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[willowgreen]

So, to totally change the subject... Anyone out there into Trollope (Anthony, not Joanna)? I never read anything by him until this past year, when I read Jo Walton's "Tooth and Claw" and found out that the plot drew heavily from "Framley Parsonage." So I read that, and then "The Small House at Allington." People always talk about how long Trollope'

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[red_satin_doll]

I read "Portrait of a Lady" nearly 30 years ago, and after I turned the last page, I asked myself "What was that about?" Possibly I should give it another shot now that I'm older.

I'm more than willing to admit that some of my inability to "get" the novel has to do with my having dropped out of grad school, and failing to really keep up with my reading of fiction ever since. (I read a lot, but mostly nonfiction.) In other words, I felt a little dumb - just getting through James' preface to the 1908 edition was a chore. (More of a chore than the story itself.) The funniest thing about this preface was that James apologized to his readers for writing so much about Miss Stackpole and her adventures, but then says he decided not to edit any of her story out in this second edition regardless. Isabel's friend takes up a huge portion of the first section, but in the Wikipedia outline of the book isn't even mentioned at all. (James could have excised her altogether and perhaps have come up with something more compact, as Campion did in her film version.)

I was also affected by the fact that I had seen Jane Campion's film adaptation several times before reading the novel. Pretty much every line of dialogue in the movie can be found in the novel but the mood of the two pieces is very different. The movie is a drama (to the point of melodrama), the book strikes me as primarily comedic, at least in the first half; certainly James is as concerned with satire as with psychology or sociology. That's what took me by suprise the most. He is obviously making fun not only of Isabelle but a certain type of young American woman (and a strain in American culture at the time) when he wrote that Isabelle had been "encouraged" to have and state opinions despite any lack of wisdom or experience. I think he'd see all his worst fears realized in America today - anyone can state an opinion, and all opinions are "valid"; no wisdom or experience (or tact) necessary.

Not to discourage you from rereading it, of course.