Rose in Bloom vs The Portrait of a Lady

Rose in Bloom

Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Roosevelt Richards

1876

Rose in Bloom is a sequel to Eight Cousins. The story begins when Rose comes back from a long trip to Europe. Everyone is well altered and as a joke, when she arrives home, she lines up her seven cousins to take a long look at them, just as they did to her when they first met. Rose Campbell, the heroine of the story, is sweet, kind, pretty, and ambitious. She is an heiress just come of age, and struggles with the many suitors she attracts by learning to judge love versus those who regard her only as "a good match."

The Portrait of a Lady

Henry James

1881

HENRY JAMES (1843-1916), was born in New-York. His father was a writer in theology and his elder brother, William, was a philosopher. From 1865 he was a regular contributor of reviews and short stories to American periodicals. His first piece of fiction, "Watch and Ward", appeared in 1871, followed by "Transatlantic Sketches" and "A Passionate Pilgrim" in 1875. His first important novel was "Roderick Hudson (1876). For more than 20 years he lived in London, and in 1898 moved to Lamb House, Rye, where his later novels were written. At first he was concerned with older civilization of Europe, and to this period belong his novels "Daisy Miller" (1879) and "Portrait of a Lady"(1881). In "The Tragic Muse" (1890), "The Spoils of Poynton"(1897), and "The Awkward Age" (1899), he analyses English character. With "The Wings of the Dove" (1902), "The Ambassadors" (1903), and "The Golden Bowl" (1904), he returned to the theme of the contrast of American and European character. In 1915, Henry James became a British subject, and in 1916 was awarded the OM.