What Maisie Knew (Oxford World's Classics)

What Maisie Knew (Oxford World's Classics)

by HenryJames (Author), Adrian Poole (Editor)

Synopsis

What Maisie Knew (1897) represents one of James's finest reflections on the rites of passage from wonder to knowledge, and the question of their finality. The child of violently divorced parents, Maisie Farange opens her eyes on a distinctly modern world. Mothers and fathers keep changing their partners and names, while she herself becomes the pretext for all sorts of adult sexual intrigue. In this classic tale of the death of childhood, there is a savage comedy that owes much to Dickens. But for his portrayal of the child's capacity for intelligent 'wonder', James summons all the subtlety he devotes elsewhere to his most celebrated adult protagonists. Neglected and exploited by everyone around her, Maisie inspires James to dwell with extraordinary acuteness on the things that may pass between adult and child. In addition to a new introduction, this edition of the novel offers particularly detailed notes, bibliography, and a list of variant readings.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Published: 07 May 1998

ISBN 10: 0192835912
ISBN 13: 9780192835918

Author Bio

Adrian Poole is Reader in English and Comparative Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation, and he is the editor of The Aspern Papers and Other Stories in World's Classics.