{"product_id":"washington-square-3","title":"Washington Square","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction and Notes by Ian F.A. Bell, Professor of English Literature, University of Keele.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWashington Square\u003c\/em\u003e marks the culmination of James''s apprentice period as a novelist. With sharply focused attention upon just four principal characters, James provides an acute analysis of middle-class manners and behaviour in the New York of the 1870''s, a period of great change in the life of the city. This change is explored through the device of setting the novel''s action during the 1840s, similarly a period of considerable turbulence as the United States experienced the onset of rapid commercial and industrial expansion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough the relationships between Austin Sloper, a celebrated physician, and his sister Lavinia Penniman, his daughter Catherine, and Catherine''s suitor, Morris Townsend, James observes the contemporary scene as a site of competing styles and performances where authentic expression cannot be articulated or is subject to suppression.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57317185978750,"sku":"NW9781840224276","price":6.15,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781840224276.jpg?v=1778649411","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/washington-square-3","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}