Portret powieści - Henry James i amerykańskie arcydzieło (recenzja)
- annaklis
- May 30, 2018
- 2 min read
Henry James's great, humane masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady(1881), the story of a young, spirited American woman "affronting her destiny", is many readers' favourite of his books. All his critics and biographers put it at the centre of his life and work. It is his turning-point. From being a popular and promising author specialising in Americans in Europe (Daisy Miller, The Europeans, The American), he became an important, renowned figure, acknowledged as a "master" of consciousness, cultural perceptions, humour, subtlety and depth. But Portrait can also be seen as a point of no return. After that came the harsh, unpopular novels of social analysis (The Bostonians, The Princess Casamassima), the ill-fated involvement with the theatre, the awkward, darkly complex novels of the 1890s (What Maisie Knew, The Awkward Age), the epic, inward-looking subtleties of the mighty late works, and the financial catastrophe of the New York edition. Isabel Archer starts out full of hope, independence and ambition, and becomes "ground in the mill", entrapped and disillusioned. James's life-story could also be read as an ebullient comedy which turns to tragic sadness.
Dalszy ciąg artykułu tutaj/Please carry on reading: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/07/portrait-novel-henry-james-gorra-review
Vocabulary:
humane – humanitarny, ludzki
turning point – puntk zwrotny
renowned – poważany, znany
consciousness - świadomość
subtlety – subtelność
ill-fated - pechowy
inward-looking – zwrócony wewnątrz, skryty
mill - młyn
entrapped - usidlona
disillusioned – pozbawiony złudzeń
ebullient – tryskający energią
prevail over – zwyciężać, brać górę
mores - obyczaje
annihilation - zagłada
exceptionalism – sposób myślenia promujący ideę, że pewne grupy, społeczeństwa, itp. są w jakiś sposób lesze od innych.
republican egalitarianism – republikański egalitaryzm
insist that – nalegać na
sinister - złowieszczy
enactment – ustawa, odegranie czegoś
make an ado – robić ceregiele
wary - ostrożny
acutely - przenikliwie
indirectness – (rzeczownik) brak bezpośredniości
reticence - skrytość
peculiar - osobliwy
sublimation - sublimacja
grotesque grimaces – groteskowe grymasy
doughty - dzielny
sidekick - pomocnik
meek sisters – łagodne siostry
the novel’s haunted, interior life – wewnętrzny świat powieści pełen nawracających wspomnień
indulgent – folgujacy sobie
quibbles - zastrzeżenia
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