6 OCT 2018 - a recommendation through Dear Bettie. Many Thanks.

Listen here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...

I love Henry James, I absolutely do. Before reading What Maisie Knew, I was intrigued on how James would handle a child dealing with divorce, step parents, and the upheaval of family life. When we first meet Maisie, she's an innocent ignored child shuttled between two parents who hate each other more than they love their child. The introduction of two step parents and a governess, who all have their own agendas. Watching Maisie being shuttled back and forth was difficult to read. But even more upsetting were the adults. There is no happy ending for Maisie but she is more complicit in her ending. Mrs Wix may be seen as the lesser of three evils, but she's still not an ideal choice for a troubled child. Mrs Wix manages to poison Maisie's mind even while espousing her moral sense. I wasn't sure to be proud or ashamed of Maisie for her ultimatum at the end. Her innocence was gone far too soon. I sat thinking about her long after the book.

Maisie tudja, hogy ha egy pszichologizáló hajlamú író kezébe kerül, akkor az nem lesz tekintettel éveinek csekély számára: kifilézi irgalom nélkül. Úgyhogy a kislány egy véresen megharcolt válás középpontjában találja magát, ahol a két szülő - Henry James kedves metaforájával - úgy ütögeti át egymás térfelére szegény gyereket, mint valami tollaslabdát. És mellesleg szorgalmasan oltják be mérgükkel, hátha ezzel megmérgezik a másikat is. Mit mondjak, talán ennyiből sejthető, Maisie szülei kábé annyira alkalmasak egy gyermek felnevelésére, mint amennyire a Publio kiadó könyvek korrektúrázására.

James nagy ötlete, hogy a válás nagy háborúját, ezt az adok-kapokot, ami az új és új szövetségesek bevonásával egyre inkább elfajul, alulról, a gyerek szemszögéből mutatja be. Valahogy olyan az egész, mint azok a hadtudományi művek, ahol a történész a katonák emlékeiből, személyes tapasztalataiból rekonstruálja az eseményeket: nincs átfogó kép, magyarázat, inkább csak villanások és sejtések, amelyek a szemlélő szubjektív szűrőjén keresztül jutnak el az olvasóhoz. Maisie pedig tökéletes szemlélő: gondolkodása bár gyermeki, de gyorsan tanul, naivitása pedig jó adag ravaszsággal párosul. Lehet, eleinte ő az egér a macskák között. De ahogy nézem, nemsokára majd kushadnak előtte a cicusok.

DNF - No rating

I decided to read this because my husband and I just watched the 2013 movie with Julianne Moore, and loved it. When reading reviews of the movie, I learned that it was based on this book by Henry James.

Update: Gave it a try, but couldn't get past Henry James' writing style. Each sentence was like a puzzle you had to figure out; which could have been cool, except that the result was not interesting to me.

I enjoyed the story but there were a lot of descriptive passages that went on a bit too long for me, and goodness, Henry James loved to write VERY long sentences! So long, that sometimes by the end of reading it, I'd forgotten how it started! I fell in love with Maisie though.

O livro "What Maisie Knew" (Pelos Olhos de Maisie) é uma obra literária notável que explora as complexidades da infância e das relações familiares em um cenário de divórcio e negligência parental. Escrito por Henry James e publicado em 1897, este romance continua relevante nos dias de hoje, abordando questões que ainda ressoam na sociedade contemporânea.

A protagonista da história é Maisie, uma garota de 6 anos no início do livro. Ela é notável por sua sensibilidade e inteligência, mas se vê envolvida nos jogos egoístas e imorais de seus pais, Beale Farange e Ida Farange. A história mostra a difícil realidade de Maisie, que é obrigada a dividir seu tempo entre esses pais negligentes (6 meses com cada um) e seus novos cônjuges, todos envolvidos em traições e conflitos. À medida que Maisie cresce nesse ambiente tumultuado, ela enfrenta a difícil decisão de escolher com quem deseja ficar.

Henry James, com sua habilidade literária, oferece uma narrativa complexa que nos leva para o mundo interior de Maisie. Isso nos permite entender a profunda complexidade das relações familiares e dos dilemas morais sob a perspectiva de uma criança.

A mensagem central do livro é como as crianças são vulneráveis e inocentes diante dos conflitos e traições dos adultos. A história de Maisie é um retrato vívido do sofrimento causado pelo divórcio e negligência de seus pais, que a usam como uma arma para atacar um ao outro. À medida que Maisie procura encontrar sentido e identidade em meio ao caos, somos instados a refletir sobre o papel dos pais na formação de seus filhos e as consequências profundas do abandono e da falta de amor.

Dois personagens-chave na vida de Maisie são Sir Claude e Mrs. Wix. O papel de Sir Claude é cheio de ambiguidade e complexidade, uma vez que ele é o segundo marido de Ida Farange, mas se apaixona por Mrs. Beale, a segunda esposa de Beale Farange. Sir Claude estabelece um vínculo especial com Maisie, demonstrando carinho e gentileza. No entanto, sua indecisão e fraqueza acabam causando dilemas pessoais que prejudicam a jovem Maisie.

Por outro lado, Mrs. Wix desempenha um papel crucial como governanta, amiga e figura materna substituta de Maisie. Ela é a única pessoa que genuinamente se preocupa com o bem-estar e a educação de Maisie, oferecendo orientação moral em um ambiente cheio de adultério e falta de princípios. A história pessoal de Mrs. Wix, marcada pela perda de sua filha, a torna uma figura maternal para Maisie. No final do livro, ela é a única que permanece ao lado de Maisie, proporcionando-lhe um verdadeiro lar e uma família.

Quanto às críticas ao romance, há opiniões divergentes. Alguns elogiam a habilidade técnica e a sensibilidade de Henry James na representação da psicologia humana, bem como seu tratamento de temas essenciais, como divórcio, negligência parental, inocência, moralidade e identidade. Este romance também é uma crítica à sociedade vitoriana, que valorizava as aparências e a moralidade, mas escondia muita hipocrisia e corrupção.

No entanto, alguns críticos apontam que o livro pode ser desafiador de ler devido ao seu estilo narrativo complexo e sofisticado, que pode confundir e desafiar o leitor. Além disso, há aqueles que sentem que os personagens, por vezes, carecem de empatia e realismo.

No entanto, é inegável que "What Maisie Knew" é uma obra inovadora e provocativa. Henry James antecipou questões modernas, como o feminismo, o pós-modernismo, a psicanálise e o cinema, utilizando técnicas narrativas que desafiaram as convenções literárias de sua época. O livro oferece uma visão fascinante das ambiguidades e incertezas da vida humana por meio de personagens complexos e contraditórios.

Resumindo, "What Maisie Knew" é uma leitura enriquecedora para aqueles que buscam uma exploração profunda da condição humana, das relações familiares e das complexidades da infância em um contexto de divórcio e negligência parental. Henry James deixa uma marca indelével na literatura com esta obra, e a história de Maisie continua a ressoar com a sociedade moderna. Este é um romance que ficará gravado na mente muito depois de virar a última página.

The whiny, nasty, self-absorbed things these adults all say to this child would surprise me, if we all weren’t already aware real parents do these things all the time.

Beale Farange (Maisie’s father) seems barely aware of Maisie, brushing her off with foolishly thoughtless comments. He calls her a monster and a donkey right to her face, all because the child says she loves her mother (as well as her father!).

Miss Overmore (Maisie’s original governess and shortly after the novel begins, Mr. Farange’s new wife) fawns over Maisie, as if she’s a doll, but she throws her in Ida Farange’s (Maisie’s mother’s) face, as if she’s a diamond ring Beale regifted from Ida to her. Overmore calls her names (hypocrite, wretch) when Maisie doesn’t want to play pretend that she’s her mother. She’s a very shallow lady who sneers at the attention Sir Claude gives her (he tells her she’s beautiful and has a good character) and takes the opportunity to insult Maisie, for unfathomable cause, other than in a misguided attempt to turn his praise to herself instead. Of all the adults, she was my least favourite. Very annoyingly, she is referred to as “Mrs. Beale” throughout the novel but I continue calling her Overmore.

At least Sir Claude (Ida’s very young new husband) is sweet and treats Maisie like an adult, and gives her the straight scoop on things. But he also never really does anything to help Maisie, as he’s afraid of Ida, and later, Overmore.

Only Mrs. Wix (a Cockney-accented woman who has her own internal agenda, considering Maisie to be a replacement for her own daughter, Clara Matilda, who died) really gives her any kind of structure in her life. I even suspect Mrs. Wix uses Maisie to try to get closer to Sir Claude, who she seems to have a crush on.

And they all talk of Maisie as if she’s some savage little manipulator who’s pulling all their heartstrings back and forth.

Maisie, meanwhile, is in reality a bright, insightful child who sees the selfishness of the adults in her life and nevertheless loves them with an open heart, like a daisy smiling upwards at the sun in the dead of winter. She actively works to look out for them, even when they’re acting like greedy fools. But she’s still brave enough to tell them when they’re being absurd, even Mrs. Wix, with quick little quips that turn their own words back on them.

Not James’s best novel, but not his worst either.

Try as I might, I just couldn't get into what I thought was going to be right up my alley. I blame that partly on circumstances -- I do much of my reading on the subway, and you just can't read James like that: a short trip alone will get you through a mere paragraph which you'll have gone over three or four times trying to even comprehend. So yes, I'll give James another chance when I can read him under more favorable conditions, but I also find his style needlessly cumbersome and obscure rather than exacting; fussy and anal rather than psychologically penetrating. I never cared about any of the characters or situations in this novel -- lord knows I wanted to, but James' prose just bogged them down. What can I say? I feel like a philistine and am trying to qualify my disappointment to maybe give the novel the benefit of the doubt, but that's how I feel.

Ah, Henry James. He says so much without saying anything at all.

What to do with What Maisie Knew? I quite enjoyed the conceit, even while I didn’t love it the way I can best love James (looking at you Wings of a Dove and Portrait of a Lady). But I went from reveling in (and being horrified by) the sheer wickedness of parenting that creates our precocious Maisie to being a little bored by the morality play that caps it off.

And did the untouchable nearly perfect Juliet Stevenson make an unforced error here? I think she did, and I never thought I’d say that. The issue of Maisie’s age (I learned after finishing) has bedeviled critics since the beginning. But sheer passage of time (multiple year long custody cycles) suggests that by book’s end Maisie is at least 10 or 11, if not a bit older. But Juliet voices her as a precocious almost lisping tot throughout. After thinking it over, I thought that the book is probably more interesting if Maisie is on the cusp of adolescence during the final section when she becomes so attached to Sir Claude and almost detested by both her mother and Mrs. Beal.

Still though, a pleasure and a treasure!

*
A wise old child lived among strange folk
The more she saw, the less she spoke,
The less she spoke, the more she cried,
What's to become of that wise old child?

**
Maisie, Maisie, sharp yet hazy,
How does your garden grow?
With jam suppers and boiled beef,
And pretty ladies all in a row.

***
There was a fine lady who had a girl child.
She had so many lovers, she didn't hear when she cried.
She gave her some broth without any bread,
Then whipped her right soundly and sent her to bed.

****
Hush-a-bye Maisie, on the house top
When the storm blows, the timbers will rock
When the glass breaks, the nurs'ry will fall
And down will fall Maisie, nursemaid and all.

*****
To father's, to father's, to see a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
To mother's, to mother's, to see a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

******
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of wry,
Four and twenty lovers stewing in a pie.
When the pie is opened the lovers all are spied,
Isn't that a dainty dish to set before a child.

Father's in the gaming house, losing all his money,
Mother's in the parlour, feeding men with honey,
Maisie's in the garden, trying not to say a word,
When down swoops a lover and scoops her off abroad.

*******
This is the story that James built.
This is the trap that lay in the story that James built.

This is the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

This is the cat that chased the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

This is the dog that worried the cat,
That chased the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog that worried the cat,
That chased the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

This is the maiden all forlorn,
That loved the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog that worried the cat,
That chased the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

This is the man all shiny and shorn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That loved the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog that worried the cat,
That chased the rat that sprung the trap,
That lay in the story that James built.

....…………………………………………………
Loveless marriage is the trap, the father is the the rat, the mother, the cat, the step-mother, the dog, the governess with the crumpled hat, the cow: their constant chasing and harrying of each other will force me to quit this book at the half-way mark unless the shiny step-father who kissed the maiden all forlorn carries through on his many promises soonish...
……………….…………………………
Edit twenty-four hours later: I decided to read on...and the only thing of note is that Maisie has found a sixpence! Sixpences really for the forty-eight hours that followed seemed to abound in her life..
…………………………………………
Further edit: The shiny step-father left, the step-mother arrived, then the step-father returned and the governess is about to leave again.
Here we go around the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush, on a sad and miserable morning.

What hope for the little maiden all forlorn..
…………………………………………
Later edit: maybe some hope:

Maisie put the kettle on,
Maisie put the kettle on,
Maisie put the kettle on,
We'll all have tea...
………………………… ……………
22/02/2017

Maisie take it off again,
Maisie take it off again,
Maisie take it off again,
They've all gone away!

………………………………………

Rub, adub, dub,
Two left in the tub,
And who do you think they be?
One cow with a crumpled horn,
One maiden all forlorn,
And both of them gone to sea.

A novel about child abuse. The parents and their paramours are almost universally selfish and exploiting the child, Maisie, as an emotional weapon. One feels relieved that she is left at the end to choose for herself but one also cannot help but feel that a truckload of long-lasting damage has already happened, no matter how she chooses or grows into the appearance of agency.