Après que le maître lui eut révélé l'existence d'un "motif" dans son oeuvre, un jeune critique littéraire londonien n'a de cesse que de relever le défi, d'élucider le mystère. La quête inlassable du "tuyau" qui permettrait de comprendre le sens profond de l'œuvres du grand Hugh Vereker se transforme bientôt en une véritable obsession, pour lui, pour son ami Corvick, critique lui aussi et pour la jeune femme de celui-ci. S'ensuit un enchaînement extraordinaire d'événements, de voyages et de péripéties, conséquences d'une enquête quasi policière... C'est à vrai dire une brillante variation sur la lecture et sur le rôle de la critique que cette énigme littéraire mise en scène par Henry James.

Le Motif dans le tapis

The narrator is paying a visit to her rich cousin and discovers her secret .

Impressions d'une cousine

John Marcher attend. Il vit pénétré de la certitude que sa vie, tôt ou tard, va être bouleversée. Fascinée par cet homme si sûr de son destin, la belle et timide May Bartram décide de partager l'attente. Une amitié complice et durable naît de cette espérance commune. 
Alors que May est au plus mal, John se rend compte qu'il est peut-être passé à côté de sa vie... et d'une grande histoire.

La bête dans la jungle

This carefully crafted ebook: "The Portrait of a Lady + The Bostonians + The Tragic Muse + Daisy Miller (4 Unabridged Classics)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.
The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880-81 and then as a book in 1881. It is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James's novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James's early period, this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal.
The Bostonians by Henry James was first published as a serial in The Century Magazine in 1885-1886 and then as a book in 1886. This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.
The Tragic Muse by Henry James was first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1889-1890 and then as a book in 1890. This wide, cheerful panorama of English life follows the fortunes of two would-be artists: Nick Dormer, who vacillates between a political career and his efforts to become a painter, and Miriam Rooth, an actress striving for artistic and commercial success. A huge cast of supporting characters help and hinder their pursuits.
Daisy Miller is an 1878 novella by Henry James first appearing in Cornhill Magazine in June-July 1878, and in book form the following year. It portrays the courtship of the beautiful American girl Daisy Miller by Winterbourne, a sophisticated compatriot of hers. His pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates when they meet in Switzerland and Italy.
Henry James (1843 -  1916) was an American-born British writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.

The Portrait of a Lady + The Bostonians + The Tragic Muse + Daisy Miller (4 Unabridged Classics)

It had occurred to her early that in her position - that of a young person spending, in framed and wired confinement, the life of a guinea-pig or a magpie - she should know a great many persons without their recognising the acquaintance. That made it an emotion the more lively - though singularly rare and always, even then, with opportunity still very much smothered - to see any one come in whom she knew outside, as she called it, any one who could add anything to the meanness of her function. Her function was to sit there with two young men - the other telegraphist and the counter-clerk; to mind the "sounder," which was always going, to dole out stamps and postal-orders, weigh letters, answer stupid questions, give difficult change and, more than anything else, count words as numberless as the sands of the sea, the words of the telegrams thrust, from morning to night, through the gap left in the high lattice, across the encumbered shelf that her forearm ached with rubbing. This transparent screen fenced out or fenced in, according to the side of the narrow counter on which the human lot was cast, the duskiest corner of a shop pervaded not a little, in winter, by the poison of perpetual gas, and at all times by the presence of hams, cheese, dried fish, soap, varnish, paraffin and other solids and fluids that she came to know perfectly by their smells without consenting to know them by their names.

Dans la Cage

Henry James, le plus grand romancier américain de son époque, a durant toute sa vie voyagé en Europe comme dans son pays natal, pour promener "un désir aux yeux ouverts", désir de noter tout ce qui pouvait alimenter ses sensations, son érudition, son inspiration et ses fictions. Il a rassemblé ses notations considérables dans de mémorables essais et récits de voyage. Sous le titre de Voyages d'une vie se trouvent ici regroupés trois grands volumes : Heures anglaises (1905), Heures italiennes (1909) et La Scène américaine (1907). Heures anglaises et Heures italiennes sont des recueils de textes écrits au fil du temps, avec d'admirables variations d'humeur au gré des époques. Les "livres d'heures" étaient, à la fin du Moyen Age, des manuels de dévotion privée ornés d'enluminures. Or c'est bien une dévotion que James éprouve pour ses deux pays de prédilection : l'Angleterre, qu'en quelque sorte il a épousée, et l'Italie, qui est comme sa maîtresse idéale. Dans les Heures italiennes, il célèbre la "bienheureuse péninsule" sous ses aspects et dans ses profondeurs les plus intimes, les plus ardents, et aussi les plus sensuels. La Scène américaine est le fruit d'un périple d'une douzaine de mois qu'accomplit James en Amérique à partir d'août 1904 après plus d'une vingtaine d'années d'absence, ou plutôt, comme il l'écrit, d'"absentéisme". Il avait quitté un New York encore quasiment provincial. Il y découvre le surgissement des gratte-ciel, les flots d'immigrés de toutes origines, les constitutions de fortunes colossales, bref, l'explosion du XXe siècle et les prémices de la future domination planétaire des Etats-Unis. Ici comme en d'autres lieux, la perspicacité du regard de l'écrivain a quelque chose de prémonitoire, et par là d'intemporellement actuel.

Voyages d'une vie - Heures anglaises, Heures italiennes, La Scène américaine

Impression D'Une Cousine

Disillusioned with the harsh and competitive American business world, Christopher Newman travels to Europe for an extended holiday with the intention of finding a wife. When he meets the beautiful Claire de Cintré, he thinks he has found the woman he is looking for, but soon finds that European society has poses its own obstacles to his plans. Although The American was well-reviewed and popular at the time of its publication, Henry James later returned to the work, making a large number of revisions for a 1907 edition. This digital version is the original unrevised publication from 1877. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

The American

While on a trip to Switzerland, Frederick Winterbourne is introduced to a young, beautiful American named Daisy Miller. Although Daisy has a reputation for being frivolous and flirtatious, Winterbourne is intrigued by her, so when the two meet again in Rome, he takes an interest in the rumours about her behaviour and, against wiser counsel, becomes involved once again with her. Despite being criticized for how Daisy's character portrayed American values at the time, Daisy Miller was an immediate success and remains one of Henry James' most popular works. In 1909, James adapted the story into a dramatic work of the same name with an alternate conclusion. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Le Motif dans le tapis

Résumé

Plus de livres de Henry James

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