this - not even within the Jamesian canon. It is difficult to summarize The Golden Bowl, because if I were simply to reveal the plot to you, it would seem hardly to merit 600 of James's densest pages. What is it? That is the question, and in fact, it is a novel about questions - watching people ask questions. What is the golden bowl? Does it mean nothing? Anything? Can I MAKE something or someone have a particular "value" - a market "price?" How do I ascertain someone else's knowledge without being explicit? What is worth sacrificing: a lover, a father, a friend? To quote from the novel, "knowledge, knowledge was a fascination as well as a fear." Such is the attitude of the reader as he or she approaches the text.
I had the good fortune to read this novel with the Penguin editor, whose enthusiasm for Maggie Verver and Colonel Bob was infectious; The Golden Bowl has among the smallest cast of characters of any James novel, and it is easy to feel deeply connected to a given figure in a given reading. Like "The Ambassadors," "The Golden Bowl" is a novel about growing up. You will also grow up as a reader and possibly as a person if you wrestle hard enough with this text. And it is quite a wrestle: James's writing here is extremely oblique, and there are passages that are remarkably obscure. (The section on Adam Verver especially comes to mind; I read that three or four times and there are few sentences that are a tad regrettable in their sinuosity.) If you find yourself struggling, you're not alone. But the struggle is worth it. All the characters in this novel struggle with the truth, as does, it seems, Henry James.

Henry James' "The Golden Bowl" is the last masterpiece from the pen of a great novelist.
Henry James (1843-1916)was born into a wealthy family in New York City. His father was a philosopher; his brother William a teacher at Harvard and his sister Alice a noted diarist. Henry James pioneered the international novel in which innocent Americans have to deal with evil and the mores and complexities of life in Europe.
The Golden Bowl was published in 1904 and is the last of the three famous novels in HJ's late period. The other two novels are "The Wings of a Dove" and The Ambassadors." All of these novels are difficult reading.
The Golden Bowl tells the long story of Adam Verver a fabulously wealthy widower from American City who is living in London. His daughter Maggie weds Prince Amerigo from Rome while Adam weds Maggie's schoolgirl acquaintance the fetching Charlotte Stant. In complex prose and psychological exploration James looks at this quartet's relationship with microscopic (and to some readers boring, prolix and dull scrutiny.) Mrs. Assingham is the friend of the characters who makes comments on what is going on in their unusual familial situation. She knew that Amerigo and Charlotte were lovers prior to their respective marriages to father Adam and daughter Maggie. Sometimes it seems that Maggie has almost an incestuous relationship with her indulgent father.
In the biblical book of Ecclesiastes the golden bowl is symbolic of life. In this late Victorian novel it stands for life and also the marriage of Maggie and Amerigo. The bowl has a crack in it symbolizing their less than perfect union. Maggie learns of the affair between Charlotte and Amerigo through intricate psychological detective work, the discovery of the golden bowl in a London antique shop and conversation with Mrs. Assingham. Therefore, the novel is a bildungsroman in which we are able to trace the maturation of Maggie from a callow girl to a responsible human being. As the novel ends she and Amerigo and their child remain in England while Adam and Charlotte leave for America.
This novel is not for a novice to James or adult fiction. His sentences are long and he spends a great deal of time exploring the emotions within the minds of Amerigo, Mrs. Assingham and Maggie. Very little action occurs
other than in the fertile imagination of the characters (especially Maggie). The Golden Bowl is one of the greatest novels ever written and is the best novel authored byHenry James. It demands to be read slowly with full concentration and can be better understood through rereading and paying attention to the critical comments on the work. Henry James is not everyone's cup of tea but he is worthy of study and appreciation for his mastery of the art of fiction.

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Customer Reviews (1)

Not Out of Print
I don't know why this volume is unavailable through Amazon, but new copies can be purchased directly via the Library of America website. ... Read more