Other editions of book Washington Square: By Henry James - Illustrated

Despite the fact that James himself never managed to show any real affection for “Washington Square”, it did become one of his most popular works. Critic, Donald Hall certainly echoed the general consensus that “Everybody likes “Washington Square”, even the denigrators of Henry James", Admired for its old fashioned simplicity, the novel unfolds the tragic comedy of the four central characters; Dr. Sloper, a brilliant, unemotional man, his sweet but plain daughter, Catherine, who is naively charmed by the romantic interest of Morris Townsend, and the Dr.’s sister, Lavinia, a meddlesome woman with a weakness for romance. The book has been adapted to theatre, opera and film, most recently in a 1997 production starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Ben Chaplin, and Maggie Smith.

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The battle between a father and a daughter is usually portrayed in literature as a struggle between a headstrong but feisty girl and a tradition-bound lead weight of a father. Henry James, of course, had to do it somewhat differently. He tells a story of an intelligent man riding the turn of the tide in mid-19th-century New York and watching what he sees as his numbingly dull and conventional daughter making the mistake of her life in her choice of husband. The fight between these two delicious characters makes this one of James' funniest and most enjoyable of novels, with the suspense carried right up until the last moment as to how the contest will end.