Name: The Beast of the Jungle
ISBN: 9781605972039

Henry James

The Beast in the Jungle is novella by Henry James written in 1903, and firstly published as part of the collection, The Better Sort. This story deals with appropriately universal themes: loneliness, fate, love and death.

The Beast of the Jungle

chiara

It wouldn’t have been failure to be bankrupt, dishonored, pilloried, hanged; it was failure not to be anything 

CHAPTER I What determined the speech that startled him in the course of their encounter scarcely matters, being probably but some words spoken by himself quite without intention—spoken as they lingered and slowly moved together after their renewal of acquaintance. He had been conveyed by friends an hour or two before to the house at which she was staying; the party of visitors at the other house, of whom he was one, and thanks to whom it was his theory, as always, that he was lost in the crowd, had been invited over to luncheon. There had been after luncheon much dispersal, all in the interest of the original motive, a view of Weatherend itself and the fine things, intrinsic features, pictures, heirlooms, treasures of all the arts, that made the place almost famous; and the great rooms were so numerous that guests could wander at their will, hang back from the principal group and in cases where they took such matters with the last seriousness give themselves up to mysterious appreciations and measurements. There were persons to be observed, singly or in couples, bending toward objects in out-of-the-way corners with their hands on their knees and their heads nodding quite as with the emphasis of an excited sense of smell. When they were two they either mingled their sounds of ecstasy or melted into silences of even deeper import, so that there were aspects of the occasion that gave it for Marcher much the air of the “look round,” previous to a sale highly advertised, that excites or quenches, as may be, the dream of acquisition.

American Literature

The Beast in the Jungle

Joshua Line

The story focuses on John Marcher who is reacquainted with May Bartram, a woman he knew ten years earlier, who knows his odd secret: Marcher is seized with the belief that his life is to be defined by some spectacular event, lying in wait for him like a "beast in the jungle." Any profits made from the sale of this book will go towards supporting the Freeriver Community project, a project that aims to support community and encourage well-being. To learn more about the Freeriver Community project please visit the website- www.freerivercommunity.com

The Beast of the Jungle

Reviews

Popular highlights