Washington Square
by Henry James · first published 1880
3mentions
2recommended by
2HN commenters
2017–2018first – last mentioned
100% recommend
With a new afterword by Michael CunninghamWhat Catherine Sloper lacks in brains and beauty, she makes up for by being "very good." The handsome Morris Townsend would do anything to win her hand-even if it means pretending that he loves the homely ingenue, and cares nothing for her opulent wealth. Throughout time, the women of the world always had limited rights when it came to anything. You could almost say they were being discriminated just because of their gender. However, this all changed because of one woman in particular: Deborah Sampson. Deborah Sampson was the first known American
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…effectively. I'm not sure of the history of that conceit, but possibly The Turn of the Screw is famous more for its novelty than for being particularly good per se. I kept reading him, though, and loved Washington Square. Hated Daisy Miller. The Aspern Papers was fun if not really very good. I'd started reading The Liar and it was very promising, but one of my kids ruined my copy before I finished and I haven't gone back…
on “Novels were never the same after Henry James” ↗I greatly enjoyed Poe, Hawthorne, and Mary Shelley, so I don't accept that 19th century horror doesn't "hold up" too well, but you've convinced me to give him another try. I will put Washington Square on my reading list.
on “Novels were never the same after Henry James” ↗Yeah, Henry James is the novelist. William's brother. I'd call his output... mixed, but much of it's really good. Big fan of Washington Square, myself. Probably better to approach shorter novella-ish works like that, and his actual short stories (there are lots) first, and work your way up to the novels (there are also lots of those). Do not…
on “William James and the philosophy of pragmatism” ↗