Daisy Miller and Washington Square (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) FROM OUR EDITORS
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
Strikingly modern in its psychological insight, social observation and
stylistic innovation, Henry James’s fiction continues to attract
and intrigue readers a century after its initial appearance. This volume
offers two of his most popular and critically admired novellas: Daisy
Miller and Washington Square.
In Daisy Miller, James paints a vivid portrait of a vibrant young
American girl visiting Europe for the first time. Lovely, flirtatious,
eager for experience, Daisy meets a wealthy American, Mr. Winterbourne,
and a penniless but passionate Italian. Her complex encounters with them
and others allow James to explore one of his favorite themes, the effect
of Americans and Europeans on each other.
Washington Square’s Catherine Sloper is Daisy
Miller’s opposite. Neither pretty nor charming, she lives with her
wealthy, widowed, tyrannical father, Dr. Austin Sloper, who can barely
conceal his disdain for his shy, awkward daughter. When a handsome
suitor, Morris Townsend, comes calling, Catherine’s father refuses
to believe he is anything other than a heartless fortune hunter and sets
out to destroy her romance.
Jennie A. Kassanoff is Assistant Professor of English at Barnard
College. Her articles have appeared in Arizona Quarterly and
PMLA. Her book, Edith Wharton and the Politics of Race, is
forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.