Reading the Classics #28: Henry James
I hinted at this in my last post, but I don't think anyone got the hint. I said "I saw a portrait of a lady", and if you had googled it along with the word "book" (Because we are talking about books, after all) the results would have shown you The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (1843-1916). James is one of the most well-known American authors, ranking with Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and Mark Twain. I have really enjoyed reading his books. He wrote like an American, but not as sarcastic as Mark Twain, and I like his style. But let's dive in.
1. The Portrait of a Lady
2. The Aspern Papers
3. The Bostonians
4. The Turn of the Screw
5. Daisy Miller
6. Washington Square
7. The Beast in the Jungle
8. The Jolly Corner
I know that it's a lot, but it's not as much as it looks like. The Portrait of a Lady chronicles the story of Isabel Archer, an American living in Europe who tries to preserve her own ideals while being surrounded by others with differing opinions. It's a longish book, but worth reading. It's full of romance and travel as well as a decent amount of philosophy.
The Aspern Papers is based off the letters that Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to the stepsister of his wife, Mary Shelley (Remember her from post #12? She wrote Frankenstein). In the novel, the love of a dead poet has all the letters of the poet under lock and key. The narrator attempts to gain the letters from her, so he can publish them. This is only a 100-page book or so, so it doesn't take that long to read.
The Bostonians is a tragicomedy about two girls and one guy, and the romance and adventures that take place between them. As you can guess, it takes place in Boston. The character of Basil Ransom is a really good character, and I feel like I wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much if he hadn't been in it. The novel ends in a somewhat unexpected way, but it left me unsatisfied.
The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller are both novellas, and both are, in a way, dark. The former is a ghost story, and the latter is a romance story with a sudden and dark twist. Both were very good, and didn't take long to read (By the way, I finished Daisy Miller about 2 hours ago). Washington Square is another novella, also about another romance (Henry James seemed to enjoy those kinds of stories).
The Beast in the Jungle and The Jolly Corner are two short stories that James wrote, and I don't have anything to say about them.
So that's my take on Henry James. He liked writing about romance, but it was never cheesy, and it was always a fresh story. I think that the most important of his novels that I've read would be The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, and Daisy Miller. I still have a lot of his stuff to read, like The Ambassador and The Wings of the Dove. Hopefully I can read those soon. But thank you for reading this post, and I'll see you next time!
So, since Henry James was American, we'll have the timeline for American authors here.
1630-1651- Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
1819- Rip van Winkle by Washington Irving
1820- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
1839- The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
1842- The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
1842-1843- The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
1843- The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
1844-1845- The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
1845- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
1849- Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
1878- Daisy Miller by Henry James
1880- Washington Square by Henry James
1881-The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
1886- The Bostonians by Henry James
1888- The Aspern Papers by Henry James
1898- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
1903- The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James
1908- The Jolly Corner by Henry James
1927- Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
1929- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
1940- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
1950- Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
1952- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1957- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
