Guide Note:
The Bostonians, by Henry James takes place in the middle 1800's. A politically challenging post civil war period, the 1800's was also a time when women were beginning to fight for their rights with the suffragette movement.
The story begins with cousins, Basil Ransom and Olive Chancellor attending a political meeting where Verena Tarrant is speaking on women’s rights. Verena catches the eye of both Basil and Olive. Olive sees her talents as being potentially very helpful in her cause of women’s rights, while Basil finds her very attractive and someone he wants to get to know better. The cousin's conflicting causes regarding Verena, leave Olive and Basil vying for the primary position in Verena's life.
Although the story revolves around the three primary characters, author Henry James manages to develop many other interesting personalities as well. In doing so, he puts to rest his critic’s opinions that he can only deal with small bits of humanity in his writings.
This novel was met with much disdain at its publication. In later years, however, it was revered as a work that creatively dealt with very sensitive subjects. Henry James left questions unasked and answers unspoken as to Olive Chancellor's real intentions regarding Verena's place in her life.
Fast Facts:
- Author: Henry James
- First Published: 1886
- Was initially published as a magazine serial
- Genre: Bitter/sweet tragic Novel
- Setting: Boston, Massachusetts just after Civil War
- Moderator: Rotating First Person
- Themes: Politics |Feminism
- Was not received well by contemporary critics
- Later critics praised this work
- Film adaptation released in 1984
Popular Passages:
- "it was just perceptible enough to light up the native gravity of her face. It might have been likened to a thin ray of moonlight resting upon the wall of a prison".
- "Verena inquired, ending, as she always ended in these few speculations, with an appeal to Olive. This young lady thought it necessary to give her a very firm answer, "I always feel it, everywhere, night and day,I feel it now, here...."
- "..if anything could be worse than what had gone before; and Olive took her hand with an irresistible impulse of compassion and reassurance. From the way it lay in hers she guessed her whole feeling......"
