Washington Square

Catherine, an insignificant, plain creature, will one day inherit a substantial fortune from her father. When her overwhelming passion for a handsome fortune hunter transforms her dull existence, Catherine’s distinguished father, her meddlesome aunt and her selfish lover all play with her feelings to satisfy their own needs, and succeed in breaking her heart. This intensely moving story, published in 1881, has been defined as “a superb example of nineteenth century realism”.

Henry James was born on 15 April 1843, at 21 Washington Place, New York, of Irish and Scottish Ancestry. He was the second of five children, four boys and one girl.

His father, Henry James senior, was a prominent theologian and philosopher. He had strong views on how children should be educated, and Henry James and his brothers and sister spent their formative years Europe. His brother William became an important psychologist and philosopher.

In 1862 Henry James entered Harvard Law School. Encouraged by his friend, William Dena Howells, who was to become another famous American writer, he began to write short stories and reviews for American journals.

James found America to be hostile towards creative talent, and in 1869 he left the United States and spent a year traveling in England, France and Italy.

In 1875 after two prior visits to Europe he settled for a year in Paris. In Paris he met Flaubert, Turgenev and other important writers of that time. James’s supreme master was Balzac, whom he greatly admired. The next year he moved to London, where he became very popular. London was his home for the next twenty years. During the next decade James wrote some of his best works, Daisy Miller (1879), Washington Square (1881), The Portrait of a Lady (1882) and The Bostonians (1886).

He wrote twenty novels and nearly one hundred shorts stories. James also tried writing plays, but he was not very successful.

His later works include What Maisie Knew (1897), The Awkward Age (1899), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904).

In 1915 James became a naturalized British citizen. On New Year’s Day 1916, he received the certificate of the Order of Merit, and died on 28 February of the same year.

Henry James remains one of the greatest and most influential literary figures of the realist tradition. His realism can be called “psychological realism” because it deals with the human mind, the soul and existence. Washington Square is a superb example of 19th century American realism.

A Note on Henry James

Chapter 1 - Doctor Sloper

Chapter 2 - An Important Encounter

Chapter 3 - New Feelings

Chapter 4 - A Late Autumn Afternoon

Chapter 5 - A Surprise Visit

Chapter 6 - An Important Dinner

Chapter 7 - Catherine is in Love

Chapter 8 - Morris Cownsend and the Doctor

Chapter 9 - The Proposal

Chapter 10 - Doctor Sloper’s Decision

Chapter 11 - Mrs Montgomery

Chapter 12 - Mrs Penniman’s Secret Meeting

Chapter 13 - The Confrontation

Chapter 14 - Catherine Chooses

Chapter 15 - Europe

Chapter 16 - Morris’s Decision

Chapter 17 - The Parting

Chapter 18 - The Letter

Chapter 19 - The Will