Henry James: The Spoils of Poynton and What Maisie Knew with Sheridan Hay (Online Only) — Sold Out

This group has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Allison Escoto at [email protected].

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Continuing the popular Henry James Reading Group, we turn to two short novels—The Spoils of Poynton and What Maisie Knew—both published in 1897. In many ways, these two novels resemble each other, and not only in their elegant, economical structure. Published consecutively, they are the first substantial works written after the collapse of James’s theatrical ambitions and herald the coming of his “late” manner. Both feature compelling heroines, wildly comic scenes, and morally devastating depictions of late nineteenth century English society.

Fleda Vetch in The Spoils Poynton, as well as the unassailable Maisie, are arguably both heroic characters who possess what James described (in a different context) as a “penetrating imagination;” an admirable trait that spares them nothing. Both novels feature familiar Jamesian themes—the ambiguity of freedom, the ironies of possession, and renunciation. The plots are easily told:

The Spoils of Poynton turns on a family quarrel between a son and his widowed mother about what sort of woman the son should marry. A woman like Fleda Vetch, capable of appreciating the exquisite, antique “spoils” collected over the mother’s lifetime, or an embarrassing, nouveau riche philistine? What Maisie Knew—James himself called his “ugly little comedy”—is told through the eyes of the child of a bitter divorce, and presents the aimless lives and messy marriages of careless, thoughtless people. Perhaps both novels are a type of horror story? Certainly, they contain monsters. It is open for discussion whether these are tales of tragic suffering or poetic justice.

We’ll spend two sessions on each novel. For the first, September 8, please read from Chapter I to the end of Chapter Twelve (XII), from page 35 to 129 in the Penguin Classic edition of The Spoils of Poynton (with an introduction by David Lodge). Please forgo James’s Preface for now.