What Maisie Knew James, Henry

Strikingly modern in subject and narrative voice, this 1897 novel centers on a child''s view of a bitter divorce. Rather than a gloomy parable of innocence corrupted, it abounds in dark humor.

From the Publisher:

Strikingly modern in its subject and narrative voice, this 1897 novel centers on a child's view of her parents' bitter divorce. In recounting the adults' irresponsible and immoral behavior, Maisie gradually moves from innocence to maturity. Henry James' characteristic subtlety and dark humor complement his timeless tale of human nature.

Annotation:
One of the first illuminations in literary history of joint custody after a divorce, WHAT MAISIE KNEW is Henry James's farce about disloyalty and child abandonment. Told from the perspective of a little girl whose parents create a disastrous net of adultery giving Maisie at times as many as seven parents, including her honorable governess. The novel is rich in its folly, yet sharp in its sadness as the child gets further and further exploited for the betrayals by her mother, father, step-parents and other surrogates, but in the end Maisie emerges triumphant and self-determined.

Author Bio

Henry James

Henry James was born into a wealthy Irish-American family who settled mainly in New York City's Greenwich Village and in Albany, New York, but lived and traveled extensively in Europe while Henry was growing up. Educated at a variety of schools in the U.S. and abroad, Henry spent a year at Harvard Law School, which he loathed, and used his time haunting the library and attending James Russell Lowell's lectures at Harvard College. Soon after, he began publishing short stories and reviews. When he was in his late teens, he spent much of his time on his own in Europe--chiefly England, France, and (his favorite) Italy--and, as he approached his 30s he became a virtual resident of Europe, returning to the U.S. only for brief periods. James became increasingly successful, wealthy, and respected as a writer of fiction and as a critic; his brilliantly insightful prefaces to his novels have influenced many writers. His attempts to write plays were all sad failures: To be a successful dramatist was a lifelong dream for James, but he seemed to lack the ability to dramatize action anywhere but on the printed page. In 1896 he settled at Lamb House, in Sussex, where he lived until his death in 1916. Reactions to James's work range from scorn and impatience (H. G. Wells called him "a hippopotamus resolved at any cost...upon picking up a pea") to reverence. Despite his increasing mannered and challenging style, James's work endures as great literature because of his humane sensibility, his insight into American and European culture, his moral clarity, his delicate wit, and the lucid subtlety of his language.

Product Attributes

Book Format:		Paperback
Number of Pages:		0224
Publisher:		Dover Publications

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What Maisie Knew (Paperback)

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