Reviews
[A] success in bringing the novel and its author into such vivid close focus... All readers of this novel feel, as Gorra says, that Isabel Archer will have 'some life beyond the words that fix her to the page'. It is a tribute to his book that he makes us feel the life, of the book and its characters and its author, so deeply. He earns the right to end with James's wonderful words, 'There is really too much to say'., ...he [Gorra] has written the kind of patient, sensitive, acute study that gifted teachers should write but rarely do., A fascinating book, not just about a storm, but about the hard-drinking, fatalistic lives of commercial fishermen and the families and friends they leave behind with each dangerous voyage., Incisive, informative and hugely entertaining. ... [N]ot only instructive and a pleasure to read, but (as Gorra doubtless intended) it also sends us back to James with a deeper appreciation for his literary technique, his painstaking approach to language and style, and above all, the genius and profundity with which he portrayed the characters who continue to populate our imaginative world and accompany us, at home and abroad., ...nobody to my knowledge has written more perceptively about The Portrait of a Lady. Gorra's reading of the novel is consistently revealing...Portrait of a Novel is not only instructive and a pleasure to read, but (as Gorra doubtless intended) it also sends us back to James with a deeper appreciation for his literary technique..., Takes the rare but wise decision to approach James through the channel of a single work... In deference to James's brilliance, Gorra has assumed the role of a professional prismatist. He peers at the book from multiple angles--those of biography, geography, publishing, textual variation, and mild erotic sleuthing, among others--as if hoping to catch it at an unfamiliar slant., Both personal and profound. Michael Gorra's intense focus on a single work reflects his deep curiosity about this novel and displays his loving scrutiny of it. Gorra's study, while keeping The Portrait of a Lady, its heroine Isabel Archer, and the years of its creation (1880-81) at its center, roams gracefully through James's life and art., Michael Gorra...has pulled off an astounding feat...in this impressive study...Gorra goes anywhere that strikes his fancy, and the result is splendid: a book to reread in years to come, a model for what criticism can do when happily married to biography., The author's encyclopedic understanding of not only James, but also his influences and contemporaries, offers a thoroughly illustrated and appropriately tumultuous picture of fiction's awkward adolescence between stilted Victorianism and modernistic messiness. The reader does not have to love or even be particularly familiar with James's work to enjoy this book; this is as much a story about the creative process itself, or the function of genius, as it is about any particular product., It is a tribute to his [Gorra's] book that he makes us feel the life, of the book and its characters and its author, so deeply. He earns the right to end with James's wonderful words, There really is too much to say., Starred review. Gorra's approach will appeal to scholars, fans of the James family and lovers of important novels and those who create them., It's hard to imagine, indeed, that there is much illumination still to offer on this particular author, or this particular book. Yet Gorra has produced a welcome new addition to the shelf., Masterly and evocative... offers an exemplary approach to what remains a complex and fascinating subject., A highly satisfying account charting the evolution of a classic... Mr. Gorra takes us along this journey of self-discovery with the erudition and friendly tone of a master essayist... It is a testament to Henry James that The Portrait of a Lady remains as powerful and as touching since its publication, and thanks to Michael Gorra's Portrait of a Novel, readers will be inspired to return to it anew with a more learned eye., In this innovative biography, written with flair and unostentatious erudition, Gorra tells the life of Henry James through the story of the composition of his novel, The Portrait of a Lady. ... The book reads like an exciting voyage of discovery. . . . Gorra's highly engaging introduction to James will be most attractive to lovers of literature who want to learn more about the craft of novel writing and will likely send readers back to the shelves to discover James all over again., Michael Gorra--one of the finest critics at work today--paves a way in this study for a new era in literary criticism, one that combines travelogue, memoir, intellectual history, close reading, and--above all--a profound sympathy for the world summoned by a major author., In his resplendent Portrait of A Novel, Michael Gorra breaks through the remoteness of the Master--that majestic but privately enigmatic figure--so that Henry James now comes to us with the sensuous immediacy of his quotidian reality: the rooms he lived in, the streets he trod, and the very texture of his inmost sensibility. Remarkably, Gorra achieves this living nearness through a deep literary mining of the heroine of a single novel: Isabel Archer of The Portrait of A Lady. In Gorra's ingenious and capacious reading, James stands before us with a clarity of seeing and feeling given to no previous biographer., Michael Gorra--one of the finest critics at work today--paves a way in this study for a new era in literary criticism, one that combines travelogue, memoir, intellectual history, close reading, and--above all--a profound sympathy for the world summoned by a major author.
