Washington Square

Washington Square by Henry James
Signet Classic, 1979
Originally published 1880
232 pages
Classic
4/5 stars

Source: Library

Although I've heard of Henry James as an intimidating literary figure, I actually had a very pleasant experience with The Portrait of a Lady and was thus eager to pick up another book by him. When at the library, I narrowed my choices down to two (short) books and selected this one due to my love of the awesome film adaptation, The Heiress, starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift (I cannot recommend this production to you enough-amazing acting!) Although I had no reason to do so, I assumed that the film was fairly accurate and approached the book with expectations about what it contained. While the film is pretty faithful, I found its ending much more satisfying although I won't spoil exactly why.

This novel is pretty simple and straightforward. A young woman named Catherine Sloper is plain but rich. Her father, Doctor Sloper, laments the loss of his beautiful wife giving birth to Catherine but does bring up Catherine. Their household is completed by his sister, the widow Penniman. The fourth main player in this drama is Morris Townsend, who pays many fine compliments to Catherine with the ultimate end of acquiring a fortune. Doctor Sloper sees this and promises the couple that if they wed, they will not receive a penny of his not insignificant fortune. This leads to Townsend breaking their engagement and Catherine remaining a spinster for the rest of her days. Several other characters play pivotal roles in this novel but overall it is a small, focused story, heavily reminiscent of a play.

Although I was familiar with the film, I still was not expecting the overwhelming sadness I felt. The comparisons to Jane Austen made me think there could somehow be a happy ending; but how do a simple young woman and a fortune hunter get a happy ending? But Doctor Sloper's obvious dislike for his daughter and her continued admiration for him and his knowledge left a sickening feeling in my stomach. The movie made Catherine even more sympathetic since she is played by the lovely Olivia de Havilland, who did her best to look plain.

And honestly my impressions of the film also overshadowed the book as a whole. I feel so bad saying that and I'm not going to say that the movie was better. But I do prefer the movie. I struggled with some of the writing as James employed some extremely long, convoluted sentences. And the characters are just so awful. When I watch the film, I at least have the ending to look forward, an original ending that James did not script.

Overall: My impressions of the film overpowered my desire to slog through James' prose and bleak outlook.

Tarzan of the Apes

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Signet,
Originally published 1914
294 pages
Classic; Adventure
4/5 stars

Source: Bought

Summary: The classic adventure of Tarzan, the child of English gentry raised by apes who combines the best of both worlds.

Thoughts: I read this for school and I was really interested to a. see how it related to our topics of imperialism and social Darwinism and b. compare it to the Disney film Tarzan.

Let's start with the second part; Disney definitely made good changes in my book.  First they made Tarzan's mother a bit stronger. In the book she basically dies of weakness; that's all.  There are not as many scenes of Tarzan fighting in the movie which would have been brutal for the young audience at which it is aimed. And the humans arrive much earlier in the film; additionally they cut out the unnecessary Mr Philander and the horrifically stereotyped Esmeralda.  Clayton, the villain in the film, is an okay guy here although obviously not as heroic as Tarzan.  The ending is also very different because this has twenty-two sequels!

As to the topics of my course, both can be seen here.  The main thread is that Burroughs constantly (or at least it feels like) praises Tarzan's white male brain as being so superior to everyone else.  He combines brutal strength with that magnificent brain in order to be king of the jungle and defeat all of his opponents.  The African tribal people we see are cannibals, superstitious, and they don't wear many (or any?) clothes. Tarzan is shown as very obviously superior in his ability to manipulate them; this ability is his because he is white.  There are other moments to mention but I don't want this to be a long academic review so I will end there.

Overall: It's an interesting adventure story with a suspenseful style but I don't love it.  Worth a read if you see it in your library but not a must.

Cover: I like the green and the tree as representative of the jungle.