The Reverberator
Encyclopedia
The Reverberator is a short novel
by Henry James
, first published as a serial in Macmillan's Magazine
in 1888 and then as a book later the same year. Accurately described by the leading web authority on Henry James as a "a delightful Parisian bonbon," this graceful comedy
traces the complications that result when nasty but true stories about a Paris
family get into the American
scandal sheet of the novel's title.
called The Reverberator. Francie Dosson, a pretty but not always tactful American girl, confides to Flack some gossip
about the Proberts, the Frenchified (but originally American) family of her fiancée, Gaston Probert.
Predictably to everybody except Francie, the nasty gossip winds up in The Reverberator, much to the horror of the stuffy Proberts. Francie makes no attempt to hide her role in giving Flack the juicy details. Gaston is initially dismayed by his fiancée's indiscretions. But with the somewhat surprising support of his sister Suzanne, he decides to accept Francie, who never tries to shift the blame to Flack. Gaston stands up to the outraged members of his family and marries his fiancée.
himself, so he doesn't spare Francie's gaucherie in blabbing about the Proberts' dirty laundry. On the other hand, he doesn't mind drubbing the stick-necked snobbery of many members of the Probert family. In the last analysis James clearly sides with his heroine and grants her a happy ending.
Flack, the archetypical newspaper
man who can't wait to splatter the latest gossip in newsprint, comes in for a predictable trashing by James. "For the convenience of society" in identifying Flack, says James, "he ought always to have worn something conspicuous - a green hat or a yellow necktie." Francie has divided critic
s somewhat. She's honest and appealing but also naive to a fault. Gaston wavers and hesitates like many a Jamesian male, but he eventually does the right thing.
liked his younger brother's work in this "Parisian bonbon." Almost everybody concedes the novel's charm, but some have demurred at the slightness of the material. Of course, after the critical failure of The Bostonians
and The Princess Casamassima
, James might have been gun-shy about weightier topics.
In the New York Edition
preface James calls the novel a jeu d’esprit and "so slight a composition." But he then launches into a long, dense discussion of the structure, origins and characters
of the book. Let's just say that the book is a lot more fun to read than the preface, even if it's hardly of the first importance among James' works.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, first published as a serial in Macmillan's Magazine
Macmillan's Magazine
Macmillan's Magazine was a monthly British magazine from 1859 to 1907 published by Alexander Macmillan.The magazine was a literary periodical that published fiction and non-fiction works from primarily British authors. Thomas Hughes had convinced Macmillan to found the magazine. The first editor...
in 1888 and then as a book later the same year. Accurately described by the leading web authority on Henry James as a "a delightful Parisian bonbon," this graceful comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
traces the complications that result when nasty but true stories about a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
family get into the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scandal sheet of the novel's title.
Plot summary
George Flack is the Paris correspondent for an American scandal sheetScandal Sheet
Scandal Sheet is a black-and-white film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film...
called The Reverberator. Francie Dosson, a pretty but not always tactful American girl, confides to Flack some gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
about the Proberts, the Frenchified (but originally American) family of her fiancée, Gaston Probert.
Predictably to everybody except Francie, the nasty gossip winds up in The Reverberator, much to the horror of the stuffy Proberts. Francie makes no attempt to hide her role in giving Flack the juicy details. Gaston is initially dismayed by his fiancée's indiscretions. But with the somewhat surprising support of his sister Suzanne, he decides to accept Francie, who never tries to shift the blame to Flack. Gaston stands up to the outraged members of his family and marries his fiancée.
Key themes
James had no love for publicityPublicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
himself, so he doesn't spare Francie's gaucherie in blabbing about the Proberts' dirty laundry. On the other hand, he doesn't mind drubbing the stick-necked snobbery of many members of the Probert family. In the last analysis James clearly sides with his heroine and grants her a happy ending.
Flack, the archetypical newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
man who can't wait to splatter the latest gossip in newsprint, comes in for a predictable trashing by James. "For the convenience of society" in identifying Flack, says James, "he ought always to have worn something conspicuous - a green hat or a yellow necktie." Francie has divided critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s somewhat. She's honest and appealing but also naive to a fault. Gaston wavers and hesitates like many a Jamesian male, but he eventually does the right thing.
Critical evaluation
Even the ever-critical William JamesWilliam James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
liked his younger brother's work in this "Parisian bonbon." Almost everybody concedes the novel's charm, but some have demurred at the slightness of the material. Of course, after the critical failure of The Bostonians
The Bostonians
The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Century Magazine in 1885–1886 and then as a book in 1886. This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin...
and The Princess Casamassima
The Princess Casamassima
The Princess Casamassima is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1885-1886 and then as a book in 1886. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist...
, James might have been gun-shy about weightier topics.
In the New York Edition
New York Edition
The New York Edition of Henry James' fiction was a 24-volume collection of the Anglo-American writer's novels, novellas and short stories, originally published in the U.S. and the UK in 1907-1909, with a photogravure frontispiece for each volume by Alvin Langdon Coburn...
preface James calls the novel a jeu d’esprit and "so slight a composition." But he then launches into a long, dense discussion of the structure, origins and characters
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
of the book. Let's just say that the book is a lot more fun to read than the preface, even if it's hardly of the first importance among James' works.
External links
- The New York Edition text of The Reverberator (1908)
- Author's preface to the New York Edition text of The Reverberator (1908)
- Note on the various texts of The Reverberator at the Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
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