Bibliograph

What Maisie knew, Henry James ; edited with an introduction and notes by Paul Theroux ; with additional notes by Patricia Crick

Type

Label

What Maisie knew, Henry James ; edited with an introduction and notes by Paul Theroux ; with additional notes by Patricia Crick

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-274)

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

What Maisie knew

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

13702719

Responsibility statement

Henry James ; edited with an introduction and notes by Paul Theroux ; with additional notes by Patricia Crick

Series statement

Penguin classics

Summary

With an Introduction by Pat Righelato, University of Reading The child of parents who divorce, remarry and then embark on adulterous affairs, Maisie Farange survives by her intelligence and spirit. For all its sombre theme of childhood innocence exposed to a corrupted adult world, this novel is one of James's comic masterpieces. The outrageous behaviour of the characters on the seedy fringes of the English upper class is conveyed with wit and relish. The dual perspective of a sophisticated narrator richly appreciative of the absurdities of the adult sexual merry-go-round and the candid vision of Maisie, 'rebounding' from one parent to another like a 'shuttlecock', together create an 'associational magic'. Strangely, unexpectedly, from so much that is tawdry, comes a tale of moral energy and subtlety. James's foresight was in understanding the modernity of his subject, which is even more relevant today in the twenty-first century

Classification

Contributor