The Portrait of a Lady: Volume I
By Henry James
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The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who in "confronting her destiny" finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James's novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James's early period, this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal.
Isabel Archer, originally from Albany, New York, is invited by her maternal aunt, Lydia Touchett, to visit Lydia's rich husband, Daniel, at his estate near London, following the death of Isabel's father. There, Isabel meets her uncle, her friendly invalid cousin Ralph Touchett, and the Touchetts' robust neighbor, Lord Warburton. Isabel later declines Warburton's sudden proposal of marriage. She also rejects the hand of Caspar Goodwood, the charismatic son and heir of a wealthy Boston mill owner. Although Isabel is drawn to Caspar, her commitment to her independence precludes such a marriage, which she feels would demand the sacrifice of her freedom.
The elder Touchett grows ill and, at the request of his son, leaves much of his estate to Isabel upon his death. With her large legacy, Isabel travels the Continent and meets an American expatriate, Gilbert Osmond, in Florence. Although Isabel had previously rejected both Warburton and Goodwood, she accepts Osmond's proposal of marriage, unaware that it has been actively promoted by the accomplished but untrustworthy Madame Merle, another American expatriate, whom Isabel had met at the Touchetts' estate.
Henry James
«No había nada que James hiciera como un inglés, ni tampoco como un norteamericano –ha escrito Gore Vidal -. Él mismo era su gran realidad, un nuevo mundo, una tierra incógnita cuyo mapa tardaría el resto de sus días en trazar para todos nosotros.» Henry James nació en Nueva York en 1843, en el seno de una rica y culta familia de origen irlandés. Recibió una educación ecléctica y cosmopolita, que se desarrolló en gran parte en Europa¬. En 1875, se estableció en Inglaterra, después de publicar en Estados Unidos sus primeros relatos. El conflicto entre la cultura europea y la norteamericana está en el centro de muchas de sus obras, desde sus primera novelas, Roderick Hudson (1875), Washington Square (1880; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. CXII) o El americano (1876-1877; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. XXXIII; ALBA MINUS núm.), hasta El Eco (1888; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. LI; ALBA MINUS núm.) o La otra casa (1896; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. LXIV) y la trilogía que culmina su carrera: Las alas de la paloma (1902), Los embajadores (1903) y La copa dorada (1904; ALBA CLÁSICA MAIOR núm. II). Maestro de la novela breve y el relato, algunos de sus logros más celebrados se cuentan entre este género: Los papeles de Aspern (1888; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. CVII; ALBA MINUS núm. ), Otra vuelta de tuerca (1898), En la jaula (1898; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. III; ALBA MINUS núm. 40), Los periódicos (1903; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. XVIII) o las narraciones reunidas en Lo más selecto (ALBA CLÁSICA MAIOR núm. XXVII). Fue asimismo un brillante crítico y teórico, como atestiguan los textos reunidos en La imaginación literaria (ALBA PENSAMIENTO/CLÁSICOS núm. 8). Nacionalizado británico, murió en Londres en 1916.
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