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The Spoils of Poynton
Henry James
Book Overview:
The recently widowed Adela Gereth, a lover of beauty and passionate collector of fine objects, strikes up a friendship with the young Fleda Vetch, when both of them find themselves guests in the tasteless house of the Brigstock family. Mrs. Gereth fears that her son Owen, an honorable but somewhat unimaginative young man, may take up with one of the Brigstock girls, and indeed he presently announces his engagement to Mona, the eldest daughter. That means that Mrs. Gereth will have to leave Poynton, the beautiful house that she and her husband filled with the furniture, china, tapestries, and other objects that they lovingly collected over the years. It is not so much possessiveness that drives Mrs. Gereth to want to maintain control over them (or so she claims, at any rate), but rather the sense that she will have failed if Mona, understanding and appreciating nothing of what Poynton contains, should become Owen's wife and take charge. The story and its developing conflicts are seen largely from the point of view of Fleda Vetch, the young woman who, her moral and aesthetic sensibilities tuned perhaps as finely as any of James's protagonists, finds herself caught in the middle.
The recently widowed Adela Gereth, a lover of beauty and passionate collector of fine objects, strikes up a friendship with the young Fleda Vetch, when both of them find themselves guests in the tasteless house of the Brigstock family. Mrs. Gereth fears that her son Owen, an honorable but somewhat unimaginative young man, may take up with one of the Brigstock girls, and indeed he presently announces his engagement to Mona, the eldest daughter. That means that Mrs. Gereth will have to leave Poynton, the beautiful house that she and her husband filled with the furniture, china, tapestries, and other objects that they lovingly collected over the years. It is not so much possessiveness that drives Mrs. Gereth to want to maintain control over them (or so she claims, at any rate), but rather the sense that she will have failed if Mona, understanding and appreciating nothing of what Poynton contains, should become Owen's wife and take charge. The story and its developing conflicts are seen largely from the point of view of Fleda Vetch, the young woman who, her moral and aesthetic sensibilities tuned perhaps as finely as any of James's protagonists, finds herself caught in the middle.
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Community Reviews
Virginia Woolf in a letter to Violet Dickinson, 25 August 1907 :
"Well then, we went and had tea with Henry James today…and Henry James fixed me with his staring blank eye — it is like a childs marble — and said ‘My dear Virginia, they tell me — they tell me — they tell me — that you — as indeed bein
Öncelikle belirtmeliyim ki; kitabın yazar tarafından yazılmış önsözü eşsiz bir mücevher. Sadece bu kısım için bile okunmalı.
Konunun basitliği; anlatımın ve kurgunun etkileyiciliğini, ve karakterlerin güçlü yapısını daha da görünür kılıyor. Henry James bu romanında da duyguların, ilişkiler üzerindek
Senryu Review:
Gewgaw-obsessed mom
schemes to keep spoils with sweet pal
from cretinous son
Romancierul american Henry James impresioneaza din nou cu aceasta carte avand o tematica deosebita. Interesant este ca nu avem o poveste clasica de dragoste ci una in care iubirea se naste si depinde de factorii din exterior. In romanul de fata, atat oamenii cat si sentimentele lor se invart in juru
The Spoils of Poynton (1897) is an object of high craftsmanship and beauty, as polished as the choice bibelots that fuel the novel’s plot through the acquisitive desires they stoke. James wrote it shortly after a traumatic episode in his would-be career as a dramatist, when he was booed off the stag
This book probably represents James at his most annoying. Looking at it generously, there are 5 characters (though I think one of them does not actually make an appearance). Their world is cramped and claustrophobic. Their concerns, for the most part, seem to be petty. This is debatable, because eve