O carte la superlativ. Avem una din cele mai bine conturate eroine din istoria literaturii dar si personaje secundare pe masura. Isabel Archer este frumoasa si inteligenta, cu o viziune independenta si aspiratii feministe, insa, ca un joc al destinului, dar si al propriilor actiuni, ajunge practic sclava unui barbat parvenit: Osmond.
Consider ca tandemul Osmond - Madame Merle este unul dintre cele mai malefice din cate am citit iar impreuna sunt in stare sa faca cele mai atroce si nemiloase lucruri. Sunt atat de legati in rautatea lor incat singuri par pierduti fiind dependenti unul de inteligenta si iscusinta celuilalt.
Osmond este unul din cei mai cruzi si cinici barbati dar aceasta trasatura a sa nu are nimic romantic sau atragator, el pur si simplu fiind meschin, introvertit si prea putin stralucitor.
Desi cartea este din toate punctele de vedere una reusita, mai ales prin prisma descrierilor si a stilului lui Henry James, nu a putut sa imi trezeasca nicio emotie. De foarte mult timp nu mi s-a mai intamplat sa nu ma atasez de niciun personaj, pur si simplu neatragandu-ma niciunul dintre eroi.
Cu toate ca romanul a fost ecranizat, cu Nicole Kidman in rolul protagonistei, eu recomand ca mai intai sa fie citita cartea si abia apoi sa fie vizionat filmul - poate chiar deloc, pentru ca nu se ridica la valoarea cartii.

Up until midnight finishing this exquisite superstar. Ah! The pleasures of lying on the couch with a muglet of alcohol-free wine, a series of nibbles, and a sexy Oxford Classic as evenfall descends and time melts into irrelevance. Is there more to life than this? Not much more. (And that suits me fine).

*SPOILER ALERT* (Read at your own risk)

My first time to read a book by Henry James.

Reading The Portrait of a Lady, said to be his finest novel, is like getting your workout at a gym.

After a day’s work you are tired. You are already zapped of energy. You feel like going to a bar and have a couple of beer listening to a funky live band or the crooning of a lovely young lady. Or you want to go to a nearby mall and sit in the comfort of a dark movie house. Probably sleep to rest for a couple of hours if the movie turns out to be boring.

But you decide to go as you planned at the start of the day. Your gym bag is in your car. You drag your heavy feet to the parking lot. To the gym. You know you have to do it your friend has been telling you that Henry James is good but you imagine the taste of cold beer quenching your thirst or the soft seat inside the theater or the pretty songbird wearing a plunging neckline or showing her slim smooth legs there are quick reads waiting for you like Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 or that Flowers for Argenon by Daniel Keyes. But you know your body needs exercise. You are becoming fatter, heavier and your waistline is expanding. You resisted the quick but empty lure of beer or sleep at the movie house. Your heart is telling you that Henry James is an author to read. Like a zombie, you continued sleepwalking to the gym.

After changing to your gym attire. You step on the treadmill. The solitude of working out. In the gym, you rarely talk to anyone. Henry James used a style that was distinctively his: wordy yet illuminating You are by yourself. Most of your friends don’t care about Henry James. You begin to walk. Warm up. After a couple of minutes, you increase the speed. Chug. Chug. Chug. It goes on and on. His storytelling went on and on. His characters came from New York, to England, went to Paris, then to Rome and then went back to England and finally went back to Rome. After the treadmill, you lift some weights as you also need to tone some muscles. His characters were varied. There was Isabel Archer fighting for her independence by refusing marriage proposals like there was not tomorrow but in the end she found with the wrong man: conceited, two-timer, treacherous and condescending. Some muscles are not supposed to be exercised right after a neighboring one. They could be contradicting each other and not only you will not get the maximum benefit from your workout but you are in the danger of having an injury like some pulled muscles. Isabel’s cousin Ralph Touchett is the “conscience” of the novel, telling by instinct whether the person-character is good or bad. He is sick but he is the only character that has the purest heart.

You came to the gym gloomy and dragged your feet as you did not have the energy even to go up a couple of stairs. Some people agonize reading this kind of 19th century Victorian English But when you came out to go back to your car, you felt energized and refreshed. You felt triumphant that Isabel Archer was going back to Rome for Pansy not necessarily for Oswald. But she decided whatever her heart was telling her. In the end, it was all that mattered: independence. She followed her heart: a personal triumph.

In the end, you did not regret going to the gym. In the end, I am happy I read a Henry James.

Boring, dull, and endless. Almost threw it against a wall when I was finally! done with it.

This is the story of Isabel, an American who goes to England to meet new people and see more of the world. Isabel is very curious of nature, and when she gradually starts receiving different proposals from various men, she declines them all - that is because she wants to maintain her freedom which is very important to her.
I really liked this story. I felt like it was very easy to read and connect with the main character as well as a lot of the other characters. The first pages of the story were deeply descriptive of the English landscape and the house where Isabel goes to at first, and I instantly felt at ease with reading about this peaceful setting.
I was a bit reluctant when going into this novel because I'd heard that Henry James was rather derogative towards women. While I did see glimpses of that here and there, I also felt like Henry James really came through with the protagonist, Isabel, who is a carefree woman who lusts for adventure. She is the opposite of the women of those days and I loved her for that.
All in all, I really enjoyed my reading of this story, and the ending was surprising but very suitable to the narrative.

I tried to read this book around 10 years ago and abandoned it pretty quickly.  What a difference timing makes. This time I was easily pulled into Jame's lusciously descriptive prose.  To borrow a phrase from the Hamilton play, he put me right in "in the room where it happened".    I was transported into this time and place vividly and intimately.

It's hard to review this book without spoilers so I'll just say that Isabel is now one of my favorite literary characters. She's is a well-read woman of great imagination and independence who judges people on their own merits rather than letting others' opinions influence her.  She has admirable ideas that prove to be unrealistic when it comes to love.  

Besides being about Isabel, it's also a great deal about the differences between American and European culture.  I would have certainly thought the American way of courtship and matchmaking was superior, but now I'm not so sure.  There are clear flaws in both.  One thing that's clear is that whether people are well-intentioned or not, they can take you off the path you have planned for yourself.   

I loved the somewhat open ending that left room for our imaginations to take Isabel where we thought her imagination could take her.

Well, cripes. My second time through. Review tk.

Nota: 3.5

“Retrato de Uma Senhora” (1881) é considerada a obra central do legado de Henry James. A mim serviu de porta de entrada, ficando a conhecer o mesmo, mas apesar de alguma admiração suscitada, deixou-me sem motivação para o continuar a ler. James realiza um trabalho soberbo de análise dos processos da consciência humana, na senda do que já nos tinha dado Balzac e Dostoiévski, capturando a nossa atenção ao longo de páginas e páginas de escalpelização dos mundos interiores dos seus personagens. Diga-se que James era irmão de William James, um dos grandes pioneiros da psicologia. O problema surge no conteúdo, nos personagens trabalhados, pela pertença à aristocracia, ou a uma burguesia muito próxima, que torna aquilo que se conta muito pouco interessante.

Existem temas interessantes, como a liberdade e o destino, nomeadamente no campo feminino, mas diga-se que é tudo muito estéril. A senhora, Isabel Archer, que veio dos EUA, dedica-se a passear pela Europa, diz querer ser livre, mas apenas busca alguém com quem casar. O primo, Ralph, que vive há muito em Inglaterra, aparentemente por ser doente, dedica-se a respirar, e como tem de respirar, passeia um pouco menos. Já a tia, vive em passeio pela Europa, enquanto vai maldizendo deste e daquele. Para o resto, existem criados e serviçais, mas desses não é preciso falar. Segundo James, os seus personagens vivem vidas muito complicadas, carregadas de decisões pesadas, que os impedem de desfrutar livremente das belezas de Veneza e Florença. Assim, o livro arrasta-se ao longo de centenas de páginas, pondo à prova a resistência dos mais pacientes, ainda que no final exista uma reviravolta que anima um pouco todo aquele universo.

Reconheço que independentemente da classe social em que se vive o ser humano arranja sempre forma de viver angustiado. Veja-se o caso exposto em “La Familia Grande”. Mas quando se escreve uma obra com esta dimensão, 700 páginas, e com um aprofundamento psicológico deste calibre, espera-se que seja com o objetivo de ilustrar algo relevante para quem lê. Verdade que em 1881 só a alta burguesia e aristocracia deveriam ter tempo e literacia para se dedicarem à leitura. Mas a seguir por este caminho, James castrou o interesse das suas obras, o que me ajuda a compreender porque apesar do seu nome surgir amiúde em textos de análise crítica, as suas obras são bastante menos lidas e citadas que as de outros autores da mesma época.

Entretanto descobri que John Banville gosta tanto de Isabel Archer que passados 140 anos resolveu escrever uma continuação da história da heroína de James — “Mrs Osmond” (2017). Não me admira, já que não fiquei propriamente impressionado com o seu “O Mar” (2005) que ganhou o Booker.


Publicado no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

I made it 40% of the way through this monstrosity before I had to finally throw in the towel. Apparently no one ever told James "show don't tell" judging by the complete lack of action in this book. In fact nothing ever happens. It just drags on and on in an annoying narrative voice that is too fond of metaphor and long descriptive phrases that frequently cloud more then they illuminate. The characters are complete twits, without a single redeeming quality among them. Judging by the way he writes his female characters, Henry James either was never actually exposed to women, or the ones he met were given lobotomies at age 7. There is no sympathy for the main female character or any of her cohorts, not even amusement at their foibles. In fact if you were stranded in a life raft, you'd be chucking them overboard within minutes, the whole useless pile of them. You would see the rescue ship as a dot on the horizon and pray you could drown them in time.

Save yourself the agony and go read something else.

Un grande romanzo come non se ne scrivono più con un eroina, la giovane americana Isabel che rimasta orfana, giunge nella vecchia Europa, animata da una grande voglia di vivere, di conoscere il mondo, di imparare a guardare dentro se stessa e gli altri, in compagnia della zia già da diverso tempo stabilitasi in Inghilterra con l'anziano marito. La sua progressista visione della vita tuttavia si scontrerà ben presto con la realtà continentale gretta e avida e nonostante i continui avvertimenti e consigli delle persone a lei più vicine, soprattutto l'emancipata amica Henriette Stackpole e il fedele cugino Ralph Touchett, pagherà duramente lo scotto del suo romantico apprendistato e della sua purezza d'animo rischiando di cadere nella subdola rete abilmente architettata da due anime "perdute". Fino all'ultima pagina, partecipi lettori della protagonista, ci si chiede se Isabel, nonostante tutto, riuscirà a sfuggire, grazie al suo insolito acume e alla freschezza del suo intuito, alla trappola così bene intessuta ai suoi danni, combattuta com'è tra senso del dovere e voglia di "volare". Una trama perfetta abilmente raccontata da un grande della letteratura.

It certainly is a classic of its time, and also a 5 star masterpiece for James. Probably his best. Every parcel and mind minutia of thought philosophy or self-identity seems captured here for Isabel.

And yet for me this read? Hard, far more than just difficult- it's similar to clicking 100 or 200 lens poses while surrounding an optic capture venture. Doing a 360 degree circle procedure project for the ultimate surround photo. And then after that process- translating all abstracts and reality of that view's pieces into impressionistic art fragments and putting them into double paragraph length sentences pasted and arranged.

None of these people talk or construct English as any person I've heard in this century or the last one either. So there you go- have at it. It's slow nuance too parred down to near still life in spots.

Once at the beginning of Chapter 24 I reread a sentence at least 5 times. It had so many sub-phrasings and adjuncts that I still have no idea what it was about. That's why it is a 4 star for me.

These people had way, way, way too much time to think. It's a class and period and bottom line onus for which I can't connect that well to/for/with from the get-go. But saying that it is, the depth was remarkable.

Plotting and ending- I will say nothing. The story is the Isabel "growth" or self-determination ability factors? In marriage choice is just part of that function. Also for men of the period. But more specifically for the most "lucky" female individual? You decide.

It's the top peak of elitism and also a compare /contrast for functions within the international brands of snobbery / social hierarchy as well. Absolutely would not be for every reader- this book. Not this period or these people either could begin to be their "cup of tea" within this parsing of an English structure that makes Faulkner a runner up for "sentences that would be impossible to diagram". Others have reviewed this better upon the cultural/societal aspects.

**spoilers**
Portrait is a beautifully written novel that exhibits Henry James unique writing style and addresses the social customs and differences in Americans, the English, and continental Europeans. Isabel Archer is a young American lady, for whom the novel is titled, who is adventurous and very independent. She turns down two marriage proposals in the 1st half of the book to preserve her independence, one from Casper Goodwood, a young wealthy American, and one from Lord Warburton, a wealthy English aristocrat. When her English uncle dies, she inherits a large sum of money and travels with her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, to her Italian villa where she eventually meets, falls in love with, and marries Gilbert Osmond. All of her family and friends try to dissuade her from this, but to no avail, and she finally learns that Osmond doesn't love her, married her for her money, and to own her as another of his possessions. Obviously there is a lot more intrigue to the story and the enjoyment for me came from the wonderful writing of James.