175:
The best part of the book may be James' brief but witty introduction, where he tells of his failure to get these two plays onto the stage. He barely consoles himself with the publication of the plays in book form: "The covers of the book may, in a seat that costs nothing, figure the friendly curtain,
147:
tells of a widowed
Englishman, Sir Frederick Byng, his son Norman, and his ward Mildred Stanmore. Norman and Mildred are in love, but Sir Frederick disapproves and forces his son to take a post in India. Meanwhile, Sir Frederick's former mistress, the long-widowed Eleanor Vibert, rents his lodge at
166:
Many entrances and exits and much other stage business follow. Eventually, the youthful widow Mrs. Jasper gets Prime out of his engagement to
Blandina and then accepts his marriage proposal. She was one of the plotters who had got him to propose to Blandina in the first place, but she quickly
151:
After many complications including some minor fisticuffs, Mildred and the returned Norman will marry, Claude learns the truth about his parentage and forgives his mother, and
Eleanor refuses Sir Frederick's offer of marriage. Mildred embraces Eleanor to close the play on a bittersweet note.
176:
and the legible lines the various voices of the stage; so that if these things manage at all to disclose a picture or to drop a tone into the reader's ear the ghostly ordeal will in a manner have been passed and the dim footlights faced."
163:. At Brisket Place, forty miles outside London, a naive army captain, Llewellyn Prime, is made to believe that he has compromised Blandina Wigmore and must propose to her. He does so and is accepted.
210:
Deprived of the interior monologue and intense analysis of consciousness that James made such a large part of his fiction, the plays in this book do seem superficial and unconvincing compared to his
207:. Some have gone so far as to recommend would-be readers of James to skip the plays altogether, or at most to approach them gingerly after reading just about everything else he wrote.
187:
mostly dissipate any interest the play might have generated. Based on the hopelessly outmoded idea of a "compromised" woman and far too encumbered with frenetic stage business,
167:
repented of her folly. Meanwhile, Blandina accepts Percy
Trafford, who was also one of those who got Prime into the original mess, but regretted it soon afterwards.
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is probably the better of the two thanks to
Eleanor Vibert, who faces the secrets of her past and overcomes them. The incessant comings and goings of
214:. Although James fell under the spell of the theater from an early age, he never mastered the art of presenting vibrant characters and significant
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266:
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Clere, near the family house. Eleanor brings along her son Claude, who (unknown to himself) is the illegitimate child of Sir
Frederick.
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123:, had failed to be produced, so James put them out in book form with a rueful preface about his inability to get the plays onto the
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collapses under James' misguided efforts to keep things lively. Ironically, the play did get a couple performances in
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in 1902 and 1909. It received scathing reviews as "nerveless, heartless, soulless" and "fantastic nonsense."
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749:
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It would be an
Everest-sized understatement to say that James' plays have gotten bad notices from
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Compared to this discussion the plays themselves seem artificial and way too busy.
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234:(New York: Oxford University Press 1990)
155:The other play published in this book,
137:Flavien: Scènes de la vie contemporaine
621:William Wetmore Story and His Friends
7:
14:
228:The Complete Plays of Henry James
159:, was based on James' own story,
605:Essays in London and Elsewhere
115:published in 1894. The plays,
1:
57:Osgood, McIlvane & Co.,
766:
669:Notes of a Son and Brother
573:French Poets and Novelists
546:Theatricals: Second Series
282:
702:Henry James Sr. (father)
364:The Princess Casamassima
707:William James (brother)
589:A Little Tour in France
519:The Beast in the Jungle
218:in dialogue-only form.
135:Based on a short story
653:A Small Boy and Others
348:The Portrait of a Lady
511:The Turn of the Screw
468:The Sense of the Past
428:The Wings of the Dove
396:The Spoils of Poynton
745:Plays by Henry James
712:Alice James (sister)
199:Critical evaluation
20:
661:Notes on Novelists
637:The American Scene
732:
731:
597:Partial Portraits
503:The Aspern Papers
340:Washington Square
107:is a book of two
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75:Publication place
757:
723:New York Edition
684:The Middle Years
613:Picture and Text
487:Madame de Mauves
420:The Sacred Fount
404:What Maisie Knew
372:The Reverberator
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66:Publication date
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460:The Ivory Tower
444:The Golden Bowl
436:The Ambassadors
412:The Awkward Age
388:The Other House
380:The Tragic Muse
308:Roderick Hudson
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85:Media type
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356:The Bostonians
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300:Watch and Ward
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131:Plot summaries
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79:United Kingdom
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645:Italian Hours
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629:English Hours
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324:The Europeans
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141:Henri Rivière
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554:Guy Domville
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495:Daisy Miller
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316:The American
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285:Bibliography
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161:The Solution
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19:Theatricals
15:
565:Non-fiction
538:Theatricals
276:Henry James
113:Henry James
104:Theatricals
70:9-June-1894
28:Henry James
750:1894 plays
739:Categories
717:Lamb House
452:The Outcry
332:Confidence
230:edited by
222:References
212:narratives
189:Disengaged
185:Disengaged
171:Key themes
157:Disengaged
121:Disengaged
677:Notebooks
581:Hawthorne
232:Leon Edel
54:Publisher
479:Novellas
193:New York
34:Language
695:Related
205:critics
181:Tenants
145:Tenants
117:Tenants
38:English
687:(1917)
672:(1914)
664:(1914)
656:(1913)
648:(1909)
640:(1907)
632:(1905)
624:(1903)
616:(1893)
608:(1893)
600:(1888)
592:(1884)
584:(1879)
576:(1878)
557:(1895)
549:(1895)
541:(1894)
522:(1903)
514:(1898)
506:(1888)
498:(1878)
490:(1874)
471:(1917)
463:(1917)
455:(1911)
447:(1904)
439:(1903)
431:(1902)
423:(1901)
415:(1899)
407:(1897)
399:(1897)
391:(1896)
383:(1890)
375:(1888)
367:(1886)
359:(1886)
351:(1881)
343:(1880)
335:(1879)
327:(1878)
319:(1877)
311:(1875)
303:(1871)
292:Novels
238:
59:London
24:Author
530:Plays
216:drama
125:stage
109:plays
93:Pages
88:Print
48:Plays
44:Genre
236:ISBN
119:and
139:by
111:by
96:325
741::
143:,
127:.
268:e
261:t
254:v
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