Selected Tales: Henry James (Penguin Classics)
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Product Description
Throughout his life, Henry James was drawn to the short story form for the freedom and variety it offered. The nineteen stories in this selection span James's career, from brief tales to longer works, all exploring his concerns with the old world and the new, money, fame and art. 'Daisy Miller', the work that first brought him fame, depicts a bold, unsophisticated American girl abroad, and 'In the Cage' portrays a young telegraphist's romantic fantasies about customers who send telegrams from her post office. In 'The Birthplace' a Stratford tour guide embellishes the Shakespeare legend, while in the late masterpiece 'The Jolly Corner', an elderly American returns from Europe and encounters a strange apparition. Haunting, witty and beautifully drawn, James's tales are as complex and resonant as his novels.
About the Author
Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York and settled in Europe in 1875. He was a regular contributor of reviews, critical essays, and short stories to American periodicals. He is best known for his many novels of American and European character, including 'The Portrait of a Lady' (1881) and 'The Wings of the Dove' (1902). John Lyon is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol. He has published on the novel and contemporary poetry and edited 'The Sacred Fount' for Penguin.
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I saw her but four times, though I remember them vividly; she made her impression on me. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I saw her but four times, though I remember them vividly; she made her impression on me. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an absolute gem of a book. It contains hand-picked samples of every phase in James' literary career. Stories like "Lesson of the Master", "The Pupil" and "The Middle Years" are, in brief, the finest examples we have of the short story. The prose is rich, profound and refined. These are tales worth reading over and over again. The collection also contains "In the Cage", "Beast in the Jungle" and "The Jolly Corner". If you are a devotee of polished 'higher' literature and want to sip the cream of a master hand here is your emerald castle!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Selected Tales: classic stories by Henry James the Master of nineteenth century Anglo-American Fiction
30 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
Henry James (1843-1916) is known as a Master of Fiction. He wrote several major novels such as "The Portrait of A Lady"; "The Wings of A Dove"; "The Ambassadors"; "The Golden Bowl": "The American""The Tragic Muse" and other masterpieces of the literary art.
In this Penguin edition "Selected Tales" the editors have selected several of James' best stories. "The Turn of the Screw" his best known story is not in this collection but in another Penguin edition along with "The Aspern Papers."
Among the tales told by stortyller James are:
Daisy Miller-An 80 page exploration of James'theme of American and European cultural exchanges. James was known for his "international theme" living most of his long life in Europe. The tale revolves around the ingenuous and fetching young American virgin girl Daisy Miller and her contacts with the old world civilization and morality of Europe. The story is narrated by a worldly Amercan expatriate named Giles Winterbourne. The story ends in tragedy. It is one of James best and most readable tales.
The Jolly Corner is a ghost story dealing with a famous writer's return to his boyhood home.
The Figure in the Carpet deals with people seeking to find a secret formula to be found in a great author's work. Many critics have seen that theme to deal with James' homosexual lifestyle.
The Death of the Master, The Middle Years and several other stories deal with the life of an author and his/her legacy.
The Birthplace is a story about a guide who embellishes the truth about Shakespeare as he guides tourists through the famous playwright's boyhood home.
James deals with Americans abroad in European high society. He often uses foreign phrases in his works. The thin slice of humanity he examines with keen observation of their ways and morals is European aristocracy and rich Americans either visiting or living abroad.
His fiction abounds in secrets and ghosts haunting the minds of his narrators or major characters. James is adept at narrative but his language is often abstruse and hard to read.
Henry James will never be everyone's cup of tea. His works are psychological. While reading him you do get a better understanding of that enigmatic creature we call Man/Woman.
If you are a beginning student of James start with Daisy Miller and the other excellent works in this Penguin collection.
In this Penguin edition "Selected Tales" the editors have selected several of James' best stories. "The Turn of the Screw" his best known story is not in this collection but in another Penguin edition along with "The Aspern Papers."
Among the tales told by stortyller James are:
Daisy Miller-An 80 page exploration of James'theme of American and European cultural exchanges. James was known for his "international theme" living most of his long life in Europe. The tale revolves around the ingenuous and fetching young American virgin girl Daisy Miller and her contacts with the old world civilization and morality of Europe. The story is narrated by a worldly Amercan expatriate named Giles Winterbourne. The story ends in tragedy. It is one of James best and most readable tales.
The Jolly Corner is a ghost story dealing with a famous writer's return to his boyhood home.
The Figure in the Carpet deals with people seeking to find a secret formula to be found in a great author's work. Many critics have seen that theme to deal with James' homosexual lifestyle.
The Death of the Master, The Middle Years and several other stories deal with the life of an author and his/her legacy.
The Birthplace is a story about a guide who embellishes the truth about Shakespeare as he guides tourists through the famous playwright's boyhood home.
James deals with Americans abroad in European high society. He often uses foreign phrases in his works. The thin slice of humanity he examines with keen observation of their ways and morals is European aristocracy and rich Americans either visiting or living abroad.
His fiction abounds in secrets and ghosts haunting the minds of his narrators or major characters. James is adept at narrative but his language is often abstruse and hard to read.
Henry James will never be everyone's cup of tea. His works are psychological. While reading him you do get a better understanding of that enigmatic creature we call Man/Woman.
If you are a beginning student of James start with Daisy Miller and the other excellent works in this Penguin collection.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Yes, Five Stars Ladies and Gentlemen!
7 Feb 2009
Format:Paperback
This collection cherry-picks from the many short-stories and novellas of Henry James - he wrote over 100 - and in one volume we are treated to the full range of the author's prodigious gifts.
Standouts include, "Daisy Miller", a story of innocence destroyed, with the touchingly willful Daisy one of his most vibrant and human creations; "The Lesson of the Master", where James cleverly gives us a foretaste of the best of O'Hara zingers in a super surprise ending; "The Jolly Corner", another ghostly tale about a man who discovers the self he left behind; and "Julia Bride" a favorite of mine, a late distillation of the themes found in his last major novels.
The contents are as follows,
Introduction
Further Reading
Henry James Chronology
Notes on the Texts
Four Meetings
Daisy Miller
The Pension Beaurepas
The Lesson of the Master
The Pupil
The Real Thing
Greville Fane
The Middle Years
The Death of the Lion
The Figure in the Carpet
In the Cage
The Real Right Thing
Broken Wings
The Abasement of the Northmores
The Beast in the Jungle
The Birthplace
Fordham Castle
Julia Bride
The Jolly Corner
Noted
Everyone will find favorites here, and for those scared off by the novels this set of stories is an excellent introduction.
Standouts include, "Daisy Miller", a story of innocence destroyed, with the touchingly willful Daisy one of his most vibrant and human creations; "The Lesson of the Master", where James cleverly gives us a foretaste of the best of O'Hara zingers in a super surprise ending; "The Jolly Corner", another ghostly tale about a man who discovers the self he left behind; and "Julia Bride" a favorite of mine, a late distillation of the themes found in his last major novels.
The contents are as follows,
Introduction
Further Reading
Henry James Chronology
Notes on the Texts
Four Meetings
Daisy Miller
The Pension Beaurepas
The Lesson of the Master
The Pupil
The Real Thing
Greville Fane
The Middle Years
The Death of the Lion
The Figure in the Carpet
In the Cage
The Real Right Thing
Broken Wings
The Abasement of the Northmores
The Beast in the Jungle
The Birthplace
Fordham Castle
Julia Bride
The Jolly Corner
Noted
Everyone will find favorites here, and for those scared off by the novels this set of stories is an excellent introduction.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The master at work
30 Oct 2005
Format:Paperback
Henry James is one of the world's greatest masters of the long short story. The stories share many qualities with the great novels. They are often tales of consciousness and perception in which the heart of the action is in the mind's dramatic interaction with its experience of other characters. The language has complication and parenthetical grace. There is a consummate artistry and composition and the works build to their climax in a revelation of sudden perception and clarity. The fundamental feeling may be of a frustration in life which is somehow transcended by the power of Art.
Reading these stories is coming into touch with one of the first class minds of world - literature.
Reading these stories is coming into touch with one of the first class minds of world - literature.
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