The Bostonians

Klappentext From Boston's social underworld emerges Verena Tarrant, a girl with extraordinary oratorical gifts, which she deploys in tawdry meeting-houses on behalf of 'the sisterhood of women.' She acquires two admirers of a very different stamp: Olive Chancellor, devotee of radical causes, and marked out for tragedy; and Basil Ransom, veteran of the Civil War, with rigid views concerning society and women's place therein. Is the lovely, lighthearted Verena made for public movements or private passions? A struggle to possess her, body and soul, develops between Olive and Basil. The exploitation of Verena's unregenerate innocence reflects a society whose moral and cultural values are failing to survive the new dawn of liberalism and democracy. The Bostonians (1886) was not welcomed by James's fellow countrymen, who failed to appreciate its delicacy and wit; but a century later, this book is widely regarded as James's finest American fiction, and perhaps his comic masterpiece. Zusammenfassung The plot of this novel revolves around the feminist movement in Boston in the 1870s. F.R. Leavis called it one of "the two most brilliant novels in the language. "The novel's many allusions to the historical and social background of Boston society are explained in the editorial material.

Product details

• Authors: Henry James
• Assisted by: R. D. Gooder (Editor), Gooder R. D. (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Trade
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 26.03.2009
• EAN: 9780199539147
• ISBN: 978-0-19-953914-7
• Dimensions: 128 mm x 196 mm x 23 mm
• Series: World's classics; Oxford World's Classics; World's classics; Oxford World's Classics; World's classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Classics, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Classic fiction: general and literary