36 pages 1 hour read

Henry James

Daisy Miller

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1878

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Background

Authorial Context: The Ambiguity of Henry James

Henry James was born in New York, New York, in 1843. Throughout his life, he often straddled the boundaries of geographical places, social changes, and even sexual identity. This ambiguity and “both/and” nature of James’s life gave him unique authority to illustrate the themes in Daisy Miller.

While James was born in New York, he and his well-known and wealthy family spent a lot of time in the intellectual social circles of Massachusetts and traveled often to Europe. His father encouraged his children to pursue higher education and travel widely. Like Winterbourne in Daisy Miller, Henry James spent much of his formative years and early education in Europe; he and his brother, William, also studied at Harvard, his brother becoming known as the “Father of American Psychology.” James’s knowledge of upper-class American society, as well as European sensibilities and the conflicts that can arise when the two collide, appear in the writing of Daisy Miller. James eventually spent so much time in England that he became a British citizen in 1915, the year before he died. A citizen of both countries, James was neither wholly American nor English.

Though James and his family were certainly wealthy and well-known, like blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text

Related Titles

By Henry James

SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Henry James
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Henry James
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Henry James
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Henry James
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Henry James
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Plot Summary
Henry James
Guide cover placeholder