The Portrait of a Lady (Norton Critical
Editions) by Henry James
Essential Henry James
The text of this Second Edition of one of Henry Jamess most important
novels is that of the New York Edition (1908). In a sense, there are two
distinctly separate Portraits—the 1880-81 First Edition and the New York
Edition, which James extensively revised. The editor has meticulously
prepared a list of textual variants to facilitate comparative reading of the
novel. Nina Baym, F. O. Matthiessen, and Anthony J. Mazzella provide
differing interpretations of Jamess revision process. Henry James and
the Novel culls autobiographical excerpts from Jamess other writings—his
Notebooks, the intentionally autobiographical A Small Boy and Others and
Notes of a Son and Brother, and the travel books Italy Revisited, A Roman
Holiday, and Roman Rides. Contemporary Reviews and Criticism
provides both chronological and critical perspective on The Portrait of a
Lady. Four reviews from 1882 outline the novels initial critical reception.
Seven important essays from the period 1954-1991 provide a wide range
of critical responses by Dorothy Van Ghent, William H. Gass, Laurence B.
Holland, Charles Feidelson, Louis Auchincloss, William Veeder, and
Millicent Bell. Bibliographical Aids includes judiciously selected
secondary works on James from the wealth of material published yearly. .
Personal Review: The Portrait of a Lady (Norton Critical
Editions) by Henry James
When Isabel Archer, a bright and independent young American, makes her
first trip to Europe in the company of her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, who lives
outside of London in a 400-year-old estate, she discovers a totally different
world, one which does not encourage her independent thinking or behavior
and which is governed by rigid social codes. This contrast between
American and European values, vividly dramatized here, is a consistent
theme in James's novels, one based on his own experiences living in the
US and England. In prose that is filled with rich observations about places,
customs, and attitudes, James portrays Isabel's European coming-of-age,

as she discovers that she must curb her intellect and independence if she
is to fit into the social scheme in which she now finds herself.
Isabel Archer, one of James's most fully drawn characters, has postponed
a marriage in America for a year of travel abroad, only to discover upon
her precipitate and ill-considered marriage to an American living in
Florence, that it is her need to be independent that makes her marriage a
disaster. Gilbert Osmond, an American art collector living in Florence,
marries Isabel for the fortune she has inherited from her uncle, treating her
like an object d'art which he expects to remain "on the shelf." Madame
Serena Merle, his long-time lover, is, like Osmond, an American whose
venality and lack of scruples have been encouraged, if not developed, by
the European milieu in which they live.
James packs more information into one paragraph than many writers do
into an entire chapter. Distanced and formal, he presents psychologically
realistic characters whose behavior is a direct outgrowth of their
upbringing, with their conflicts resulting from the differences between their
expectations and the reality of their changed settings. The subordinate
characters, Ralph Touchett, Pansy Osmond, her suitor Edward Rosier,
American journalist Henrietta Stackpole, Isabel's former suitor Caspar
Stackpole, and Lord Warburton, whose love of Isabel leads him to court
Pansy, are as fascinating psychologically and as much a product of their
own upbringing as is Isabel.
As the setting moves from America to England, Paris, Florence, and
Rome, James develops his themes, and as Isabel's life becomes more
complex, her increasingly difficult and emotionally affecting choices about
her life make her increasingly fascinating to the reader. James's trenchant
observations about the relationship between individuals and society and
about the effects of one's setting on one's behavior are enhanced by the
elegance and density of his prose, making this a novel one must read
slowly--and savor. Mary Whipple
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