Washington Square (Roman)
Washington Square (German also: The Heiress of Washington Square ) is a novel by Henry James , which was first published in book form in 1881.
content
Dr. Austin Sloper, a wealthy and intelligent widower, lives in Washington Square, New York City with his daughter Catherine, who is of marriageable age. Catherine, raised motherless because Mrs. Sloper died a few days after she was born, is well built and of robust health, but shy and unattractive. The father, for whom the gender of this child was a disappointment - a promising son died at the age of three two years before Catherine's birth - never paid much attention to Catherine. She has been led by Dr. Sloper's sister, the widowed Lavinia Penniman, was raised. Mrs. Penniman is scheming and lustful for sensation and has her share in an unfortunate love story that deeply hurts Catherine Sloper:
One day, Catherine meets the charming Morris Townsend at a party and is entranced by him. Morris woos Catherine, supported by Mrs. Penniman, who has a weakness for melodrama. Dr. Sloper refuses the connection because he is convinced that Morris could only be after Catherine's money, and after a brief conversation he declares him the object of his hatred. When Catherine and Morris announce their engagement, Sloper inquires about Morris' background and discovers that Morris is in fact completely destitute and lives at the expense of others. Sloper prohibits his daughter from marrying Townsend. Catherine maintains contact with him, although she no longer feels entitled to live in the household of her father, who is deeply displeased with her actions and who threatens her to be disinherited if she marries Townsend. However, Catherine can draw on a maternal inheritance as well; the financial difference in the case of disinheritance by the father would be considerable. Townsend is aware of this and does not want to take the risk of marrying Catherine against her father's wishes, but hopes for a way to secure all of the inheritance that Catherine has to expect. This lives on the assumption that Townsend is not interested in the money. She would be willing to marry him right away, but resignedly waits for him to set an appointment.
Sloper shows little empathy for his daughter and likes the role of the strict and at times cruel father, who offers him a lot of entertainment. He sees himself completely right with his suspicions and hatred of Townsend and finally believes that he has found a practicable way out: he goes on a trip to Europe with Catherine, who is inconspicuous and docile. The Grand Tour , which was initially scheduled for six months, will eventually last a full year. During this time, Catherine and her father spoke twice about Morris Townsend, with whom Catherine is still in correspondence about her aunt Lavinia. On a lonely path in the Alps, Sloper imagines for his daughter how lonely and abandoned she will feel when he removes his hand from her, and on the eve of their return journey, he angrily states that Catherine is still sticking to her marriage plans. When he compares his daughter to a slaughter animal that has been fattened for Townsend, Catherine realizes his contempt for him and inwardly withdraws from her father. All of her love now belongs to Townsend.
In the meantime, he has developed a confidential relationship with Mrs. Penniman, who often invited him to her brother's house, where the candidate not only carefully studied the doctor's art collections, but also decimated his wine stocks. When Catherine returns and Townsend realizes that his chances of winning the Sloper legacy have not increased, he loses patience. He is increasingly troublesome with Mrs. Penniman and Catherine's maternal inheritance does not seem sufficient to him. He looks for a way to break the engagement and eventually stages an argument with Catherine, whom he blames. Then he disappears from her environment and no longer reacts to two short written messages that she sends him.
In keeping with her nature and state of mind, Catherine Sloper quickly finds her way back to an outwardly equanimity, but is deeply hurt inside. She settles in a spinster life quite popular with young people in society. Many years pass; Catherine turns down the proposals of two respectable marriage candidates and remains unmarried. Dr. Sloper dies, leaving her, as a will, a drastically reduced income - out of concern that Morris Townsend might otherwise be encouraged again. Indeed, Morris - now fat, bald, cold-eyed, but still fascinating and once again instigated by Mrs. Penniman - visits Catherine again at the age of 45 and hopes for reconciliation; but his former fiancée is now also dying . The last sentence says: "Meanwhile, Catherine had resumed her crochet work in the salon and settled down with it - for life, so to speak."
structure
The novel is written from the perspective of an authoritative first-person narrator , who does not reveal itself. The narrator often addresses the reader directly with his comments.
The story begins at a distance from the characters and describes the background of the Slopers family. Then James tells the detailed story of Catherine's romance with Morris Townsend. When Morris drops it, the narrator switches to another angle from a greater distance. As James himself writes: "Our story has so far moved with very small steps, but as it is nearing its end, it now has to take a big step." The last three chapters are then told again in short steps, ending with the vignette by Catherine, who rejects Morris's re-application.
Main themes
The novel deals with the basic theme of personal feeling in conflict with loyalty and reason found in other Henry James novels. Catherine must choose between her love for Morris and loyalty to her father while Dr. Sloper, in his relationship with Catherine, is torn between his daughter's naive affection and his hard-nosed life experience, which tells him that Morris is just a greyhound out for her money. With a certain tragedy he plunges his child into misery in order to save it from misfortune.
Catherine grows as the story progresses and realizes her situation more and more clearly. “From her point of view, the most significant facts in her life story were that Morris Townsend had played with her love and her father had broken its elasticity. Nothing could ever change these facts; they were always present, like their name, their age, their unappealing face. ”Catherine will never be brilliant, but she is learning to see clearly.
The story takes place in a very narrow circle of the New York upper class. Wealth and reputation are the main characteristics that count for the characters in the novel. The issue of money plays a special role as money is the means of making an impression on society. Ironically, Catherine ends up having some money, but socially she means nothing. Money is also the main theme that drives (on his side) and hinders her relationship with Morris (on her father's side).
Literary importance and criticism
“Everyone likes Washington Square , even those who despise Henry James,” wrote critic Donald Hall, and most commentators echo that impression. Although James himself disliked this novel, readers like its linear storytelling, straightforward prose (a far cry from the intricate language of his later works), and the sharply defined portraits of his characters. Even the somewhat bumpy plot of Sloper's will has impressed some critics with its old-fashioned simplicity.
Catherine's slow but unstoppable development towards inner independence and wisdom has drawn critics and readers alike to James. Robert Gale, for example, writes: "James always downgraded this fine, easily read novel, even though in it he brilliantly characterizes the two Slopers."
Adaptations for theater, film, television
The married couple Ruth and Augustus Goetz wrote a very successful stage version, The Heiress (German: The Heiress ), which was first performed on Broadway in 1947 . Wendy Hiller played Catherine and Basil Rathbone played Dr. Sloper.
The play was filmed in 1949 under the title The Heiress , with Olivia de Havilland as Catherine, Ralph Richardson as Dr. Sloper and Montgomery Clift as Morris directed by William Wyler . The play and the film closely followed the original and took many lines of dialogue straight from the novel. However, the Goetzsche version changes the character of Catherine in the later part of the plot: Out of sheer anger, she refuses to visit her father on his deathbed, and she is clever enough to end up taking revenge on Morris with a ruse. The film won four Academy Awards .
The Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland filmed the material again in 1997 with Jennifer Jason Leigh , Albert Finney and Ben Chaplin in the leading roles and Maggie Smith as Mrs. Penniman. Even if this film is also free to use the original text, the content is very faithful to the original.
German edition
- Henry James: Washington Square , German by Karl Ludwig Nicol, Munich: dtv, 1998, ISBN 3-423-08407-3
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chapter 35, quoted from the German translation by Karl Ludwig Nicol.
- ↑ a b Chapter 32, quoted from the German translation by Karl Ludwig Nicol.
- ↑ for example in the portrait of a lady
- ^ Washington Square , Signet Classics 1964, afterword by Donald Hall, p. 181
- ↑ See Edward Wagenknecht: The Novels of Henry James , Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1983, ISBN 0-8044-2959-6 , pp. 68-75. Wagenknecht criticizes some aspects of the novel, but admits that it was received favorably and backs this up with several positive reviews in his sources.
- ↑ See Robert Gale, A Henry James Encyclopedia , Greenwood Press 1989, ISBN 0-313-25846-5 , pp. 797-798.
