In Henry James’ short novel Daisy Miller: A Study (1878), a very contemporary young American woman travels with her family to Vevey, Switzerland, and Rome, defying contemporary mores and insisting upon doing what she wants. Demanding personal agency, she loses the opportunity to encounter European culture–which leads to her tragic end. In this talk, John Pfordresher explored some of the problems which emerge from a culture of encounter as they are found in Henry James’ short novel.
This event was sponsored by the Future of the Humanities Project and the Georgetown Humanities Initiative at Georgetown University with Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. It is part of the series Cultural Encounters: Books that Have Made a Difference.
