Study Group Details
690: Portraits of a Lady: Henry James and Beyond
Thursday1:45 - 3:15
Starting March 07
In-Person
Reading Henry James is not for everyone, but for those who delight in the power of his characters and the subtlety and rhythmic narrative pace, Portrait of a Lady is one of the best. This class will revel in the portrait of Isabel Archer, “a modern woman whose fate did not necessarily depend on marriage and sex, but on her freedom of choice,” a choice we watch in alarm, a drama for the ages. We will read James’s most successful novel and John Banville’s 2017 “epochal act of imitation, salutation, and imagination,” sequel, Mrs. Osmond, and will perhaps see scenes from films based on James’s complex, heartbreaking novel. Discussion will focus on Isabel, but it will also involve studying the differing styles of the two authors.
This study group is new
Class Type: Reading and Discussion
Class Format: TBA
Hours of Reading: 2-3 hrs/week
Study Group Leader(s):
Eleanor Heginbotham
Eleanor Heginbotham, PhD, Professor Emerita, CSP, has taught American Literature classes at American University/OLLI most years (14) since her retirement from teaching around the world. She has published on Emily Dickinson and others, but with James she returns (as she hopes you will) to a book that awed her over half a century ago.
Reading List
The Portrait of a Lady (Henry James) | ISBN: 9780141441269 | Required
Mrs. Osmond (John Banville) | 2017: Vintage International | ISBN: 9781101972892 | Required