The Portrait of a Lady (version 3)

Henry James (1843 - 1916)

Our central character is Isabel Archer of Albany, New York, a young woman of no great means, and no great beauty (that is, by her own estimation; others disagree) yet of rich imagination, high ideals and a thirst for knowledge of the world. Carried off by her aunt to England, she quite unexpectedly finds herself the beneficiary of a substantial legacy from her uncle, a very successful American banker in London. It will, her admiring cousin says to his father, allow her “to put a little wind in her sails” and to see the world.

Though some American reviewers rather dismissed the book when it appeared in the mid-1880s, for other readers today The Portrait of a Lady has become THE Great American Novel, or at least very close to the top. That is for a number of reasons, including among others the delineations of character and the psychological depths of the work. A few years ago, in a biographical study of James, Michael Gorra drew on it as a central work (not surprisingly his book is called Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece). James himself tinkered with it over the years, and the text here comes from the so-called New York edition of 1907-09.

Much of the action takes place in Italy, particularly n the expatriate communities of Florence and Rome. Without giving anything away, it’s worth noting that James’s ending for the novel has caused some puzzlement, not to say controversy, among readers. (Nicholas Clifford)

Genre(s): Literary Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Preface Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:43:30
Play 01 chp. 1 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:24:32
Play 02 chps. 2&3 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:34:25
Play 03 chps. 4&5 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:48:53
Play 04 chps. 6&7 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:48:00
Play 05 chps. 8&9 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:31:35
Play 06 chp. 10 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:28:33
Play 07 chps. 11&12 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:43:00
Play 08 chp. 13 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:36:13
Play 09 chp. 14 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:23:37
Play 10 chp. 15 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:35:56
Play 11 chps. 16&17; Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:44:36
Play 12 chp. 18 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:38:03
Play 13 chp. 19 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:52:26
Play 14 chp. 20 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:34:06
Play 15 chps. 21-22 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:58:24
Play 16 chps. 23-24 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:56:32
Play 17 chps. 25-26 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:48:28
Play 18 chp. 27 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:27:29
Play 19 chps. 28-29 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:37:22
Play 20 chps. 30-31 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:33:11
Play 21 chps. 32-33 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:34:11
Play 22 chps. 34-35 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:44:07
Play 23 chps. 36-37 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:48:33
Play 24 chp. 38 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:27:18
Play 25 chp. 39 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:31:28
Play 26 chp. 40 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:34:23
Play 27 chps. 41-42 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:57:52
Play 28 chp. 43 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:28:05
Play 29 chp. 44 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:36:10
Play 30 chps; 45-46 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:54:14
Play 31 chp. 47 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:34:52
Play 32 chp. 48 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:39:20
Play 33 chp. 49 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:32:08
Play 34 chps. 50-51 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
01:00:48
Play 35 chp. 52 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:27:58
Play 36 chps. 53-54 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:47:42
Play 37 chp. 55 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:37:09