THe Heiress

Washington Square 

by Henry James

“Don’t underestimate the value of irony—it is extremely valuable.”

― Henry James, Washington Square

My first exposure to Henry James's art was in Washington Square. I bring this up because the first time I saw James in a dramatic setting was during a performance of "The Heiress" by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. In 1947, they had adapted James's short story. The play had gained popularity among high school students by the late 1960s, which is how I first came across it and, indirectly, Henry James. James first serialized his book in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1880. It is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble.

The book is sometimes compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was hardly a great admirer of Jane Austen, so he might not have regarded the comparison as flattering. In fact, James was not a great fan of Washington Square itself. He tried to read it over for inclusion in the New York edition of his fiction (1907–1909) but found that he could not, and the novel was not included. Other readers, though, have sufficiently enjoyed the book to make it one of the more popular works of the Jamesian canon. Its popularity may have been enhanced by the stage adaptation "The Heiress" by Ruth and Augustus Goetz.

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