Procure Daisy Miller. O Coardă Prea întinsă Composed By Henry James Distributed As Softcover

nuvelei Daisy Miller este similară celei din romanul nu mai puţin celebru Portretul unei doamne pericolul pe carel reprezintă pentru tinerele americance propria lor naivitate, Nuvela urmăreşte destinul acestei naivităţi americane” pe pământ european, naivitate care o va face pe eroină săşi piardă reputaţia şi, în cele din urmă, viaţa, în încercarea de aşi împlini idealul: libertatea individuală.


O coardă prea întinsă stă sub semnul fascinaţiei răului, manifestat prin apariţii misterioase, întro casă liniştită, dar care pare bântuită de fantomele trecutului.
First published in magazine form in, Daisy Miller is a novella that must strike modern readers very differently from their counterparts a hundred and forty years ago.
Now, the very idea of a young lady seeking the company of pleasant young men seems unremarkable in Western society, but then for one such as Daisy to do so unchaperoned, and especially against all advice and convention, would have been regarded as not only unrespectable but also reprehensible.


In the outraged reactions of those who observed Daisy's unconventionality James may have expressed closet anxieties over his own acceptance as an American in Europe, for he had only recently settled in England his many extended stays in Europe which included Switzerland and Italy had given him plenty of opportunity for observing how New World visitors were received in the Old World.
But of course Daisy Miller is much more than autobiography dressed up as fiction,

In Switzerland the faintly effete Frederick Winterbourne makes the acquaintance of a young compatriot from New York State, Randolph, on the shores of Lake Geneva Winterbourne is much struck by Randolph's sister Daisy who, despite appearing diffident intrigues him very much.
Winterbourne is aware of a need for propriety but his piqued curiosity contrasts with the blunt attitude of his aunt Mrs Costello: she is of the opinion that Daisy, along with her mother and brother, is 'very common' and therefore to be shunned.
The Miller family have a European courier, Eugenio, who familiarity with the trio also elicits the contempt of Mrs Costello, Against his aunt's advice Winterbourne takes the young lady unchaperoned to visit the Castle of Chillon,

The play of characters in this Victorian drama can be plotted on a graph with a pair of axes: one axis runs from restrained to exuberant, the other from natural to cultivated.
Opposites sometimes attract and Daisy's natural exuberance clearly draws Winterbourne's attention, his own aloofness being a product of an upbringing which prized social restraint,

From the shores of Lake Geneva in summer we shift to Italy in winter, where Winterbourne again encounters Daisy Miller and her family among the American colony in Rome.
Here he discovers Daisy exciting disapproval from his friend Mrs Walker because not only is Daisy displaying inconduite but she is associating with Giovanelli, an Italian of no social standing, in flagrant violation of cultured American mores.
Winterbourne is finally persuaded that she is beyond the pale when he spots her alone with Giovanelli in the Colosseum one moonlit night,

Some of James' contemporaries would have thought that Daisy deserved what was coming to her, that the tragic denouement was only fitting given her insouciant behaviour, But James is more subtle than a superficial reading might suggest: what is the novel judging, Daisy's waywardness or Winterbourne's late rush to judgement Daisy's innocence or her being treated as an outsider by Americans abroad It's clear that James is positing the clash of different worlds and different ways of thinking.


Those clashes fit into a carefully plotted timeline, replete with significant names and places, We travel eastwards, from Schenectady, New York to Vevey and Chillon in Switzerland for the first two chapters, which take place in June, For the next two chapters we're wintering in Rome, in January, and even here the action moves steadily eastward from near the Villa Borghese to the Palatine, then the Colosseum, before heading south to the Protestant cemetery on the banks of the Tiber.


The movement through space is therefore paralleled by the change of season, signposted by James' choice of names, Daisy is a common or garden flower, entirely fitting for someone called 'very common' or 'uncultivated' by her detractors, It is also primarily a spring and summer plant, immediately identifiable, leading to Mrs Walker, Winterbourne's married friend, remarking that elle s'affiche, 'she advertises herself'.
'Miller' may also be seen as a derogatory term, as millers were frequently seen as rogues or swindlers in the days when farmers took their grain to be ground into flour.


Winterbourne however sees Daisy as a refreshing change true, she is more a 'flirt' than a coquette, but he finds her diverting enough, One can imagine him seeing her as one of the goddesses or nymphs treading the floral meadow in Botticelli's celebration of Spring, La Primavera,

Ironic then that the snooty courier who looks after the requirements of the Millers in Europe is Eugenio, whose name means 'wellborn', Eugenio it is who in Rome introduces Daisy to Giovanelli, a young man whose name clearly derives from Italian giovane, meaning young, However, in Rome it is winter, and however much Daisy wants to keep her freshness, and youth, and innocence, the time proves awry: Winterbourne whose name refers to a stream which flows during wet seasons turns against her his friends have already given her the cold shoulder.
The promise of Roman carnival dissipates in the sickly atmosphere, the chilly contagion of Swiss Calvinism finds its consummation in the cimitero dei protestanti,

If Daisy Miller is an indictment, I don't think James saw it as leading to a condemnation of the sensitive young woman who seemingly lacked sense more it was uptight folk who thought themselves better for being 'cultured' and who looked down their noses at those who didn't act comme il faut.
Winterbourne, the ostensible standin for the author, in fact proves a cad, dallying with Daisy's expectations: James ultimately shows him up for what he is, someone who 'studies' hard at getting himself 'a very clever foreign woman', preferably one who is unlike Daisy older than himself.
Is that less reprehensible than Miss Miller looking for pleasing companionship

This edition of Daisy Miller is paired with The Turn of the Screw and supplemented by an essay, first published in, by Carol Ohmann: in this she argues that the novella's apparent unevenness arose because James began writing it "as a comedy of manners and finished it as a symbolic presentation of a metaphysical ideal.
He began by criticising Daisy in certain ways and ended simply praising her, "

It ceases therefore to be a study as advertised in the first edition and more a warm evaluation of Daisy's natural qualities, In this respect I'm sure we moderns will be more inclined to agree to sympathise with Daisy than many Victorian readers did, I did not read 'Daisy Miller' because I've no interest in it, so these four are solely for 'The Turn of the Screw',

I love a good short story, and I love horror, so it stands to reason I love a good ghost story, I've read a fair share of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories, and, though entertaining, I usually don't find them very good, They're predictable and not very scary, and read like an anecdote a friend tells you at a party though if a friend actually told you such a story at a party, it would be creepy because it would have actually happened and to someone you know.


'The Turn of the Screw' has its faults, The governess needs a paragraph for every sentence spoken, every gesture made, because she finds them all so meaningful, In a way, this story could have been shorter, But unlike so many of the ghost stories of its time, 'The Turn of the Screw' has two things going for it: depth and ambiguity,

What is really going on Are the ghosts real, or the invention of a sexuallyrepressed and bored governess whose sole desire, though she can't admit it, is to see her employer whose sole demand is that she never, ever bother him What exactly happened to the children, and, for that matter, to Miss Jessel

This is what makes this story good, and what makes it worth rereading.
Daisy Miller
The Turn of the Screw I dont know which I like more daisy miller or the turn of the screw
Both left me with a lot to think about Overburdened by density of language.
Dull characters. Just too damn stuck up, If you don't mind oozing aristocracy and extremely insipid female characters portayed by an author hell bent on runon sentences that are filled with gratuitous double and triple negatives.
. . Charming Daisy Miller: From the moment the reader is introduced to the character of Daisy Miller, it is clear she is a headstrong, outspoken, sure of herself woman.
She is a breath of fresh air and the way she is written in particular added to my overall enjoyment of the story, This was penned inand I can see why it has stood the test of time, It isnt your average romance tale and ends rather quite tragically, But, it is also quite a humorous take on a classic romance story, That balance is what made it enjoyable for me,
I really do like how Winterbourne really doesnt seem know what to make of Daisy, it is his interest in her that drives the story,

The Turn Of The Screw: I am very familiar with the story of this old ghost tale, and with Netflixs The Haunting Of Bly Manor freshly in my mind, I thought it the perfect time to set upon reading this.
At times I did feel perplexed by the skittish narrative, as the young governess descends into paranoia and despair,
The governess is certain that the estate is haunted and desperately wants to spare her young pupils of any harm,
The verbosity can be distracting from the overall story at times, this made it harder for me to follow than the usual pieces of classic literature Ive read.
I have been spoilt by the ghost stories of MR James, I definitely do think this would have benefited from being slightly shorter in length as well,
The intrigue and subtext made it slightly more enjoyable, and upon finishing it, I felt torn between which rating to give it,


In conclusion, I give Daisy Miller stars and The Turn Of The Screw stars, Daisy Miller:./
The Turn of the Screw:/

Daisy Miller was a bit, slow, Overall good and interesting in talking about fantastical people who dont really exist in that way, But didnt give me too much to hang on to or make me ponder on after finishing the story,

The Turn of the Screw on the other hand was beautiful, It very much gives you what you are expecting, Haunted children being creepy. It does deliver on that, Just like in most other classics, the horror elements are tame to the most of us in our current day and age, And yet there is a clear uneasiness with it all, The main character is very much set in her ambition to help the children while also being at clear uneasy with their behaviour, So it very much begs the question "how far will you go to help them" which is really quite interesting,
Also just seeing how the kids behave and manouver around the adults is compelling to get into,

Overall this little collection was nice, Its short and can be enjoyed easily,
Maybe not for people to start off with classics though, Since Henry James does enjoy his long, intertwined, 'please put a full stop somewhere sir', sentences, Daisy Miller was not bad, if glaringly outdated, but I really had to drag myself through The Turn of the Screw, which sucks because I was looking forward to that one.
James writing is TOO extra, I feel like he was a real “well, actually” kind of guy, I read Daisy Miller completely but it is too dated and the story didnt impress me, Turn of the screw was boring and I couldnt even understand what the author was saying as his English is too complicated, It again started with a woman and her love for a man, I DNFed this novella as I lost interest after trudging through Daisy Miller and her lovers,
Daisy Miller is a woman with lot of boyfriends and she likes flirting, The main protagonist likes her and tries to “protect” her from other men, eyeroll. And then one day she dies, End of story. I didnt even understand the point of this long drawn story, No entendí nada, pero lo disfruté Oh dear, i didn't love this and i wanted to so so much, It had such a slow build up that when things started to happen my mind was already wandering, i do appreciate i haven't been 'in the zone' recently with my reading and haven't given this the proper attention it deserves, But still. I did on the other hand love Daisy Miller the book and the character and likened the book a lot to the stuffy, humorous, pretentious and foreboding characters from 'Washington Square.
' It made the whole book worthwhile to me, It is so interesting to read a book from a bygone era! I'm torn between barely being able to follow the flowery prose, to being amused by the vast cultural differences between then and now.
Turn of the Screw is so gothic and full of pathos, . . yet a little comical to my modern ears, Daisy Miller is really humorous, given the way norms of comportment have shifted so dramatically! If only we could be somewhere between the puritanical uptightness of then and the wanton promiscuity amp abandon of today! Worth a read for the historical romp

in any case!.