American Literature (I)

1. American Literature (I) Local Colorism - Henry James American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

2. HENRY JAMES(1843-1916) American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

3. Henry James’ Importance • Promoter of realism in American literature • Part of the “genteel tradition” • Master of the realistic novel of international manners • Predecessor of modernism: - expatriate - mythic levels of the unconscious American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

4. “Native of the James Family” • William of Albany • Henry James, Sr. • The importance of individual freedom • The dangers of authoritarian control • Spiritual values- no member guilty of a single stroke of business Henry James Sr. and Jr. in 1854. Photograph by Matthew Brady American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

5. Henry James’ Education • “To be something, something unconnected with specific doing, something free and uncommitted, something finer in short than being that, whatever it was, might consist of” • Crossing and re-crossing of the Atlantic • First memories: from Paris • Bred a “sense of Europe” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

6. Henry James’ Education • Greatest flexibility, a “sensuous education”: • 1843-1844 the family stayed in Europe • 1854-1860 again • 1869 -1870 his first trip to Europe alone • 1872-1874 travelling with his sister • 1875 moved to Paris • 1876 moved to London • 1877 back to Paris • 1879 back to London • 1883 returned to England for good American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

7. Henry James’ Expatriation • Reasons: • the death of his parents in 1881 • dissatisfaction with the material world of the US: “thin, raw, monotonous, undefined” (Hawthorne) • the attraction of the rich European culture: form, style, social variety, beauty, art and a present suffused with the past • the ferment of artistic and literary life in Europe American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

8. Henry James in Paris A letter to William Dean Howells, 1876: “Yes, I see a great deal of Turgenev and I’m excellent friends with him… He has also made me acquainted with Gustave Flaubert, to whom I have likewise taken a great fancy, and at whose house I have seen the little coterie of the young realists in fashion. They are all charming talkers - though as editor of the austere Atlantic it would startle you to hear some Of their projected subjects.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

9. Other Influences • William James • His great love, Minny Temple - Daisy Miller, Isabel Archer, MillyTheale • His romantic attachment to Constance FenimoreWoolson • His guilt for not participating in the Civil War American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

10. Writing Career • FOUR STAGES OF WHI WRITING CAREER: • First Stage - up to 1881 Watch and Ward, 1871, 1878 Roderick Hudson, 1875, 1879 The American, 1877 Daisy Miller, 1878 The Europeans, 1878 Washington Square, 1880-81 The Portrait of a Lady, 1881 American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

11. The Portrait of a Lady • A novel of entrapment • Isabel Archer • The point of view • The succession of houses - “the house of darkness” - “the house of experience” - they represent the accumulated refinement and corruption of civilization American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

12. Writing Career • The Second Stage - experimental years The Bostonians, 1886 Princess Casamassima, 1886 The Tragic Muse, 1889-90 The Spoils of Poynton, 1897 What Maisie Knew, 1897 The Turn of the Screw, 1898 The Awkward Age, 1899 • Plays: The American, Daisy Miller,Guy Domville American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

13. “The house of fiction has not one window but a million” and at each of these windows hanging over the human scene “stands a figure with a pair of eyes.... He and his neighbours are watching the same show, but one seeing more where the other sees less, one seeing black where the other sees white, one seeing big where the other sees small, one seeing coarse where the other sees fine. And so on, and so on; there is fortunately no saying on what, for the particular pair of eyes, the window may not open; ‘fortunately’ by reason, precisely, of this incalculability of range. The spreading field, the human scene, is the ‘choice of subject’; the pierced aperture, either broad or balconied or slit-like and low-browed, is the ‘literary form’; but they are, singly or together, as nothing without the posted presence of the watcher - without, in other words, the consciousness of the artist.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

14. “It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” • “Really, universally, relations stop nowhere...[and] the exquisite problem of the artist is eternally but to draw, by a geometry of his own, the circle within which they shall happily appear to do so” • “Don't let any one persuade you ... that Form is [not] substance to that degree that there is absolutely no substance without it. Form alone takes, and holds and preserves substance - saves it from the welter of helpless verbiage that we swim in as in a sea of tasteless tepid pudding, and that makes one ashamed of an art capable of such degradations.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

15. The Bostonians • Not successful • The two plots do not merge - The struggle of the neurotic Olive Chancellor and Basil Random to win Verena Tarrant - the portrait of reformist agitation in Boston and especially the feminist movement American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

16. Princess Casamassima • His only political novel • The revolutionary aspirations of the working class in odd conjunction with the aristocracy • Influences: - Dickens’ underworld of London - Balzac’s social penetration - Zola’s descriptions of the lower classes - Flaubert’s mastery of form American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

17. The Tragic Muse • The world of the theatre in London • Overcrowded • Unclear plot line • The message: - it is impossible to be an artist and a human being at the same time American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

18. Writing Career • The Third stage - the Master The Sacred Fount, 1901 The Wings of the Dove, 1902 The Ambassadors, 1903 The Golden Bowl, 1904 The Outcry, 1911 The Ivory Tower, 1917 American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

19. The Wings of the Dove • MillyTheale - intense desire for life • A Christ-like figure • Mythic levels • The gross materialism of English society • The world of mass culture • Pre-modernist techniques American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

20. The Ambassadors • Autobiographical: Lewis Lambert Strether • Suspense comes not in the detail of what happens, but in the details of how happenings occur, why they have occurred as they did, and what might have happened in a different scenario • The point of view • Picture-scene alternation • Comic undertone • The influence of impressionism American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

21. Henry James and Impressionism Claude Monet, Springtime • The tonality perfectly exemplifies the ‘violettomania’ or ‘seeing blue’ for which the Impressionists were repeatedly criticized: one commentator described the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877 as having the overall effect of a worm-eaten Roquefort cheese! • Madam de Vionnet American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

22. The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein, the Younger,1533The National Gallery, London American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

23. The Art of Anamorphosis • An anamorphosis is a deformed image that appears in its true shape when viewed in some “unconventional” way. • Webster's 1913 Dictionary:A distorted or monstrous projection or representation of an image on a plane or curved surface, which, when viewed from a certain point, or as reflected from a curved mirror or through a polyhedron, appears regular and in proportion; a deformation of an image. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

24. The Art of Anamorphosis • Forms of anamorphosis: - “oblique”, the image must be viewed from a position that is very far from the usual in-front and straight-ahead position - “catoptric”, the image must be seen reflected in a distorting mirror (typical shapes being cylindrical, conical and pyramidal) American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

25. The Golden Bowl • The Ververs: Maggi and Adam, Prince Amerigo and Charlotte Stant • The exploration of the father-daughter relation • The most ambiguous of his novels • Lost of referents: on the grammatical level the indicative verbs of earlier novels give way to an increasingly subjunctive mode in which supposition, desire and contingency all seem to displace statements of actual fact. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

26. Writing Career • The Forth Stage - autobiographical writings Travel books: A Little Tour in France, 1884 English Hours, 1905 The American Scene, 1907 Italian Hours, 1909 Autobiographies: A Small Boy and Others, 1913 Notes of a Son and Brother, 1914 The Middle Years, 1917 American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

27. Writing Career • Criticism: Hawthorne, 1879 “The Art of Fiction”, 1884 The Scenic Art. Notes on Acting and the Drama 1872-1901 The Painter's Eye. Notes and Essays on the Pictorial Arts The New York Edition - 22 volumes, prefaces American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

28. Major Themes • The International Theme: - Americans in Europe - the American girl - international manners • The Dilemma of the Artist - the critics ( “The Figure in the Carpet”, “The Aspern Papers”, “Next Time”) • The supernatural • The mythic levels of the subconscious American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

29. James’ Art • Psychological realism: • “The house of fiction has not one window but a million” and at each of these windows hanging over the human scene “stands a figure with a pair of eyes... He and his neighbors are watching the same show, but one seeing more where the other sees less, one seeing black where the other sees white, one seeing big where the other sees small, one seeing coarse where the other sees fine. ‘fortunately’ by reason, precisely, of this incalculability of range.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

30. James’s Art - The Preface to The Portrait of a Lady • “And so on, and so on; there is fortunately no saying on what, for the particular pair of eyes, the window may not open; The spreading field, the human scene, is the ‘choice of subject’; the pierced aperture, either broad or balconied or slit-like and low-browed, is the ‘literary form’; but they are, singly or together, as nothing without the posted presence of the watcher - without ... the consciousness of the artist.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

31. James’ Art • “It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” • “Really, universally, relations stop nowhere...[and] the exquisite problem of the artist is eternally but to draw, by a geometry of his own, the circle within which they shall happily appear to do so.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

32. James’ Art • “Don’t let any one persuade you ... that Form is [not] substance to that degree that there is absolutely no substance without it. Form alone takes, and holds and preserves substance - saves it from the welter of helpless verbiage that we swim in as in a sea of tasteless tepid pudding, and that makes one ashamed of an art capable of such degradations.” American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

33. Daisy Miller American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

34. Daisy Miller • Characters • Frederick Winterbourne: Twenty-seven-year-old American who received his education in Geneva, Switzerland, the city where he temporarily resides. After living so long in Switzerland, he is well versed in European customs and traditions. He becomes fond of fellow American Daisy Miller when he meets Randolph Miller: Daisy's boisterous little brother. Europe generally bores him, and he thinks America is far the superior place to live. Randolph is something of an allegory for boorish American tourists.  American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

35. DAISY (1878) • Daisy (Annie P.) Miller: Extremely pretty young American who is on a European tour with her mother and brother; PROTAGONIST • outspoken, high-spirited, and independent and ignores (or is unaware of) customs and traditions of European high society • .Because she frequently sees young men unchaperoned, she creates scandal and gossip. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

36. More Characters • Randolph Miller: Daisy's boisterous little brother. Europe generally bores him, and he thinks America is far the superior place to live. Randolph is something of an allegory for boorish American tourists.  . American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

37. MORE CHARACTERS • Mrs. Miller: Culturally and socially deficient mother of Daisy and Randolph; • wife of Ezra B. Miller, a wealthy businessman in Schenectady, New York. • is weak-minded, ill at ease at social gatherings, and frequently suffers bouts of indigestion. • She makes no effort to rein in Daisy, mainly because she sees nothing offensive or untoward in her behavior American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

38. WHO LOOKS DOWN ON THE MILLERS? • Mrs. Costello: Winterbourne's American aunt, whom he visits in Vevey, Switzerland, and later in Rome. • She is a wealthy widow who, unlike Mrs. Miller, is culturally and socially sophisticated. She refuses to meet Daisy Miller.  • Mrs. Walker: Another sophisticated American. She lives in Geneva but spends the winter in Rome. • Mrs. Walker is appalled by Daisy behavior and looks down on Mrs. Miller, whom she regards as an "imbecile." American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

39. THE MEN OF DM • Giovanelli:: Daisy's frequent escort in Rome. Winterbourne and others regard him as womanizer. Mrs. Miller and Daisy think him a splendid gentleman. He appears to be the only character in the novel who understands and accepts Daisy's behavior.  Eugenio: Tour guide (called a courier in the novel) for the Miller family. He helps Mrs. Miller supervise her children. Gossips spread rumors about him and Daisy. Tourist at Doria Palace: Friend of Winterbourne. The tourist informs Winterbourne that he saw Daisy Miller and Giovanelli together, unchaperoned, in the art galleries at the Doria Palace. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

40. Narration • third-person point of view from a limited perspective • Except for a few first-person intrusions (see, for example, pars. 3 and 4 in Chapter I), • in–that of Frederick Winterbourne, • Winterbourne is in every scene; all the action is described as he perceives it, not as any other any other DOES. • One may compare Winterbourne to a magnifying glass through which the storyteller sees the action up close, then describes significant events in detail.  American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

41. style • Writing centered on character development. • Carefully chosen diction in order to shade or highlight a passage with just the right connotation, implication, or undertone; • Alliteratively soothing phrases American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

42. Examples: chapter 2 • He [Winterbourne] found her [Daisy] that evening in the garden, wandering about in the warm starlight after the manner of an indolent sylph and swinging to and fro the largest fan he had ever beheld. • She [Daisy] came tripping downstairs, buttoning her long gloves, squeezing her folded parasol against her pretty figure, dressed exactly in the way that consorted best, to his fancy, with their adventure. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

43. Chapter 2: continued • He was a man of imagination and, as our ancestors used to say, of sensibility; as he took in her charming air and caught from the great staircase her impatient confiding step the note of some small sweet strain of romance, not intense but clear and sweet, seemed to sound for their start… American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

44. Themes/climax • The collision between the cultures of the Old World and the New World. • Nonconformity: • Prejudice and Snobbery: • When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Climax : occurs when Winterbourne encounters Daisy in the Colosseum and reaches this conclusion about her: “She was a young lady about . . . whose perversity a foolish puzzled gentleman need no longer trouble his head or his heart.”  American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

45. Symbols in DM • Daisy Miller • April Daisies • Winterbourne • Roman Fever • Colosseum: American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

46. Language • important social nuances of the language used by the characters and the narrator may be missed; • Most of us take for granted certain usages--"ever so many," "it seems as if," "I guess," "quaint"--that are indications of the Millers' lack of cultivation. • Also, there are some genteelisms in their speech--Mrs. Miller's "the principal ones." Then there's the narrator's somewhat inflated diction-- "imbibed," "much disposed towards." American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

47. MISC. • technical device of restricting the reader's perspective to what one character sees and knows. • the Millers represent vulgar new money • Daisy: • naturalness and boldness • occasional social crudity and inexperience American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

48. Setting: Italy • The story takes place before the floor of the Colosseum was excavated and before the cause of malaria was discovered. The 1883 Baedeker guide reminded tourists of the traditional danger of malaria: "In summer when the fever-laden aria cattive [bad air] prevails, all the inhabitants who can afford it make a point of leaving the city. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

49. Significant Form, Style, or Artistic Conventions • "Daisy Miller" may be presented as a classic instance of nineteenth-century realism in presenting "a study" of a modern character-type. Simultaneously, since the story follows Winterbourne's point of view, James's subject becomes a double one; also concerns the male character's process of vision and understanding. In this sense, the story is about Winterbourne's "studying. • the leisure-class European social code: the importance of restraint, public decorum, the drawing of lines. When Daisy looks at Winterbourne and boasts of having had "a great deal of gentleman's society," she doesn't know (though Winterbourne and James do) that she is acting precisely as a courtesan would. American Literature (I) Autumn 2008

50. Connections • DM: tells of an aborted romance in which the man distances himself emotionally until it is too late. • DM supplies a good deal of pictorial background and social realism, American Literature (I) Autumn 2008