This is the book I just finished today and am still digesting my impressions and tidying up my thoughts. The book made a very strong impression on me. I was transfixed by it. I did not have any problems with concentration turning page after page for many hours not noticing the passing time.
I must say that there were parts at the beginning of the book that irritated me. I found the dialogues of two young American ladies annoying. The girls, Isabel Archer and Henrietta Stackpole, are so confident that they have answers to most life issues while in fact having too little experience and knowledge as they are so young. At the same time ignorance makes the young err with confidence.
It was interesting that people with much more knowledge and experience were in awe of this ignorance expressed so confidently by the two charming dilatants. On reflection, the girls were beautiful and fresh. I can see that their energy was appealing to the old English aristocracy, so the attention and admiration of the men was directed to their external beauty and unusual boldness in expressing their views rather than their beautiful souls.
This was just the beginning of the book, and as I liked the descriptions of the beautiful old English houses and the gracious living of the old gentry I continued reading, and with passing pages, I got enchanted by the story, then intrigued and finally fascinated. I started to see that the book is still very current being concerned with the timeless subjects still important in the XXI century even if the book was written in 1880.
The story of Isabel Archer, who is loved by three good men and then falls for one who marries her for her money and through his cruelty breaks her spirit, happens all the time in current times as well. Has it happened to me? Maybe not, but I know that one can not recognise a real value of a person and chase glitter instead. Isabel’s choice was based on admiration of intelligence of her man and his seeming lack of interest in opinions of the society. She saw him strong and independent. It is again the story of projecting one’s own values on others and resulting disappointments. Isabel rejecting her two suitors to protect her independence lands up under control of a devious and unscrupulous man. Here my feministic streak woke up again. The times of Henry James were the times when the order of societies put men on top of a social pyramid. Isabel accepted that as a fact of life and was obedient once she married Osmond. Her life shows the transition from buoyant independence and self-reliance through puzzling realisation of sad life truth to final sad acceptance of fate and resignation.
The story is mainly told through dialogues and the thought process of the book characters. It is not exactly a stream of consciousness type of book, but it inspired other writers to write in such a manner. Virginia Woolf, one of my literary fascinations, was one of the disciples of Henry James.
I said that my feministic streak awakened while reading The Portrait of a Lady. We live in the times when equality of women is severely threatened by the new political winds. Conservatives of many countries come to power and demand that the social order with men of top is returned. Mr Trump is one powerful example of that. Yesterday was his inauguration in Washington, and it was also the time to conduct women marches organised against through the world. There was also such a rally in Sydney, and I decided that it is time for me to get involved. I went to The Sydney Hyde Park to see what was going on. There were crowds of women of all ages; groups of friends and the single ladies. I walked around and listened to the speeches. Those I found uninspiring and missing the point. The old story of Australia belonging to the Aborigines, while important to some, diverted the attention from current women issues and new threats coming from America and its new president. I also heard the emotional speech of a Muslim woman who called herself an Australian. Yes, I agree, she is an Australian as well as I am. Was it important to talk about it on the day? Not so sure. I have to make a disclaimer here - I have not listened to all the speeches so my views may not reflect the whole situation.
I did not take part in the march and elected to go and see The Nudes exhibition in The New South Wales Gallery. Lunch was good and the exhibition disappointing. One Modigliani and The Kiss of Rodin made it worthwhile for me.
I had read this novel in my twenties! I have forgotten all about it except that the heroine lets herself be cheated by two men. My tastes have changed now and I doubt that I will find it a pleasant experience to read it again. And, being a male, the feminist perspective that you write about is interesting in the current context. I am surprised that the Australian Women's march was such an insipid exercise. Reports from the rest of the world would suggest otherwise,
ReplyDeleteI believe that my impressions of the Australian Women's march were very personal and did not reflect the real situation. I have talked to a friend who thought it was a great event.
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