The Portrait of a Lady - Softcover

James, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553211277 ISBN 13: 9780553211276

Publisher: Bantam Classics, 1983

Synopsis

Capturing the grandeur of a gracious, splendid Europe of wealth and Old World sensibilities, this glorious, complex novel has become a touchstone for a great writer’s entire literary achievement. From the opening pages, when the high-spirited American girl Isabel Archer arrives at the English manor Gardencourt, James’s luminous, superbly crafted prose creates an atmosphere of intensity, expectation, and incomparable beauty.

Isabel, who has been taken abroad by an eccentric aunt to fulfill her potential, attracts the passions of a British aristocrat and a brash American, as well as the secret adoration of her invalid cousin, Ralph Touchett. But her vulnerability and innocence lead her not to love but to a fatal entrapment in intrigue, deception, and betrayal. This brilliant interior drama of the forming of a woman’s consciousness makes The Portrait of a Lady a masterpiece of James’s middle years.

About this title

Book Description:

The Cambridge Edition of The Portrait of a Lady (1881) offers the most authoritative and most comprehensively annotated text of Henry James's first masterpiece. Extensive textual variants provide complete collation of all published versions since its first appearance in serial form through the New York edition of 1908.

From the Publisher:

Actress Nina Foch, who performs this story has played leading roles in many films that have become American classics, including Executive Suite, The Ten Commandments, An American in Paris, and Spartacus.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Classics
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0553211277
• ISBN 13: 9780553211276
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 656