{"product_id":"9781840224276-washington-square","title":"Washington Square","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDr Sloper is disappointed in his dull daughter, Catherine, a mediocre replacement for his beautiful and intelligent wife who died soon after childbirth. Yet, as Sloper threatens, beguiles and dictates to his daughter, he discovers in Catherine a pale reflection of his own obdurate character.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction and Notes by Ian F.A. Bell, Professor of English Literature, University of Keele.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWashington Square\u003c\/em\u003e marks the culmination of James's apprentice period as a novelist. With sharply focused attention upon just four principal characters, James provides an acute analysis of middle-class manners and behaviour in the New York of the 1870's, a period of great change in the life of the city. This change is explored through the device of setting the novel's action during the 1840s, similarly a period of considerable turbulence as the United States experienced the onset of rapid commercial and industrial expansion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough the relationships between Austin Sloper, a celebrated physician, and his sister Lavinia Penniman, his daughter Catherine, and Catherine's suitor, Morris Townsend, James observes the contemporary scene as a site of competing styles and performances where authentic expression cannot be articulated or is subject to suppression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40945575559265,"sku":"9781840224276","price":4.89,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_30106109.jpg?v=1726732942","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781840224276-washington-square","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}