Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

-
Image
A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
5 comments

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

-


Dolce Belezza is hosting a read along of The Portrait of a Lady, and has written a short summary of the plot here. As always with the novels of Henry James, the ending holds more questions than answers (compare The Turn of the Screw). Belezza has two questions: why did Isabel Archer marry Gilbert Osmond? Why did she plan to return to him on the very last page? Two relevant questions and I am looking forward seeing what the other read alongs will answer. Here are some of my thoughts.

Why did she marry?

 Although she, unknowingly, was manipulated into the marriage, it is not the whole answer. She already had two offers of marriage and friends and relatives were much for both of them. However, she refused. She had clearly stated that she did not want to marry, but travel around the world. She wanted to have an independent life, settle down somewhere nice and live her life as she chooses. It was definitely easier after she came into the money, and would have been difficult without money. It is not clear how she intended to support herself in the latter case.

As for women at the time, her future was clear. She should marry a nice young man and settle down. She had other ideas. Both offers of marriage was too much like the expected prospects and I think that is why she refused them. When Osmond came by, he was different. He had another kind of life, his ideas attracted her, she loved his lovely daughter and the sense of a life in bliss. As we know life is not always what it seems like. I think that she actually was in love with Osmond in her own way. Maybe not so much with the man as with the idea of his life. Unfortunately, for her, he did not reveal all of his ideas, or she just did not grasp them in time. She was part of the beauty he admired in a building or a painting, but she did not see that his idea of the marriage, apart from the money, was to acquire another rare piece to show off.


Why did she go back to him in the end?
I really thought she would not, but Henry James is Henry James. He has to upset our minds and maybe ask ourselves questions. She had a choice, she had the funds to live on. Maybe, she saw it as a failure on her part. Everybody had advised her against the marriage, and maybe she just wanted to show that she knew what she was doing. During the novel we hear her say that she was taught to stand up for her actions, to be loyal to the decisions she has made. I think one of the reasons going back is that she promised the daughter to come back for her. In her mind it was possibly a very good reason, to save her from her father's grasp, to help her make a life for herself. To marry someone she loves, instead of being held captive by her father. Maybe she thought she could save one woman if she gave up her own freedom.

I am a fan of Henry James and really loved the book. Although it seems not much is happening in the quiet way which he tells the story, but there actually are a lot of things going on. I would be somewhat irritated with Isabel from time to time. She seemed to be a young lady who knew her mind and would always stand up for herself.  In the end, as regards the marriage to Osmond she does not. I find this bit a little out of character. I am looking forward reading John Banville's Mrs Osmond and see how he interprets the story.

Looking forward reading your views on the novel.

Comments

  1. Bellezza 22 February 2018 at 13:55

    I agree that she married not wholly out of manipulation by Madame Merle. Both you and Tom, of Wuthering Expectations, point to the fact that she is a wonderfully independent and stubborn woman, one who is intent on making her own choices.

    I was so glad to have Banville's book to pick uo following this one; he has a writing style which so closeley fits with James', and he takes these important questions one strp farther. He shows us what becomes of Pansy, and what Isabel does next regarding both Serena Merle and Gilbert. I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading, and posting, along with me! xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisbeth 28 February 2018 at 18:05

      I found it a little bit out of character that she does not have more independence in her marriage. Let's see what Banville says. I have just started reading it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Magical Room, Saloons in 1920s Paris by Ingrid Svensson

-
Image
Better late than never as they say. This post was supposed to go up last year. At a museum in Sweden I found a book about 1920s saloons in Paris. Very interesting and it generated the post:  Paris in July - French Saloons.    As promised then, here is the first of two posts about four of the main hostesses.  Still picking from the "Magical Rom" and events from Paris in the 1920s. There were four main characters who put their mark on the literary scene of the time; Gertrude Stein, Natalie Clifford Barney, Adrienne Monnier, and Sylvia Beach. For most of you, they are already well known. These ladies had one thing in common, as well as many of the women holding salons, in that they were all lesbians. This was maybe one reason why they ended up in Paris, being more liberal (although you had to be discreet) than many other countries, and the US specifically. They were very creative and talented and did a lot for the cultural scene in Paris, introducing new talents and hel...
Read more

The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson

-
Image
This is one of those popular help yourself books that seems to overflow these days. However, it defies all the good advices we have been given during the last years, that is; stay positive. Manson says: "Let's be honest; sometimes things are fucked up and we have to live with it."  Right! That is life after all. "One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful." Sigmund Freud  With this quote in mind Manson argues that values such as "pleasure, material success, always being right, staying positive", are poor guidelines for a persons life. After all, some of the greatest moments in our lives are " not  pleasant, not successful, not known, and not positive". Which leads him to the belief, and I am bound to agree with him, that it is the individual who is responsible for everything in his/her life. We just have to act due to external circumstances. We are not always in control of all aspects of our...
Read more

How To Read Novels Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster

-
Image
I am not a professor in literature, but I would like to be. Unfortunately, this will never happen, so, I have to go along trying to read novels and literature like a professor. Thomas C. Foster's book is therefor a very useful tool. He has also written How To Read Literature Like A Professor , which sounds like another useful read. It is not only a book for readers. I would say it is also useful for aspring writers. How do you make a novel interesting? What does it have to contain? Who should be the narrator and what should he/she do? The content gives a hint on what makes up a good book.  Pickup Lines and Open(ing) Seductions, or Why Novels Have First Pages - are we not fascinated by how certain writers manage to hook you on the first sentence? This seems to be one of the most important sentences in a book and Foster mentions a few excellent openings. I love good openings and cannot help but quote them here, although I am sure you are already familiar with them (I only knew 2,4 a...
Read more