Washington Square

I was already quite familiar with this story because I'd seen the film adaptation, The Heiress, some time ago. Still, I wanted to read it because it's a classic and I've never read anything by Henry James.

Catherine Sloper is the main character, a young woman who is described as being plain and quite simple. Her father, Dr. Austin Sloper, doesn't seem to care that much about her and holds a grudge because her mother, a great beauty who he loved deeply, died shortly after Catherine was born. He allows his widowed sister Lavinia to live with them so she can teach Catherine and help her become clever. However as Catherine grows up he is continually disappointed in her despite her utter devotion to him.

The story really starts when Catherine meets a young man named Morris Townsend who is described as being incredibly handsome and charming. Catherine is immediately smitten with him and her aunt Lavinia also takes a liking to him and helps to facilitate their relationship. However, Dr. Sloper is suspicious of Morris because he has squandered his fortune, traveled around living a life of luxury, and now seems to be living off his poor widowed sister who has five children. Dr. Sloper suspects Morris only wants to marry Catherine because she is wealthy and also weak-minded and easy to control. He forbids the marriage, causing the main point of tension throughout the novel.

Catherine is torn between her desire to be with Morris and her need to please her father and earn his approval. The book goes back and forth for some time with Catherine distraught over which decision to make, Morris butting heads with Dr. Sloper, and Dr. Sloper trying to convince Catherine that Morris is no good.

The interesting thing about this book is the ambiguity around the characters. Although Dr. Sloper visits Morris' sister and seems to confirm that he's a loser, it's never really clear if Morris cares about Catherine. The reader can only infer through conversations and actions what is going on. And the more you read, the more you are presented with various perspectives and things to consider. For example:

Is Morris really after Catherine's money?
Should Dr. Sloper have the right to wield control over who his daughter marries?
Because Catherine is simple, is her money an even trade for Morris' good looks?
Why is it okay to want to marry a man who is well off but considered shallow for a man to do the same?

So I think this is mostly a book about society and the customs of the time. Because I had an idea of how it would end I wasn't that caught up in the story or the fates of the characters. Still, I enjoyed reading the book and am glad to have read another classic.

The focus of this entire novel is money. But James manages to craft a tale that explores not only wealth, how it is used and what it means, but social class, family structure, filial obedience, parental responsibility, and strength of character. Catherine may be described by everyone as "sweet, but simple," but she has a will of steel, and will show her father that he has grossly underestimated her.

Honestly, I don't know why I waited so long to read a Henry James novel. For some reason I thought he would be "difficult," with long, complicated sentence structure and archaic language. If you have the same notion, get over it. This is a very approachable story. I was engaged and interested from the beginning. Of course, now I've added more Henry James to my tbr mountain ... but I think that's a good thing.

Intriguing story. But the author couldn't figure out a decent ending. Very simple plot. Father keeps telling his daughter the same thing.

Here we are in New York City in the mid-1880's, a bit before Edith Wharton's time, but in the same social milieu. This is a kind of novel of manners, a mid-19th Century soap opera. Our author is Henry James, so be prepared for the long, convoluted, comma- and semicomma-laden sentences akin to those of Jane Austen.

Yet a fascinating book. Catherine, more or less our heroine, is plain, stolid, timid, obedient and, quite frankly, a bit on the dull side. She lives in her father's house. With her mother deceased, a widowed aunt is her caretaker and companion. Catherine is in her late 20's when a suitor finally appears (a late age for that era). Her suitor would be quite a catch for a gal like Catherine, so her father, a wealthy physician, immediately recognizes (and so do we) that he's after her inheritance. Her father forbids the marriage and in that process we learn that he is vindictive, petty, tyrannical, bullying - and wait --- there's something even worse: he doesn't really even LIKE his daughter.

The novel fast-forwards in the final chapters so we get to see how it all works out decades in the future. It's great writing --- it's Henry James after all. A good book for those who have a taste for the oblique references and flowery style of writing from that era.

Throughout my years as an English major I never read Henry James, but a few months back I found this 1996 hardcover edition of WASHINGTON SQUARE, with 8 pages of vintage photographs of the environs around that most interesting piece of real estate nestled in Greenwich Village. I have hope of seeing THE HEIRESS this fall in New York when Jessica Chastain plays Catherine Sloper, the romantic, homely daughter of Dr. Sloper. WASHINGTON SQUARE, written in 1881, is the familiar story of a daughter, the titular heiress, who falls for a rogue whom the reader is led to believe is more interested in her inheritance than her. While reading the story I was surprised at how this not-all-too-surprising story was made fresh (or was this the original fresh version?) by the incredible prose of James and the vividness of New York City in the 19th century, when the cities' gentry continued to move north from the battery. The story truly begins when the doctor moves his daughter and widowed sister Lavania to the now-fashionable Washington Square, where, at her other aunt's party, she meets the dashing Morris Townsend, who, with the complicity of the widowed aunt, pays a call on Catherine in their opulent parlor. The story expounds from there, with twists and turns of thought, manners and character. WASHINGTON SQUARE is a rewarding addition the canon of 19th century New York City literature.

I cherished this book. I was in a reading slump and immediately fell into the book. I finished it in a day. It was surprisingly funny, and I liked Catherine a lot, despite the way she's characterized at times. Mrs. Penniman - she stands as one of the most insufferable characters I've ever encountered in literature. A treasure.

Although this layout is a little odd, it's closer to the original layout than I'd thought. Doesn't have any information beyond the actual text of the novel , which some other editions include. The oversize shape and spacing may be a benefit to some readers, and annoyingly large to others.

Henry James is known to focus on the moral significance of relationships. "We have to take people as they are", he tells us. In this novel, we discover that reality is compromised by each of the characters in their own distinctive way. Submissiveness and a sense of inferiority are red flags to any potential predator. Catherine participated in her own deception by not probing into Townsend's background herself. Dr.Sloper, in contrast, questioned the authenticity of Townsend's interest in Catherine, while being himself a man who inherited his wife's wealth. In addition, James describes Dr.Sloper's medical practice as having benefited from his wife's fortune and status in society. As such, he could have, but did not, offer his medical services to the needy of his community nor did he sympathize with the mixed motives of his daughter's suitor. The widowed aunt and the poor but charming playboy, seem to have the most in common as far as character is concerned. Townsend and Aunt Lavinia skim off the top, whatever thrills they might get out of life. Each in their own way, are a world unto themselves alone. I'm not certain if any of these relationships are much more than mere projections. Maybe Dr. Sloper was really a bore and thus needed to believe the flaw was in his daughter, rather than in himself. I don't think he was terribly handsome either, at least James did not describe him so. As such, the absence of attractiveness in a daughter would have injured his male vanity. Dr.Sloper's harshness and over controlling manner seemed defensive and haughty.
Many reviewers applaud Catherine's decision to rebuff Townsend when he came calling after significant time away. Perhaps Catherine's rejection of him was an expression of pride not honor. In the end she was alone, no husband, no family, no real calling. She may have sabotaged her future happiness as people tend to mature over time and the pair may have helped to support one another in good faith after awhile. Kekes tells us, "The trouble is not that we lack desires, capacities, opportunities, and values that would motivate us to act; it is rather that these elements of our character are incoherent. They incline us in different and incompatible directions, and we lack a way of overcoming their incoherence. We need better self-knowledge to improve our description and evaluation of these elements and to achieve better direction of their motivational force" (Kekes, Moral Wisdom and Good Lives, 1995, p.129). In closing, I will add that "Washington Square" is a masterpiece of simplicity with undercurrents so rich and deep you might overlook them because James' prose is so stunning.

I was not expecting to like this book, but the slowly evolving story of a young woman whose father opposes her romantic interest is not unlike a dark version of a Jane Austen novel. If you've never read anything by James, this short novel is a good place to get introduced.