Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 1 - Promising Others

  • Stuart Burrows, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book:
    Henry James and the Promise of Fiction
    Published online:
    26 October 2023
    Print publication:
    09 November 2023, pp 25-48

  • Summary

    My first chapter, on The Portrait of a Lady, focuses on Isabel Archer’s promise to her stepdaughter Pansy not to abandon her. Since James does not disclose what is passing through Isabel’s mind when she decides to return to Pansy’s father Gilbert Osmond at the end of the novel, we have no way of knowing whether this promise plays any part in her reasoning. The crucial point, however, is that the promise is kept regardless of Isabel’s intentions, proof. I argue, that James views Isabel’s character as itself a kind of promise, one that exceeds the novel in which she appears.