The Reverberator
Henry James
“Francie’s fortunes are narrated with … incomparable ease, grace, and brilliancy ….” — The Nation
This short, little-known novel delivers a vicious jibe at journalistic malpractice and speaks directly to such contemporary issues as media ethics and celebrity worship. A psychologically incisive and biting story set in 1880′s Paris and written in James’s most lucid, penetrable prose, The Reverberator distills the well-loved and complex themes of the author’s major works while being wholly accessible and a vastly entertaining read.
The Reverberator will resonate strongly with Henry James fans, as well as literary fiction lovers.
HENRY JAMES was born in New York City in 1843, brother of philosopher William James. He entered Harvard Law School at 19 but soon quit to write and travel in Europe – to Paris, for example, where he met Flaubert, Turgenev, George Eliot, and Zola. Settling in London in 1876, he gained international fame with Daisy Miller, which scandalized Victorian society and sold thousands of copies. Never again would he equal its popularity, but his increasingly sophisticated and meticulously observed work, such as The Golden Bowl andThe Ambassadors, established him as the first master of psychological fiction. He died in England in 1916.
CHOIRE SICHA is a co-proprietor of the Awl.
“The critical faculty hesitates before the magnitude of Mr. Henry James’s work. … He has mastered the country, his domain, not wild indeed, but full of romantic glimpses, of deep shadows and sunny places. There are no secrets left within his range. He has disclosed them as they should be disclosed — that is, beautifully.” — Joseph Conrad
“Realism found its chief exemplar in Mr. James … A novelist he is not, after the old fashion, or after any fashion but his own.” — William Dean Howells
