Watch and Ward

Last updated

Watch and Ward
Watch and Ward.JPG
First edition
Author Henry James
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHoughton, Osgood and Company, Boston
Publication date
29 May 1878
Media typePrint (serial)
Pages219

Watch and Ward is a short novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1871 and later as a book in 1878. This was James' first novel, though he virtually disowned the book later in life. James later called Roderick Hudson (1875) his first novel instead of Watch and Ward.

Contents

Plot summary

Wealthy and leisured Roger Lawrence adopts twelve-year-old Nora Lambert after her father kills himself in the hotel room next to Lawrence's. Roger had refused financial assistance to the man, and he feels remorse. Nora is not a pretty child but she soon starts to develop, as does Roger's idea of eventually marrying her.

Unfortunately for Roger, once Nora matures into a beautiful young woman, she is attracted to two other men: worthless George Fenton and the somewhat hypocritical minister, Hubert Lawrence (Roger's cousin). After various adventures Nora winds up in the clutches of Fenton in New York City, but Roger comes to her rescue. Roger and Nora marry in a conventional happy ending.

Key themes

The melodramatic doings in Watch and Ward probably caused James some embarrassment in later years, and it's easy to see why he disowned the book and spoke of Roderick Hudson as his first novel. Still, many critics have pointed out that melodrama always held a certain fascination for James. Watch and Ward is only a particularly gauche example.

James' technique is primitive at such an early stage of his career. Nora's development into the beautiful swan from the ugly duckling is told rather than shown, and Fenton is a stock villain of the most routine kind. Still, hints of the master-to-be are apparent from the well-described scenes of New York low life and the charm that Nora eventually displays.

A humorous side note is some of the erotic language that James slips into the novel. At one point Roger "caught himself wondering whether, at the worst, a little precursory love-making would do any harm. The ground might be gently tickled to receive his own sowing; the petals of the young girl's nature, playfully forced apart, would leave the golden heart of the flower but the more accessible to his own vertical rays." William James and William Dean Howells were uncomfortable with such imagery, though Henry might have enjoyed their uneasiness.

Critical evaluation

Critics have almost unanimously agreed with James' disowning of Watch and Ward as his first novel in favor of the infinitely more substantial and impressive Roderick Hudson . While Nora gets kudos as a pleasant enough ingénue, the other characters are forgettable and the plot is too often silly.

James did revise Watch and Ward for book publication in 1878, so he wasn't completely ashamed of it at that point in his career. But he dropped the novel from his 1883 collective edition and soon seemed to want to forget about it completely.

Related Research Articles

<i>Sense and Sensibility</i> 1811 novel by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is the first novel by the English author Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne as they come of age. They have an older half-brother, John, and a younger sister, Margaret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry James</span> American and British writer (1843–1916)

Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.

<i>Madame Bovary</i> 1857 novel by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary, originally published as Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners, is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1857. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life.

Gerald de l'Etang Duckworth was an English publisher, who founded the London company that bears his name. Henry James and John Galsworthy were among the firm's early authors.

<i>The Portrait of a Lady</i> 1881 Novel by Henry James

The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of James's most popular novels and is regarded by critics as one of his finest.

<i>White Palace</i> (film) 1990 film by Luis Mandoki

White Palace is a 1990 American erotic romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki. It stars Susan Sarandon, James Spader, Jason Alexander, Kathy Bates, Steven Hill, Jeremy Piven, and Renée Taylor. It was written by Ted Tally and Alvin Sargent, based on the novel of the same name by Glenn Savan.

The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the "new" world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July–October 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication.

<i>Roderick Hudson</i> 1875 novel by Henry James

Roderick Hudson is a novel by Henry James. Originally published between January and December 1875 as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, it is a bildungsroman that traces the development of the title character, a sculptor.

<i>The Princess Casamassima</i> 1886 novel by Henry James

The Princess Casamassima is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1885 and 1886 and then as a book in 1886. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The book is unusual in the Jamesian canon for dealing with such a violent political subject. But it is often paired with another novel published by James in the same year, The Bostonians, which is also concerned with political issues, though in a much less tragic manner.

<i>The Tragic Muse</i>

The Tragic Muse is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1889–1890 and then as a book in 1890. This wide, cheerful panorama of English life follows the fortunes of two would-be artists: Nick Dormer, who throws over a political career in his efforts to become a painter, and Miriam Rooth, an actress striving for artistic and commercial success. A cast of supporting characters help and hinder their pursuits.

<i>The Sacred Fount</i> 1901 novel by Henry James

The Sacred Fount is a novel by Henry James, first published in 1901. The book follows an unnamed narrator at a weekend party in the English countryside as he attempts to discover the truth about the love lives of his fellow guests. The Sacred Fount is the only one of James's novels written in first person. Since its publication it has received mixed responses from critics, and it was not included in James's New York Edition, the edition of his work he considered definitive.

<i>The Other House</i>

The Other House is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in the Illustrated London News in 1896 and then as a book later the same year. Set in England, this book is something of an oddity in the James canon for its plot revolving around a murder. The novel was originally planned as a play called The Promise. James sketched a scenario for the play in 1893, but it didn't interest theater managers. In 1896 James converted the scenario into The Other House for publication in a popular weekly magazine. He converted the novel back into a play in 1909, but it again failed to be produced.

<i>Bill the Conqueror</i> 1924 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Bill the Conqueror is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 13 November 1924 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the United States on 20 February 1925 by George H. Doran, New York, the story having previously been serialised in The Saturday Evening Post from 24 May to 12 July 1924.

<i>Alibi</i> (play) Play written by Michael Morton

Alibi is a 1928 play by Michael Morton based on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a 1926 novel by British crime writer Agatha Christie.

<i>The Europeans</i> (1979 film) 1979 film based on the Henry James novel directed by James Ivory

The Europeans is a 1979 British Merchant Ivory film, directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on Henry James's novel The Europeans (1878). It stars Lee Remick, Robin Ellis, Tim Woodward and Lisa Eichhorn. It was the first of Merchant Ivory's triptych of Henry James adaptations. It was followed by The Bostonians in 1984 and The Golden Bowl in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William M. Fenton</span> American politician

William Matthew Fenton was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He is the namesake of the city of Fenton, Michigan.

<i>Overture to Death</i> 1939 novel by Ngaio Marsh

Overture to Death is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1939. The plot concerns a murder during an amateur theatrical performance in a Dorset village, which Alleyn and his colleague Fox are dispatched from Scotland Yard to investigate and duly solve.

<i>Griffith Gaunt</i> English novel by Charles Reade, 1866

Griffith Gaunt, or Jealousy is an 1866 sensation novel by Charles Reade. A best-selling book in its day, it was thought by Reade to be his best novel, but critics and posterity have generally preferred The Cloister and the Hearth (1861).

This is a list of the works of Henry James, an American writer who spent the bulk of his career in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gertrude Fenton</span> British writer

Gertrude Fenton, was an English novelist and magazine editor. She specialised in writing popular romantic fiction and published four novels between 1869 and 1871. Her most popular novel was her first Cora; or,The Romance of Three Years: A Novel.

References