Daisy Miller

By: Henry James

Narrated by: Peter Marinker

Daisy Miller, is a novella by Henry James.

Published in 1878, portrays the courtship of the beautiful American girl Daisy Miller by Frederick Winterbourne. Winterbourne's pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates they meet in Switzerland and Italy. The novel coments on the contrast between American and European society that is common to James's work.

American-born English author Henry James (1843- 1916), was one of the founders and leaders of realism in fiction and is considered to be one of the great British novelists.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

Public Domain (P)2009 RNIB

Great story!

Where does Daisy Miller rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great story! I love Henry James and Peter Marinker's performance is very good. Nice short novella.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Daisy

What about Peter Marinker’s performance did you like?

Very well done.

Innocence and Crudity

"She seemed to him, in all this, an extraordinary mixture of innocence and crudity."
- Henry James, Daisy Miller

Who killed Daisy Miller? Americans? Italians? Americans in Europe? She was certainly killed socially by a combination of all of those, but she was killed also by her own indiffernce to what people thought of her. This novella, written in 1878, seeks to explore the interplay of social norms between Europe and America. Like many "great writers" in the late 19th Century, James' most popular novels are often his shorter one. It was cleanly written and intriguing. I'm am surprised (a bit) by how FIXATED the late 1800s were on social expectations (especially in the upper classes). I mean, I'm not REALLY surprise, but sometimes when you think you've hit the bottom, there are more stips down.

While I would always prefer to have money than not. I'm pretty sure to be an upper-class woman in the late Victorian period certainly must have sucked (that being said, being a lower-class woman in the 1800s wasn't a stroll in a Roman park either). Just look at Tolstoy's novella The Kreutzer Sonata (pub. 1889) and this one (1878). Both James and Tolstoy seem fixated on propriaty and women's place. Tolstoy was more interested in preaching and James was more interested in understanding, but still it was weird to read them so close together. I need to read about Wonder Woman next, or something where a woman isn't being judged by men (and society) beacuse she walks with an Italian or plays piano with a violinist.

Great Short American-British Classic to Listen To

I am a fan of British classic novels, and would highly recommend this one. A great and fun short novel to read and even better to listen to. Everything is as described and a twist at the end. I would read more of Henry James' novels and listen to Peter Marinker again.