Daisy Miller by Henry James

The interest for this most beloved among Henry James' novels arouse during the venture of watching the complete 'Gilmore Girls' in the short period of two months. Even though the number of literary references is overwhelming, and rather impossible to be accomplished by any who endeavor to follow them closely, this one particularly caught my attention. The episode was entitled “Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller” and involved a plot of shipping one of the main characters to the old continent. With the novel serendipitously at hand I promptly rushed to take a look at it. And I was not sorry. The story of the American flirt that puzzles and shocks everyone around her is but a fine welcome to James' work. The style is soft and vigorous, without much of adornments, but filled with refine subtleties—as expected for the time and writer. Although the narrator (a portrait of James himself, some say) was not appealing, Daisy’s freshness and mystifying naïveté is enough to keep us yearning to follow Winterbourne’s steps after another glimpse of the beauty. Criticisms generally regard the character as a symbol of innocence and lack of prejudice of the young America. However (and I’m quoting Italo Calvino here) it is a tale not less mysterious than others by this introverted writer, entirely weaved by themes that always reveal themselves amidst light and shadow, tied up by what is left unsaid.