When the young American Frederick Winterbourne meets his compatriot Daisy Miller in the garden of a grand hotel in Switzerland, he is struck by her beauty, but slightly unsettled by her open ways and her flirtatiousness. Undeterred by this and by his aunt's disapproval, he invites her to join him in a jaunt to a nearby castle, little suspecting that this will set in train a sequence of events that promises to be a source of heartache and disappointment for him, and threatens to compromise his own social ...
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When the young American Frederick Winterbourne meets his compatriot Daisy Miller in the garden of a grand hotel in Switzerland, he is struck by her beauty, but slightly unsettled by her open ways and her flirtatiousness. Undeterred by this and by his aunt's disapproval, he invites her to join him in a jaunt to a nearby castle, little suspecting that this will set in train a sequence of events that promises to be a source of heartache and disappointment for him, and threatens to compromise his own social acceptability. One of Henry James's most enduringly popular works, Daisy Miller, here published in its 1909 version, incorporating the author's final revisions, is a masterly, psychologically nuanced dissection of social mores and a merciless critique of convention and staid respectability.
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Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
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Seller's Description:
Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
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Seller's Description:
Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
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Fair. Noticeably used book. Text is legible but may be soiled and have binding defects. Heavy wear to covers and pages contain marginal notes, underlining, and or highlighting. Possible ex library copy, with all the markings/stickers of that library. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, and dust jackets may not be included.
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I had to read this in college and was quite open to all kinds of Victorian and Edwardian literature, having been a long-time fan of the ever-depressing Thomas Hardy. However the character of Daisy was so annoying and falsely capricious (I mean forced to be so by the author) that I couldn't sympathize with her at all.
The other characters and settings were seen through her eyes, unfortunately, as boring and worthless. So there was no redeeming reason to pay close attention to much in this book. It put me off reading anything else by Henry James for a long time. Luckily, I got over it, but this still rates as one of his least impressive works, in my estimation.
What I found ironically funny was that the film version, with California girl, Cybil Shepherd, really captured Daisy's vapidity so well, though I'm sure that was not their intention. It was probably why it received such bad reviews.* That this was so speaks for the book as well, since most of James' novels have translated so well into film ("The Europeans", "the Bostonians", "The Golden Bowl", "Portrait of a Lady" and so on).
* "Miscast" is Emmanuel Levy's view of Shepherd and he is not alone. "Painfully boring, the acting is wooden and unappealing, a misguided mess." - James Higgins
Still others wonder what director Peter Bogdanovich was thinking, after a string of three major hits. Maybe it was the material!
