Henry James. The Bostonians. 1886, Penguin, 1986.

I recall once having a conversation with an English professor about Henry James. She said she loved reading Henry James because the stories are told in a very leisurely manner, as though the reader has all the time in the world. “Nothing much happens,” she said, “but it is great how it’s told.”

That is a good way to describe The Bostonians. There is a lot of detail, especially much discussion or analysis on what the characters are thinking, especially the three main characters: Verena Tarrant, Olive Chancellor, and Basil Ransom. All three are single young adults; the two ladies are indeed from Boston, as are most of the other characters, and most of the action is set in Boston with major interludes in New York and on Cape Cod.

Even though this is set in the late 1870s, this reader realizes that the character of “proper Bostonians” has not changed that much. I confess that I read much of this as satire, ironic, but satire nevertheless. Historian Paul Jehle has noted that when the Puritans abandoned their Christian orthodoxy, they still maintained behaviors of their Puritan background. They were looking for new intellectual challenges. They experimented with other religions and philosophies. And they were still looking for causes to advocate and believe in.

With a few technological tweakings (automobiles, telephones, etc.) a story like The Bostonians could happen today. In the first part, we are introduced to a group of Boston blue-bloods who attend salons and lectures and are truly looking for causes. Slavery has been abolished, so many of the former abolitionists have taken up new causes. While some discuss mesmerism, spiritualism, and prohibition, the cause this novel focuses on is feminism.

By feminism, I do not merely mean women’s suffrage, but what today we sometimes call second generation feminism—that women are superior to men and can do perfectly well without men. Miss Olive Chancellor is a big advocate of that position. She takes the younger Miss Verena Tarrant under her wing. Miss Tarrant is the daughter of a fairly popular mesmerist and spiritualist. She has performed for her father occasionally.

A performance at a salon gets the attention of Olive. Verena is attractive with a lovely speaking voice, and the spirit she supposedly channels is a feminist spirit. Olive sees the two of them developing an intimate relationship and having Verena lecture around the country promoting women’s rights.

Verena’s performance at the same salon also gets the attention of Basil, Olive’s cousin from Mississippi. He is no Bostonian. He is a veteran of the Civil War, on the side of the Confederacy. While he accepts the defeat and freedom for the slaves, he sees things from a more traditional, conservative perspective. He sees Verena as a beautiful young, unattached woman with a lovely voice and personal charisma. He is smitten with her and wants to get to know her better.

That, honestly, is what most of The Bostonians is about. We see Olive, somewhat in the background, grooming and encouraging Verena. We see Basil attempting to woo Verena in fits and starts. Basil is a gentleman and attractive himself. Olive’s widowed older sister, Mrs. Luna, likes him and hopes to hire him as a tutor to her son. Basil has read the law and is beginning a law practice in New York City. Like many new business ventures, his practice also moves in fits and starts.

Much of the satire comes from the self-assurance, perhaps even arrogance, that many of the Bostonians have about themselves and their worldview. Basil really does not fit. Not only is he more polite, but he is very skeptical about all the things it seems the Bostonians hold dear: Transcendentalism (Emerson is admired, Thoreau imitated), socialism (Brook Farm also is admired), spiritualism, feminism, séances, and lectures on all of the above. Still, he is polite and even equanimous about these things.

Verena has numerous gentlemen callers and admirers. She is familiar with the Harvard campus where it seems that most of these young men have studied. Basil believes that if he can honorably get Verena to see the error of her beliefs, he can win her heart. We also note that Olive is determined to have nothing to do with men. Olive even refuses to have much of anything to do with her cousin who has moved north.

Much of the conflict and satire come from the differing worldviews. You have the position of Olive with her moral superiority, if not self-righteousness, contrasted with the more traditional views of Basil. The true psychological conflict is with Verena, who wants to support the “right” causes like her parents and Olive but who also finds Basil attractive and gentlemanly.

The wooing and the analyses go back and forth fairly slowly. At times it does seem that this could be another Pride and Prejudice. But then the climax hastens the pace as things come to a head with all three of the young people: Verena is now speaking at a standing-room-only venue, and there is a sense that all three are losing something.

The Bostonians may require more patience than some readers have today, but it is worth wading and waiting. It also is a satirical portrait of an urban elite that really has not changed much in a century and a half. Henry James still gets it.