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LITR 5431 Seminar in American Literature:
Romanticism lecture notes |
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Joseph Conrad, "Henry James--An Appreciation"
1. How have setting, characterization, and narrative (incl. romance) changed since the Romantic era? Or not?
1.3 a young American, who, two or three years ago, sat in the garden of the "Trois Couronnes," [not long ago and far away]
1.8
"Oh, blazes; it's har-r-d!" he exclaimed, pronouncing the adjective in a
peculiar manner. [Realism:
attention to dialect; northeastern USA middle-class noted for hard r's, in
contrast to soft r's of England and souther US]]
[1.72]
"No; we haven't
been there. I want to go there dreadfully. Of course I mean to go there. I
wouldn't go away from here without having seen that old castle."
1 [200] "I beg you, madam, to let her go," said Winterbourne
ardently; for
he had never yet enjoyed
the sensation of guiding through the summer starlight a skiff freighted with a
fresh and beautiful young girl.
[compare
Fitzgerald’s
Winter Dreams 2.27-2.35]
1.242 he felt as if there were something romantic going forward.
2.10 annoyed at hearing of a state of affairs so little in harmony with an image that had lately flitted in and out of his own meditations; the image of a very pretty girl looking out of an old Roman window and asking herself urgently when Mr. Winterbourne would arrive.
2.13 "Well, I declare!"
2.243
Daisy, lovely in
the flattering moonlight, looked at him a moment. Then—"All the evening," she
answered, gently. "I never saw anything so pretty."
2.248 I was bound to see the Colosseum by moonlight; I shouldn't have wanted to go home without that; and we have had the most beautiful time
2.251 Daisy chattered about the beauty of the place. "Well, I HAVE seen the Colosseum by moonlight!" she exclaimed. "That's one good thing."
2.257 "I don't care," said Daisy in a little strange tone, "whether I have Roman fever or not!"
2.261
"She was the most
beautiful young lady I ever saw, and the most amiable"; and then he added in a
moment, "and she was the most innocent."
2. If both Romantic and Realistic elements co-exist, what is the effect of their mixing or friction? Consider irony, but other possibilities.
Realism: opening paragraphs of both parts: density of data that is not necessarily significant beyond itself
(reverse implication: Romanticism tends to allegory of symbols; every element transcendently significant
Psychological Realism
1.28, 1.45,
Joseph Conrad, "Henry James--An Appreciation"
2.89 takes measure of Giovanelli
2.193 2nd thoughts on Giovanelli
2.260 Mrs. Miller
[1.8]
"Oh, blazes; it's har-r-d!" he exclaimed, pronouncing the adjective in a
peculiar manner.
[Realism:
attention to dialect; northeastern USA middle-class noted for hard r's, in
contrast to soft r's of England and souther US]]
[1.72]
"No; we haven't
been there. I want to go there dreadfully. Of course I mean to go there. I
wouldn't go away from here without having seen that old castle."
1.97
said to himself that she had the tournure [style, bearing]
of a princess.
[1.112] Winterbourne listened with interest to these disclosures; they helped him to make up his mind about Miss Daisy. Evidently she was rather wild.
3. Note the story's repeated references to Lord Byron (1788-1824). How does the story manipulate elements of Romanticism and turn them to Realistic ends?
1.2
the Castle of Chillon*.
[1.70]
"Have you been to that old castle?" asked the young girl,
pointing with her parasol to the far-gleaming walls of the
Chateau de Chillon.
1.242
Two days afterward he went off with her to the
1.249 cared little for feudal antiquities
[1.250]
"Well, I hope you
know enough!" she said to her companion, after he had told her the history of
the unhappy Bonivard*. "I never saw a man that knew so much!" [*Swiss patriot
François
Bonivard
(1496–1570), imprisoned
underground at Chillon
1630-36, inspiring the Romantic poet Lord Byron’s
The
Prisoner of Chillon,1816]
1.251 back to present
2.237 began to murmur Byron's famous lines, out of "Manfred,
4. Consider Daisy Miller as a new American woman visiting Europe but uninhibited by gender or class traditions of the Old World. How does Daisy's image conform to styles or values of Romanticism? How does her own voice question such descriptions or motives? What actions throw characterizations of her as Romantic into question or doubt?
21 "How pretty they are!" thought Winterbourne,
28 In Geneva, as he had been perfectly aware, a young man was not at liberty to speak to a young unmarried lady except under certain rarely occurring conditions
45
He was ceasing to be embarrassed, for he had begun to perceive that she
was not in the least embarrassed herself. There had not been the
slightest alteration in her charming complexion; she was evidently
neither offended nor flattered. If she looked another way when he spoke
to her, and seemed not particularly to hear him, this was simply her
habit, her manner. Yet, as he talked a little more and pointed out some
of the objects of interest in the view, with which she appeared quite
unacquainted, she gradually gave him more of the benefit of her glance;
and then he saw that this
glance was perfectly direct and
unshrinking. It was not, however, what would have been called an immodest
glance, for the young girl's eyes were singularly honest and fresh. . . .
mentally accused it—very forgivingly—of a want of finish. He thought it very possible that Master
Randolph's sister was a coquette
[flirt];
he was sure she had a spirit of her own;
but in her bright, sweet, superficial little visage there was no mockery, no
irony. Before long it became obvious that she was much disposed toward
conversation. She told him that they were going to
[52]
"Her real name is
Annie P. Miller,"
the boy went on.
54
She talked to
Winterbourne as if she had known him a long time.
[83]
She didn't
rise, blushing, as a young girl at
[1.136]
"But don't
they all do these things—the young girls in
[1.137]
Mrs. Costello stared a moment.
"I should like to
see my granddaughters do them!" she declared grimly.
[1.138]
This seemed
to throw some light upon the matter, for Winterbourne remembered to have heard
that his pretty cousins in
5. How is Daisy quintessentially American? Why is Randolph surprised that Winterbourne is an American?
James as influential expatriate author-critic; cf. T.S. Eliot, James Baldwin, Hawthorne, Cooper.
[16]
"Are you an
American man?"
pursued this vivacious infant*.
And then, on Winterbourne's affirmative reply—"American men are the best," he
declared.
[17]
His companion thanked him for the compliment, and the
child, who had now got astride of his alpenstock, stood looking about him, while
he attacked a second lump of sugar. Winterbourne wondered if he himself had been
like this in his infancy, for he had been brought to
[18]
"Here comes my
sister!" cried the child in a moment. "She's an American girl."
45 She asked him if he was a "real American"; she shouldn't have taken him for one
[69]
Poor Winterbourne
was amused, perplexed, and decidedly charmed. He had never yet heard a young
girl express herself in just this fashion; never, at least, save in cases where
to say such things seemed a kind of demonstrative evidence of a certain laxity
of deportment.
And yet was he to accuse Miss Daisy Miller of actual or potential inconduite
[misconduct?],
as they said at
1.191
[191]
"Well, if Daisy
feels up to it—" said Mrs. Miller, in a tone impregnated with a sense of the
magnitude of the enterprise. "It seems as if there was nothing she wouldn't
undertake."
2.3
Of course a man may know everyone. Men are welcome to the
privilege!"
2.38
He remembered
that a cynical compatriot had once told him that American women—the pretty ones,
and this gave a largeness to the axiom—were at once the most exacting in the
world and the least endowed with a sense of indebtedness.
2.74 I was sure we should be going round all the time with one of those dreadful old men that explain about the pictures and things.
2.83
"I don't like the
way you say that," said Daisy. "It's too imperious."
2.85
"I have
never allowed a gentleman to dictate to me, or to interfere with anything I do."
2.87 "I do nothing but listen to gentlemen!"
2.89
an inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence.
2.102
"That would be
charming, but it's so enchanting just as I am!" and Daisy gave a brilliant
glance at the gentlemen on either side of her.
[103]
"It may be
enchanting, dear child, but it is not the custom here,"
urged Mrs. Walker, leaning forward in her victoria, with her hands devoutly
clasped.
[104]
"Well, it ought to
be, then!"
said Daisy. "If I didn't walk I should expire."
106
she added with a
laugh, "I am more than five years old."
2.114
a
violent laugh. "I never heard anything so stiff! If this is improper, Mrs.
Walker," she pursued, "then I am all improper, and you must give me up.
Goodbye; I hope you'll have a lovely ride!" and, with Mr. Giovanelli, who made a
triumphantly obsequious salute, she turned away.
2.130
"I suspect,
Mrs. Walker, that you and I have lived too long at
2.152
The Pincio is not
the streets, either; and I, thank goodness, am not a young lady of this country.
The young ladies of this country have a dreadfully poky time of it, so far as I
can learn; I don't see why I should change my habits for THEM."
2.159
they don't understand that sort of thing here."
2.173 She turned her back straight upon Miss Miller and left her to depart with what grace she might. Winterbourne was standing near the door; he saw it all. Daisy turned very pale and looked at her mother, but Mrs. Miller was humbly unconscious of any violation of the usual social forms.
2.207 they desired to express to observant Europeans the great truth that, though Miss Daisy Miller was a young American lady, her behavior was not representative
6. Compare James's style and psychological content to Hawthorne?
1.21 "How pretty they are!"
2.176
a pleasant
sense that he should never be afraid of Daisy Miller. It must be added that this
sentiment was not altogether flattering to Daisy; it was part of his conviction,
or rather of his apprehension, that she would prove a very light young person.
2.193 "The little Italian. I have asked questions about him and learned something. He is apparently a perfectly respectable little man
2.240 as if a sudden illumination had been flashed upon the ambiguity of Daisy's behavior, and the riddle had become easy to read. She was a young lady whom a gentleman need no longer be at pains to respect. He stood there, looking at her—looking at her companion and not reflecting that though he saw them vaguely, he himself must have been more brightly visible. He felt angry with himself that he had bothered so much about the right way of regarding Miss Daisy Miller.
2.260 Mrs. Miller, who, though deeply alarmed, was, rather to his surprise, perfectly composed, and, as it appeared, a most efficient and judicious nurse.
8. Daisy Miller as novel of manners?
1.28 "This little boy and I have made acquaintance," he said, with great civility. In Geneva, as he had been perfectly aware, a young man was not at liberty to speak to a young unmarried lady except under certain rarely occurring conditions; but here at Vevey, what conditions could be better than these?—a pretty American girl coming and standing in front of you in a garden. This pretty American girl, however, on hearing Winterbourne's observation, simply glanced at him; she then turned her head and looked over the parapet, at the lake and the opposite mountains. He wondered whether he had gone too far,
1.45 glance was perfectly direct and unshrinking. It was not, however, what would have been called an immodest glance, for the young girl's eyes were singularly honest and fresh
1.64
She talked to
Winterbourne as if she had known him a long time.
[1. 69]
Poor Winterbourne
was amused, perplexed, and decidedly charmed. He had never yet heard a young
girl express herself in just this fashion; never, at least, save in cases where
to say such things seemed a kind of demonstrative evidence of a certain laxity
of deportment.
And yet was he to accuse Miss Daisy Miller of actual or potential inconduite
[misconduct?],
as they said at
[1.83]
She didn't
rise, blushing, as a young girl at
1.92
"To the
Chateau de Chillon, mademoiselle?" the courier inquired. "Mademoiselle
has made arrangements?" he added in a tone which struck Winterbourne as very
impertinent.
[The American
Daisy and her European servant interact as equals, surprising the
class-conscious Winterbourne]
1.99"And a courier?" said Mrs. Costello. "Oh yes, I have observed them. Seen them—heard them—and kept out of their way."
[1.101]
"They are very
common," Mrs. Costello declared. "They are the sort of Americans that one does
one's duty by not—not accepting."
1.111
"Oh, the mother is just as bad!
They treat the courier like a familiar
friend—like a gentleman. I shouldn't wonder if he dines with them. Very likely
they have never seen a man with such good manners, such fine clothes, so like a
gentleman. He probably corresponds to the young lady's idea of a count. He
sits with them in the garden in the evening. I think he smokes."
1.145
"I want to
know her ever so much. I know just what YOUR aunt would be; I know I should like
her. She would be very exclusive. I like a lady to be exclusive; I'm dying to be
exclusive myself. Well, we ARE exclusive, mother and I. We don't speak to
everyone—or they don't speak to us. I suppose it's about the same thing. Anyway,
I shall be ever so glad to know your aunt."
1.162
"Common," she
was, as Mrs. Costello had pronounced her; yet it was a wonder to Winterbourne
that, with her commonness, she had a singularly delicate grace.
1.163 enormous diamonds in her ears.
1.193
a very different type of maternity from
that of the vigilant matrons who massed themselves in the forefront of social
intercourse in the dark old city
[
1.248
"I like to
make you say those things! You're a queer mixture!"
2.1 The young lady, however, is also very intimate with some third-rate Italians, with whom she rackets about in a way that makes much talk.
2.7 They are
very dreadful people."
2.8
Winterbourne
meditated a moment. "They are very ignorant—very innocent only. Depend upon it
they are not bad."
2.25 "She's got the dyspepsia
2.89 Daisy evidently had a natural talent for performing introductions;
Winterbourne flattered himself that he had taken his measure. "He is not a gentleman," said the young American; "he is only a clever imitation of one
2.110
"I don't think I want to know what you mean," said Daisy
presently. "I don't think I should like it."
2.271 Winterbourne had often thought of Daisy Miller and her mystifying manners
5. Henry James is critically regarded as one of the USA's greatest authors and inspires enormous quantities of scholarship yearly. What is his status in the literary canon? What appeals or detractions? How is Daisy quintessentially American? Why is Randolph surprised that Winterbourne is an American? (James's "International Theme.")
27 pathological gossip
[29]
"I hate it worse and worse every day!" cried
[30]
"You are like the infant
[31]
"No, I ain't!"
2.137 Mrs. Walker was one of those American ladies who, while residing abroad, make a point, in their own phrase, of studying European society, and she had on this occasion collected several specimens of her diversely born fellow mortals to serve, as it were, as textbooks.
