The inadequate substitute

SECOND READING: Washington Square By Henry James. BEAUTY WITHOUT wealth is difficult, but to be rich and unattractive may prove far more testing. Catherine Sloper is the daughter of a successful physician. Dr Austin Sloper, however, is not sympathetic to his daughter, whose existence he considers a disappointment.

Her mother, his wife, was charming, beautiful and possessed of a fortune that helped establish the young Dr Sloper. Alas, tragedy struck and the couple's firstborn, "a little boy of extraordinary promise, as the Doctor, who was not addicted to enthusiasm, firmly believed, died at three years of age . . . " Within two years, another child was born, "an infant of a sex which rendered the poor child, to the Doctor's sense, an inadequate substitute for his lamented first born." A week after this birth, the young mother dies, leaving Dr Sloper a widower.

The opening paragraphs of this taut novel, set in mid-19th-century New York, demonstrate the architectural precision that Henry James applies to characterisation, and also the polite irony that shapes his vision of mankind. "For a man whose trade was to keep people alive he had certainly done poorly in his own family; and a bright doctor who within three years loses his wife and his little boy should perhaps be prepared to see either his skill or his affection impugned. Our friend, however, escaped criticism; that is, he escaped all criticism but his own, which was much the most competent and most formidable."

What follows is a cool, elegant work shaped by the personality of the doctor, which is brilliantly compounded by the wry tone of James's narrative voice: "The world, which, as I have said, appreciated him, pitied him too much to be ironical; his misfortunes made him more interesting, and even helped him to be the fashion." Having set out to "make the best" of the child that is left to him, Dr Sloper waits until Catherine, named of course in honour of her dead mother, reaches the age of 10.

Then he invites his sister, Mrs Lavinia Penniman, childless widow of an impoverished clergyman to visit. Once settled at the Sloper residence, Mrs Penniman, makes no attempt no leave. "Try and make a clever woman of her, Lavinia," requests Sloper. "I should like her to be a clever woman." The doctor decides quite early on that his foolish sister will try, by the time Catherine reaches the age of 17, to convince her that "some young man with a moustache is in love with her."

James ensures the reader knows that Sloper is certain that no man will ever love his daughter. It is as brutal as that. As for Catherine, she is a mild, dull individual, guilty only of devoting her pocket money "to the purchase of cream cakes" and to later acquiring a doubtful fashion sense. James makes no attempt to present Catherine as a girl either crushed by, or resentful of, her father's attitude. Therein lies the genius of Henry James. Instead we see Catherine attracting the attention of the handsome, entertaining and opportunistic Morris Townsend, intent on her fortune. Dr Sloper intervenes, bringing Catherine with him to Europe. Mrs Penniman believes in the "romance" and sustains Townsend during Catherine's absence. Claiming he wishes only to protect her inheritance, Townsend weds elsewhere.

Years later, it is Catherine who stands firm. Published in 1880, Washington Square contains the seeds of the early masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady, which was to follow within a year..

This is a weekly series in which Eileen Battersby revisits titles from the literary canon