Dear Serial Readers,
Thanks to Lurking Leora for her global observation that we've read three novels now of widowed doctors and their daughters! I like too this idea that Catherine's money and appreciation of beauty (rather than being the object of beauty) suggest some gender reversals. I hope she ends up a bachelor rather than an old maid--we'll soon find out.
I found in this penultimate installment some of the resolve and strength and smoldering sexuality of the early Catherine. She's now quite assertive about wanting to marry Morris despite her father--whom she has distanced herself once she recognizes he has no love for her. Meanwhile Morris is a coward--he can't even break off the engagement outright (since Sloper isn't yielding on the money matter) and manufactures weak excuses--he must go to New Orleans on business. Resolute Catherine says she'll go with him and risk yellow fever. She even sees beneath Morris's evasions and gathers he's leaving her despite his denials. I like Catherine's determination in the face of both her father and Morris. But I don't know where this story will conclude--only one installment remains!
When readers of THE CORNHILL read this installment in Oct. 1880, they found another James serial launched in the very same issue: THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY, a novel with some interesting echoes of Catherine, her father, and perhaps Morris, but without New York or American scenery at all.
We'll leave WASHINGTON SQUARE after next week. I just learned that Dickens's THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP was first published in 40 weekly parts in the magazine MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK. I propose reading a part per week, starting the week of February 13th. And guess what? You can have each original installment of Dickens's novel emailed to you via MOUSEHOLD WORDS (see sidebar). So sign up for CURIOSITY SHOP on the weekly plan! No money down! There are a few other websites that offer Dickens's novels in serial format and I'll include these next week. Some of the installments are only a chapter long--so I hope you'll consider joining the "Curiosity" serial reading experience!
Serially yours,
Susan
POOR MISS FINCH by Wilkie Collins
31 January 2012
25 January 2012
Washington Square 4 (Sept. 1880)--chaps. 19-24
Dear Serial Readers,
I must say this serial continues with its collection of unappealing characters. Morris does seem increasingly a cad, really, and Mrs. Penniman a meddlesome fool (something the narrator and the doctor seem to concur on). Sloper is willful, including his threat that he won't will his money to C if she marries M, but then so is Catherine in her subdued, dutiful way.
Sloper's distasteful views of his daughter's merits where she's "about as intelligent as a bundle of shawls" persist. I doubt he believes what he tells her at the end of this installment, that Morris should thank him because, by taking Catherine traveling in Europe, her "value is twice as great." He's already suggested she's somewhat dense. Still, that Sloper sees his daughter in terms of her value (monetary, cultural, aesthetic) is clear, and perhaps echoes how Morris sees her as well.
The last chapter surprised me. Sloper's alpine wandering made me think something dramatic would happen--he'd get killed in an avalanche. But when he returns to Catherine he confronts her about her marriage plans and expresses his anger. The installment ends just on the brink of their return to NY, what Sloper anticipates as "a most uncomfortable voyage." There's a bit of suspense here too--and I expect something will happen on that trip--maybe he'll fall overboard or die suddenly, and we'll get to see if Catherine has the grit to marry Morris after all. Her plan to wait indefinitely has its limits.
Next time: chapters 25-29. And since we're approaching the conclusion of this serial (only one more after next week), I'm thinking of returning to Dickens--The Old Curiosity Shop. What do you think, Serial Readers?
Serially yours,
Susan
I must say this serial continues with its collection of unappealing characters. Morris does seem increasingly a cad, really, and Mrs. Penniman a meddlesome fool (something the narrator and the doctor seem to concur on). Sloper is willful, including his threat that he won't will his money to C if she marries M, but then so is Catherine in her subdued, dutiful way.
Sloper's distasteful views of his daughter's merits where she's "about as intelligent as a bundle of shawls" persist. I doubt he believes what he tells her at the end of this installment, that Morris should thank him because, by taking Catherine traveling in Europe, her "value is twice as great." He's already suggested she's somewhat dense. Still, that Sloper sees his daughter in terms of her value (monetary, cultural, aesthetic) is clear, and perhaps echoes how Morris sees her as well.
The last chapter surprised me. Sloper's alpine wandering made me think something dramatic would happen--he'd get killed in an avalanche. But when he returns to Catherine he confronts her about her marriage plans and expresses his anger. The installment ends just on the brink of their return to NY, what Sloper anticipates as "a most uncomfortable voyage." There's a bit of suspense here too--and I expect something will happen on that trip--maybe he'll fall overboard or die suddenly, and we'll get to see if Catherine has the grit to marry Morris after all. Her plan to wait indefinitely has its limits.
Next time: chapters 25-29. And since we're approaching the conclusion of this serial (only one more after next week), I'm thinking of returning to Dickens--The Old Curiosity Shop. What do you think, Serial Readers?
Serially yours,
Susan
18 January 2012
Washington Square 3 (Aug. 1880)--chaps. 13-18
Dear Serial Readers,
The question of marrying for money--mercenary motives--continues in this installment. I rather liked Morris's candor with Mrs. Penniman: "I DO like the money!" And Mrs. P points out in turn that Dr S "married a wife with money--why shouldn't you?" So is Catherine's inheritance the underlying motivation or a benefit on the side? Isn't money always a facet of marriage alliances, does James suggest, in some way or other? Is it the money angle that irks Catherine's father, or does he use this to provide a rationale for some intuitive dislike of Morris's character (along with Dr S's sense that his daughter is easily taken advantage of--but is she)? What matter is this matter of money in marriage plotting here? Is Dr S's threat that Catherine won't receive his money should she marry Morris a test of her dutiful daughterliness (which she's struggling to preserve) or a test of Morris's ultimate motive?
I can see all the wills and will plotting at work here. Whose will prevail in the end? I'm glad this novel is short--only three more parts.
Next time, chapters 19-24.
Serially yours,
Susan
The question of marrying for money--mercenary motives--continues in this installment. I rather liked Morris's candor with Mrs. Penniman: "I DO like the money!" And Mrs. P points out in turn that Dr S "married a wife with money--why shouldn't you?" So is Catherine's inheritance the underlying motivation or a benefit on the side? Isn't money always a facet of marriage alliances, does James suggest, in some way or other? Is it the money angle that irks Catherine's father, or does he use this to provide a rationale for some intuitive dislike of Morris's character (along with Dr S's sense that his daughter is easily taken advantage of--but is she)? What matter is this matter of money in marriage plotting here? Is Dr S's threat that Catherine won't receive his money should she marry Morris a test of her dutiful daughterliness (which she's struggling to preserve) or a test of Morris's ultimate motive?
I can see all the wills and will plotting at work here. Whose will prevail in the end? I'm glad this novel is short--only three more parts.
Next time, chapters 19-24.
Serially yours,
Susan
12 January 2012
Washington Square 2 (July 1880)--chaps. 7-12
Dear Serial Readers,
I agree that we have a story with unappealing or at least challenging (to care about) characters, most of all Dr. Sloper who has so little regard for his daughter as worth marrying for any reason but her money, or for her "liberty" in the matter. In the first installment I pounced on those crumbs of hope for Catherine's character--her childhood appetite, her red dress, her deception. But in this second installment I'm finding a too compliant daughter whose rebellion is less than mild (accepting Morris's proposal not outdoors in the Square, but in the drawing room). The only trace of that earlier sensuality is her slightly animated response to kissing.
The end of this second installment tries to muster a touch of suspense--will Catherine "retreat" or "stop," or will she elope with Morris? I'm afraid I have difficulty seeing ahead any action against her father and toward marrying Morris. But maybe that's because I'm too familiar with the dutiful daughter Pansy Osmond who follows this heroine in James's next novel.
One more thing--the narrator's voice seems to blend with Dr. Sloper's clinical gaze; neither seems to have much heart or care for these young people. Or do you see something else?
Next installment: chapters 13-18.
Serially stalled,
Susan
I agree that we have a story with unappealing or at least challenging (to care about) characters, most of all Dr. Sloper who has so little regard for his daughter as worth marrying for any reason but her money, or for her "liberty" in the matter. In the first installment I pounced on those crumbs of hope for Catherine's character--her childhood appetite, her red dress, her deception. But in this second installment I'm finding a too compliant daughter whose rebellion is less than mild (accepting Morris's proposal not outdoors in the Square, but in the drawing room). The only trace of that earlier sensuality is her slightly animated response to kissing.
The end of this second installment tries to muster a touch of suspense--will Catherine "retreat" or "stop," or will she elope with Morris? I'm afraid I have difficulty seeing ahead any action against her father and toward marrying Morris. But maybe that's because I'm too familiar with the dutiful daughter Pansy Osmond who follows this heroine in James's next novel.
One more thing--the narrator's voice seems to blend with Dr. Sloper's clinical gaze; neither seems to have much heart or care for these young people. Or do you see something else?
Next installment: chapters 13-18.
Serially stalled,
Susan
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