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Like many of James's novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James's early period, [2] this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former.
- Henry James
- 1881
The Portrait of a Lady, novel by Henry James, published in three volumes in 1881. The masterpiece of the first phase of James’s career, the novel is a study of Isabel Archer, a young American woman of great promise who travels to Europe and becomes a victim of her own provincialism.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Portrait of a Lady, published in 1881, is a novel by Henry James that tells the story of Isabel Archer, a young American woman who travels to Europe and becomes entangled in a complicated web of relationships and personal choices.
Set almost entirely among a group of American expatriates living in Europe in the 1860s and 70s, the book relies on a kind of moral geography, in which America represents innocence, individualism, and capability; Europe represents decadence, sophistication, and social convention; and England represents the best mix of the two.
The Portrait of a Lady takes place primarily in England, Italy, and France, with a brief flashback to the United States. The book is set in the 1870s, just after the American Civil War ended and, due to the post-war economic prosperity, Americans started to become interested in transatlantic travel to Europe.
Gardencourt. English country estate by the River Thames, near London, that is the residence of Isabel’s cousin, Ralph Touchett. Gardencourt appeals to Isabel’s imagination that has been...
In The Portrait of a Lady, James uses one theme, the contrasts between Americans and Europeans, to intensify another, more universal theme of a woman's development from naive youth to mature wisdom as she suffers the consequences of a poor romantic choice.
