When timid and plain Catherine Sloper acquires a dashing and determined suitor, her father, convinced that the young man is nothing more than a fortune-hunter, decides to put a stop to their romance. Torn between her desire to win her father's love and approval and her passion for the first man who has ever declared his love for her, Catherine faces an agonising dilemma, and becomes all too aware of the restrictions that others seek to place on her freedom. James' masterly novel deftly interweaves the public and private faces of nineteenth-century New York society; it is also a deeply moving study of innocence destroyed.
The shy and sweet daughter of a well-to-do physician, Catherine Sloper seems destined for lifelong spinsterhood until the sudden appearance of a dashing suitor who proposes marriage. Her adored father suspects the would-be fiance of fortune-hunting and threatens her with disinheritance, forcing Catherine to choose between lover and father.
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亨利•詹姆斯(Henry James,1843-1916),著名小说家、文艺评论家,心理分析小说的开创者。詹姆斯偏爱“国际小说”的题材,尤其擅长描写清白、丰富、民主的美国与古老、腐朽、堕落的欧洲之间的矛盾。他对人物的内心世界的刻画使他成为20世纪意识流运动的先驱。亨利•詹姆斯的创作生涯无疑是美国文学史上最长、最多产、最有影响的,他是19世纪至20世纪最伟大的散文作家与文体家之一,也被公认为运用小说艺术最巧妙的大师。
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爱情有权提出要求,凯瑟琳不知道她的权力是什么,她只知道等待別人给她出乎意料的恩赐。这种对赐福的感激使她缄默无言,因为她觉得將自己内心的秘密弄得沸沸扬扬是轻率卤莽的。
如果有人告诉她她在恋爱,她准会大吃一惊,因为据她所知,爱情是一种迫切和提出苛求的强烈情感,而此刻她心里却充满了一种自愿谦让与自我牺牲精神的冲动。
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