Notes Introduction to the Study of Literature in English, Lecture Annex Daisy Miller PDF

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DAISY MILLER (1878)

Mode ( method of representation)  realism associated w/t novel (19th c.)psychological realism in “Daisy Miller”emphasis o/t mental reality, what’s going on i/t mind of ppl. Thus, not an objective representation of reality. The writers try 2 give us the illusion of reality 3 characteristics: - illusion of reality - always an ethical angle (mental reality of characers who seem 2 struggle wt norms & angles) - a lot of theatricality  melodrama (now soap)strong feelings & behaviour  post-romanticism? -> extreme behaviour of romanticism is toned down, less obstructive. History of mental reality in literature: End 18th c.  “psycho-narration” (3rd person describes many of characters) Starts to change! 1820’s

 J. Austen already works with “narratial monologue” (free indirect discourseinternal focalization)

1857

 Flaubertfree indirect speech  James Joyce: stream of consciousness (narration is absent) (interior monologue)

Daisy Miller in love with Winterbourne?  not easy 2 say* – through his eyes , he is defined by indecision why?  aunt= moral code (Victorian code of conduct) Daisy (= distinguishing herself; this is the problem Winterbourne has with her). Winterbourne has a reason to act cowardly, a social reason, he can’t afoord 2 ignore the moral code which guides his behaviour, code which prevents them to come 2gether: - she can’t say ‘come on, get going, Winterbourne!’ - he can’t get going (society prevents him) * realism: characters viewed thourhg different angles. 1st parag. : narrator is also determined by the code! (James may not be).  we have to figure it all out  just like with Walt Whitman. We can see what Winterbourne sees by following his image of Daisy. Earnestness in Winterbourne and Wilde: social conduct, believing in a Victoria ‘ideology’vanuit hun warden gezien, zijn de anderen onbeschoft  Daisy= “little” flirt (eigen schuld, of weet zij wat ze doet?) licht over belangrijke dingen gaan en belangrijke dingen benadelen  parodie of Victoriaanse waarden arts for art’s sake

Tesame: how do we construct ourselves?

In many early works James drew from personal experience and observation to focus on perhaps his most celebrated theme: the conflict between European and American culture. is his best-known story in this vein; the title character is a young American woman oblivious to the social codes of the Old World.  She is contrasted with the American expatriate character of Winterbourne, a man who harshly judges Daisy's alleged social transgressions at the expense of his love for her. His complex and deft portrayal is considered essential to understanding the tension between old and new, conventionality and individuality, Europe and America, and appearance and reality in the novella. This short story serves as both a psychological description of the mind of a young woman, and an analysis of the traditional views of a society where she is a clear outsider. Henry James uses Daisy's story to discuss what he thinks Europeans and Americans believe about each other, and more generally the prejudices common in any culture. In a letter James said that Daisy is the victim of a "social rumpus" that goes on either over her head or beneath her notice.

The names of the characters are also symbolic. Daisy is a flower in full bloom, without inhibitions and in the springtime of her life. Daisy contrasts sharply with Winterbourne, who is more ambivalent and unwilling to commit to any relationship. Flowers die in winter and this is precisely what happens to Daisy, after catching the Roman Fever or, to put it more bluntly, the attention of foreign men. As an objective analogue to this psychological reality, Daisy catches the very real Roman fever, the malaria that was endemic to many Roman neighborhoods in the 19th century....