Product Description

The Awkward Age(1899), written at a time when female emancipation and the double standard were subjects of fierce debate, is the most remarkable example of James's dramatic method. The novel traces the experiences of 18-year-old Nanda Brookenham, exposed to corruption in the salon of her youthful, 'modern' mother, who, in maintaining a circle where talk is shockingly sophisticated, 'must sacrifice either her daughter or...her intellectual habits'. Does Nanda reach maturity and self-knowledge in the lively company of handsome, genial Vanderbank, whom she loves, and of ugly, intelligent, parvenu Mitchy, who loves her? Or is she a symbol of sterile idealism, as she clings to old Mr Longdon, with his memories of Nanda's grandmother, and of an aristocracy once untouched by money-troubles and dubious French novels? A sense of suppressed violence lurks behind this powerful story of virginal innocence and its importance in the marriage market.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #594692 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

From the back cover....
`May fairly be considered one of James's major achievements' -- F. R. Leavis in The Great Tradition

Companion in theme, period, and setting to What Maisie Knew, THE AWKWARD AGE is another of Henry James's studies of innocence exposed to corrupting influences.

Nanda Brookenham is `coming out' in London society. Thrust suddenly into the vicious, immoral circle, which has gathered round her mother, she even finds herself in competition with Mrs Brookenham for the affection of a man she admires. The plot is almost entirely propelled by dialogue.