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The Portrait of a Lady

(Penguin modern classics)

By Henry James

(187)

| Paperback | 9780140019216

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Book Description

When Isabel Archer, a young American with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness," full of possibility. Rejecting suitors who offer her wealth and devotion, she follows her own path and finds it leads to a dark and constricted future. The PortrContinue

7 Reviews

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Where I fell in love with Henry James. Isabel Archer is drawn in such loving detail, such complexity, set against such a wonderfully vivid setting. This book is a joy to read.

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Martinbenedick said on Jun 1, 2007 | Add your feedback

Isabel Archer was a young person of many theories; her imagination was remarkably active. It had been her fortune to possess a finer mind than most of the persons among whom her lot was cast; to have a larger perception of surrounding facts and to care for knowledge that was tinged with the unf ... (continue)

Isabel Archer was a young person of many theories; her imagination was remarkably active. It had been her fortune to possess a finer mind than most of the persons among whom her lot was cast; to have a larger perception of surrounding facts and to care for knowledge that was tinged with the unfamiliar. It is true that among her contemporaries she passed for a young woman of extraordinary profundity.
Isabel was probably very liable to the sin of self-esteem; she often surveyed with complacency the field of her own nature; she was in the habit of taking for granted, on scanty evidence, that she was right; she treated herself to occasions of homage. Meanwhile her errors and delusions were
frequently such as a biographer interested in preserving the dignity of his subject must shrink from specifying.
She spent half her time in thinking of beauty
and bravery and magnanimity; she had a fixed determination to regard the world as a place of brightness, of free expansion, of irresistible action: she held it must be detestable to be afraid or ashamed. She had an infinite hope that she should never do anything wrong.
Of course the danger of a high spirit was the danger of inconsistency.
Her life should always be in harmony with the most pleasing impression she should produce; she would be what she appeared, and she would appear what she was. Sometimes
she went so far as to wish that she might find
herself some day in a difficult position, so that she should have the pleasure of being as heroic as the occasion demanded.
Isabel Archer was very fortunate in being independent, and that she ought to make some very enlightened use of that state.
She never called it the state of solitude, much less of singleness.
She didn’t like to have everything settled beforehand, she liked more unexpectedness.
She tried to judge things for herself; to judge wrong, she though, was more honorable than not to judge at all.
She didn’t wish to be a mere sheep in the flock; she wished to choose her fate and know something of human affairs beyond what other people thought it compatible with propriety to tell her.
She believed that nothing that belonged to her was any measure of her; everything’s on
the contrary a limit, a barrier, and a perfectly arbitrary one.
But there were days when the world looked black and she asked herself with some sharpness what it was that she was pretending to live for. Her old habit had been to live by enthusiasm, to fall in love with suddenly-perceived possibilities, with the idea of some new adventure.
She was not a daughter of the Puritans, but for all that she believed in such a thing as chastity and even as decency.
She was still young, after all, and a great
many things might happen to her yet.

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Cri1967 said on Jan 16, 2012 | Add your feedback

cover illustration:
james lavery, _the lady in white_, city of manchester art galleries

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rabbit said on Feb 10, 2011 | Add your feedback

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

So does this just mean that women, even women said to be "geniuses" like Isabel, are weak? that they need a dark man in order to persist? She could have been without him! Why can't we all be more like Ralph?

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DustMoteVII said on Mar 22, 2010 | Add your feedback

I loved it when I read so many years ago I still have fond memories of James's prose here...

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Inaeugenia said on Dec 17, 2009 | Add your feedback

Wonderful character studies, smart dialogue, and an in depth look at human feeling. The imagery was gorgeous and the writing poetic. It was interesting (and frustrating) to see the strong Isabel get manipulated. The examination of her married life and her husband’s cold personality was horrible. Ral ... (continue)

Wonderful character studies, smart dialogue, and an in depth look at human feeling. The imagery was gorgeous and the writing poetic. It was interesting (and frustrating) to see the strong Isabel get manipulated. The examination of her married life and her husband’s cold personality was horrible. Ralph was my favorite character because of his wit. His conversations with Isabel towards the end of the book were very emotional.
ISABEL QUOTES:
“I have always been intensely determined to be happy, and I have often believed I should be…but it comes over me every now and then that I can never be happy in any extraordinary way; not by turning away, by separating myself from life. From the usual chances and dangers, from what most people know and suffer.”
“No I don’t wish to touch the cup of experience. It’s a poisoned drink! I only want to see for myself.”
“I try to judge things for myself; to judge wrong, I think, is more honorable than not to judge at all. I don’t wish to be a mere sheep in the flock; I wish to choose my fate and know something of human affairs beyond what other people think it compatible with propriety to tell me.”

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Moirne Stark said on Jul 19, 2009 | Add your feedback