Washington Square review

Henry James is a British-American author. He is the founder and leader of the realism school of fiction, his brilliant work has led many academics to consider him the greatest master of the fiction style. He spent most of his life in England and his works became public news shortly before his death. Henry is particularly famous for a series of novels depicting the meeting between America and Europe, and his novels focus on personal relationships, the appropriate test of strength in such relationships. Raising ethical questions, and his method of writing from a personal point of view gave him the opportunity to explore the phenomenon of consciousness and concept. Which made his style of writing compared to the school of impressionism in painting.

Washington Square review by Henry James

The plot of Washington Square has the simplicity of old-fashioned melodrama: a plain-looking, good-hearted young woman, the only child of a rich widower, is pursued by a charming but unscrupulous man who seeks the wealth she will presumably inherit. On this premise, Henry James constructed one of his most memorable novels, a story in which love is answered with betrayal and loyalty leads inexorably to despair." -- from the Introduction by Peter Conn In Washington Square (1880), Henry James reminisces about the New York he had known thirty years before as he tells the story of Catherine Sloper and her fortune-seeking suitor Morris Townsend. This perceptively drawn human drama is James' most accessible work and an enduring literary triumph. Washington Square Press' Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. This edition of Washington Square has been prepared by Peter Conn, Andrea Mitchell Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. It includes his introduction, notes, selection of critical excerpts, and suggestions for further reading as well as a unique visual essay of period illustrations and photographs.