The Portrait of a Gentleman

Before Humanities 262, I had never read anything by this guy.

Meet James. Henry James. Although I had heard of a few of his works like The Portrait of a Lady and The Turn of the Screw, I really knew nothing about James or his writing style. As part of our class, we read one of his novellas, Daisy Miller. I loved this short story, and it sparked my interest in the life of Henry James and his literary perspective.

While I was reading about the life of Henry James, I was immediately struck by the similarities between the character Winterbourne from Daisy Miller and the author himself. Like Winterbourne, James spent his youth traveling and studying back and forth between America and Europe. Both Winterbourne and James were expatriates. And like his character, Henry James seems to have possessed an ambivalent view of American society and custom. In my own view, these striking similarities between character and author make Daisy Miller seem like a psychological experiment, adding another layer of interest to the story. (If you feel so inclined to read a great deal more about the life of Henry James, click here.)

I think understanding a little bit about Henry James makes it easier to understand the themes of his novels. Many of his stories deal with Americans who are drowning in the customs and culture of the Old World. Although his works tend to provide a realistic, unflinching look at the flaws of both the European and American cultures, there is a thread running throughout his writing that sets up America as less cultured and refined.

Having spent a few months in Europe myself and observed the two cultures side by side, I can, to some extent, identify with James’ view of Americans. It may be true that we Yankees are a little more casual and a little less polished. However, in my view, part of the American Dream is the ability to reinvent yourself, to progress. And no matter how European Henry James might have tried to become, he was, ironically, fulfilling part of the American Dream in the process. So even though Henry James said,

“However British you may be, I am more British still,”

he will always be an American. Sorry, Henry. But, American or European, he knew the value of living life to the fullest:

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had?" --from the Preface of The Ambassadors