Author Description

Daisy Miller: A Study in Two Parts Henry JAMES (1843 - 1916) Daisy Miller is an 1878 novella by Henry James first appearing in Cornhill Magazine in June---July 1879, and in book form the following year. It portrays the courtship of the beautiful American girl Daisy Miller by Frederick Winterbourne, a sophisticated compatriot of hers. His pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates when they meet in Switzerland and Italy. Critical evaluation Daisy Miller was an immediate and widespread popular success for James, despite some criticism that the story was "an outrage on American girlhood". The story continues to be one of James' most popular works, along with The Turn of the Screw and The Portrait of a Lady. Critics have generally praised the freshness and vigor of the storytelling. In 1909 James revised Daisy Miller extensively for the New York Edition. He altered the tone of the story but some[who?] feel he robbed the original version of its color and immediacy.