The Chaperon

James, Henry, 1843-1916Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 92K words
Chapters: 10

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Chaperon by Henry JamesAuthor: James, Henry, 1843-1916,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 2001

Editor's review

Henry James's The Chaperon is a quintessential novella of the "international theme," centering on a widow who returns with her daughter to European society. On the surface it concerns courtship and companionship, yet beneath it lies a finely observed study of class, propriety, and moral hypocrisy. Its value lies in James's signature psychological realism: the plot advances not through density of incident but through the tension of probing, surmising, and self-persuasion in dialogue and silence. Its highlight is the shifting narrative perspective and its irony—readers should note who observes whom, and who performs for whom. As a public-domain eBook, it suits sustained reading in quiet, uninterrupted stretches, or as supplementary material for a seminar on realism and the psychological novel in English and American literature; read alongside James's mid-period works, it better reveals the maturing of his narrative craft.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love English and American literary classics and enjoy close attention to character psychology
Literature students studying Henry James's narrative technique and the "international theme"
Readers interested in courtship and social etiquette in late nineteenth-century European and American high society
English learners seeking short classic texts among public-domain eBooks

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers who prefer strong plots and fast pacing
Readers impatient with long sentences and indirect narration, or accustomed to skimming
Beginners who need Chinese annotations or sentence-by-sentence explanation to read an English original

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the character relationships, then revisit key dialogues and note shifts in the narrator's tone
As you read, note who "sees" whom and who "performs" for whom, to clarify the layers of observation and irony
Read alongside other James novellas and short stories to compare how his psychological portraiture develops
For the English original, consult a reliable translation to check difficult sentences, but do not let the translation replace close reading of the original

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not really. James's long sentences and indirect narration demand strong reading skills, and beginners can easily get lost in the syntax. It is better to start with a simplified or Chinese translation before attempting the original.

Do I need to know other works by Henry James to read this book?

No. The book can be read on its own, but if you have read his "international theme" works, it is easier to understand his ongoing concern with European-American cultural differences and social hypocrisy, and the reading resonates more.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This is a public-domain eBook offering the English original, free to access and easy to search and copy; but it usually has no modern annotations or introduction, so readers should prepare their own background material and note that formatting varies by device.

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About the author

James, Henry, 1843-1916 Author

Henry James (1843–1916) was a novelist born in the United States who later became a British citizen, known for his psychological realism. He advances his narratives through his characters' consciousness and moral dilemmas, in a delicate, restrained style with carefully crafted sentences, often using limited points of view to leave meaningful gaps. His works frequently explore themes such as the collision between European and American cultures, marriage and freedom, and innocence versus worldly sophistication. The collection holds 81 of his works, including the two-volume The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, The Beast in the Jungle, and the novella The Turn of the Screw. These works range from novels to novellas and show his fine, detailed portrayal of inner life across different lengths. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted, but these works alone reveal his important place in the tradition of psychological narrative in English literature.