The Awkward Age A Novel Primary Source Edition Henry James 9781289480592 Books
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The Awkward Age A Novel Primary Source Edition Henry James 9781289480592 Books
"Do I have any sense of what is going on?" "Can I believe any of the characters?" "What in the world is this about?" "I've read that sentence ten times and I still don't have a clue what it says." "Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?"Normally those kinds of questions will cause one to put down a book after only a few pages. Not "The Awkward Age." Mainly dialogue and observers' comments, the book is tantalizing. One senses that something interesting is going on, but one can't really figure that it is on a first read. The questions one asks oneself only propel the reader to the next chapter. The characters are not transparent, but behave in the actual complex, honest, dishonest, open, and closed ways we all respond to different situations and different people. Being lost in trying to understand the characters is exactly a representation of what it feels like in relationships. We search for a simple formula or a few words to nail down what we think will be the "real" person, but our efforts to describe are never complete or final.
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Tags : The Awkward Age: A Novel - Primary Source Edition [Henry James] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages,Henry James,The Awkward Age: A Novel - Primary Source Edition,Nabu Press,1289480591,Fiction - General,Fiction General,General,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
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The Awkward Age A Novel Primary Source Edition Henry James 9781289480592 Books Reviews
THE AWKWARD AGE is a novel written in what’s come to be known as Henry James’ Later Style. Which is as much to say that it requires, in reading, concentration and commitment to nuance and structure. The novel is noted for being largely propelled, narratively, by a series of conversations carefully positioned in various rooms and gardens. Whilst this might suggest a reliance wholly on dialogue, the real case is something a little different. James is always careful to describe in exact detail where characters sit or stand in rooms, the feeling-tone of their expressions and postures, the manner in which the utterance of one character might or might not be ‘taken up’ by another. It’s a novel almost as much about what is expressly NOT said as it is about what IS said.
Nowhere in any James novel is it more true than what T. S. Eliot said of him ‘a mind so fine that no idea could violate it’.
My own personal experience of reading James is that there will always come a point in his novels where I feel as though I want to scream at him to just, please, for once, say what he actually means. Such a reaction is much less true of his earlier novels than of the later ones. It’s particularly true of THE AWKWARD AGE. One can get a little exasperated with yet another exclamation of ‘you’re too wonderful/beautiful/good’ when, in fact, you’ve no idea what a character might be meaning by such an utterance to another character. And what can be said with any certainty with respect to concrete action is very, very limited. The Duchess might be having an affair with Lord Petherton; she might not be (or only desiring it). Nanda is corrupted by her mother’s salon; Nanda isn’t corrupted by her mother’s salon. ‘Old Van’ finds Nanda enchanting; ‘Old Van’ finds Nanda too worldly. Mrs. Brookenham wants to have an affair with Vanderbank; Mrs. Brookenham doesn’t actually have an affair with Vanderbank. Mitchy is unhappy in his marriage to Aggie.
All that can be said with any certainty, is that Mr. Longdon comes to London after years in exile in the country, where he picks up his life with the family of the woman he was irrevocably in love with, long-ago. He’s shocked by the tone and freedom of their conversation, which he finds somehow immoral and unethical. The grand-daughter of the woman he loved, Nanda, is almost an exact physical replica and Mr. Longdon finds himself compelled to take an ‘interest’ in her. He wants her to marry Vanderbank and makes Vanderbank a proposal to bestow a significant dowry on him should he accede to his wishes. Vanderbank spends the whole novel demurring. Nanda wants him to ask her but understands why he doesn’t (I don’t, I’ll confess). Mr. Longdon takes Nanda away with him back to the country. Mitch marries Aggie. Aggie goes a little ‘wild’ with her new-found freedom as a married woman.
Anyone attempting to state anything more concrete than the above will have a hard time justifying themselves. Nuance is everything here. It’s almost impossible (but not quite …) for a modern audience to understand exactly what Mr. Longdon finds so offensive about the salon. One might guess that it’s the fact that Mrs. Brookenham and her circle spend too much time gossiping about whether certain married couples will implode in affairs or not; and the fact that the young Nanda seems to have access to this information. ‘Little Aggie’ by contrast, is hermetically sealed away by the Duchess. It’s all very, very opaque.
At the bottom of everything however, comes a form of clarity; or at least, some kind of solid ground. Mrs. Brookenham and her husband Edward can’t really afford the lifestyle they feel is their due. Their son Harold is constantly borrowing money from their friends. Mr. Mitchy is courted, despite being a parvenue, because he’s very wealthy – and he at least, evinces some understanding of this (although always very tastefully expressed). Mrs. Brookenham positively wants Mr. Longdon to take Nanda off her hands because she recognises that Mr. Longdon is very rich and will bestow a legacy on her daughter. It’s all, in the end, about money. ‘Old Van’ might in the end, feel that he’s been insulted by Mr. Longdon’s offer to bestow a dowry on Nanda. It demeans him to think that he might marry Nanda for her money. And I suspect that Nanda recognises and respects this. But that’s only my interpretation. Nothing, ever, is clear. It’s all too, too refined. Refined almost – but not quite - out of existence.
I couldn't even finish it. It went on and on for several pages pouring out meaningless drivel that has nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Fielding does this in a funny way. This guy's not funny. Even now I'm still shaking my head. My curiosity for this author is completely gone. I will not read another of his works.
Great read. It is very descriptive and I love the storyline of this book. Can't wait to read others like it.
THE FONT SIZE IS SOOOO TINY on this particular edition that I CAN'T READ IT. (('m not 90 either, I'm under 30)
Still reading and enjoying this.
Not an easy read! I would recommend it to advanced literature majors only!
When Nanda Brookenham "comes out" in her mother's salon, one question is immediately which of its male members she will marry--and soon. The urgency is partly financial Nanda's parents seem to live almost beyond their means and she has no dowry. It is also moral Given the salon's racy talk and unconcealed sexual intrigues, how can Nanda long continue to present an image of the "pure young girl" it was assumed most men would want to marry? And finally, it may be familial Does Mrs. Brookenham really want a younger female competitor sitting with her daily?
Nanda's choices seem limited to three The handsome, clever, conceited Vanderbank, who she prefers, but who is not that well off and who may be attached to her mother. The ugly, awkward, but rich and kind Mitchy, who prefers her. And possibly, the elderly, conventional, but rich and kind Mr. Longdon, who was in love with her dead grandmother and who may turn out to be either a benefactor or a suitor.
Nanda's mother is highly manipulative, not only in trying to arrange her daughter's marriage but in meddling with all her friends' affairs. The grandmother to whom Mr. Longdon always compares Nanda was the eptiome of old-fashioned purity and reticence. The other central question of the novel is Which role model will Nanda choose?
In the hands of a less verbose writer, The Awkward Age could have been action-packed, clever, and even moving in depicting the limitations of its characters' choices. As it is, James's hesitations, qualifications, and reluctance to fully disclose his characters' motivations partly spoil it. We know (as much as James will ever tell) which suitor Nanda chose. But we are unable to gauge whether she has been manipulative, and acted from cynical financial and social calculation, or whether she has been "pure," and acted from real emotional impulse. That is, we never quite know which role model she chose (though I have my guess).
The novel is written mostly in dialog and reads in places like a play. Personally, I'd like to see it turned it into a play or film script. Simply cutting out a lot of verbosity could give it a clear meaning and a real ending. I even think I know what she'd do with her life after the novel ended.
"Do I have any sense of what is going on?" "Can I believe any of the characters?" "What in the world is this about?" "I've read that sentence ten times and I still don't have a clue what it says." "Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?"
Normally those kinds of questions will cause one to put down a book after only a few pages. Not "The Awkward Age." Mainly dialogue and observers' comments, the book is tantalizing. One senses that something interesting is going on, but one can't really figure that it is on a first read. The questions one asks oneself only propel the reader to the next chapter. The characters are not transparent, but behave in the actual complex, honest, dishonest, open, and closed ways we all respond to different situations and different people. Being lost in trying to understand the characters is exactly a representation of what it feels like in relationships. We search for a simple formula or a few words to nail down what we think will be the "real" person, but our efforts to describe are never complete or final.
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