Author: Henry James
Year: 1881
The Portrait of a Lady was my introduction to Henry James, whom I have since decided is one of my favourite authors. It is near impossible to briefly summarise the plot, so I will attempt to simply write about a few of the aspects of the novel that interested me. Although it took me a few chapters to be captured by the novel, I quickly fell in love with James’ style of writing.
I am no expert of literary movements, but I am told that James’ work displays leanings of modernism, which would fully come into popularity several decades later. For example, while the novel has a traditional framework including a clear beginning and end, there are throughout several passages hinting at the stream of consciousness: paragraphs that are over a page long and reflect a character’s thoughts or cover a range of ideas. I liked the narrator’s omniscient stance, which for the most part takes the reader by the hand and guides them through the story: he refers to the main character Isabel, for example, as “our heroine”. We often enter into the minds of certain characters, and this makes it all the more interesting when we are barred from someone’s thoughts: after Isabel’s baby dies we do not enter into her thoughts for several chapters.
Because I read this novel for school, I had to study it very closely, often rereading sections of the novel and carefully analysing phrases and images (which is something I do not normally do). As such I came to really appreciate James writing. For example, I enjoyed the opening line of the book more upon reflection:
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.The immediate immersion into tradition and superficiality sets the tone perfectly for what is an exploration into societal limitations. The hint of irony in the sentence foreshadows the largely ironic events of the novel, for example the one completely moral character in the book causing the heroine’s downfall by giving her money (which makes her prey to a man who marries her for her money).
I enjoyed the long descriptions of architecture and landscape that are scattered throughout the novel: James shows such talent for detail that it is easy to lose oneself in his examination of a building. His exploration of the internal versus the external is very interesting, and I am sure has been the topic of many essays and dissertations. I admire his focus on making aspects of a house reflect the lives within, as well as his contrasting approach of making an ugly character the most moral in the novel and the most attractive characters the most morally reprehensible. Having said that, his writing is not stereotypical: I appreciated his sympathy with such immoral characters and his investigation of their history and behaviour.
I think what James leaves us with is hope: while the heroine suffers a personal tragedy, we see that on a wider scale ‘love’ and ‘good’ are possible: in this case they have just been corrupted by society. Overall I greatly enjoyed The Portrait of a Lady, and would definitely recommend it, although it is quite a heavy read. James’ particular talent for dialogue and characterisation had such an effect on me that I went on to read more of his work, reviews of which will follow.
