''Watch and Ward'' is a short

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, first published as a serial in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' in 1871 and later as a book in 1878. This was James'

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, though he virtually disowned the book later in life. James later called ''

Roderick Hudson ''Roderick Hudson'' is a novel by Henry James. Originally published between January and December 1875 as a serial in ''The Atlantic Monthly'', it is a bildungsroman that traces the development of the title character, a sculptor. Plot summary Row ...

'' (1875) his first novel instead of ''Watch and Ward''.

Plot summary

Wealthy and leisured Roger Lawrence adopts twelve-year-old Nora Lambert after her father kills himself in the hotel room next to Lawrence's. Roger had refused financial assistance to the man, and he feels remorse. Nora is not a pretty child but she soon starts to develop, as does Roger's idea of eventually marrying her. Unfortunately for Roger, once Nora matures into a beautiful young woman, she is attracted to two other men: worthless George Fenton and the somewhat

hypocritical Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is th ...

minister, Hubert Lawrence (Roger's cousin). After various adventures Nora winds up in the clutches of Fenton in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but Roger comes to her rescue. Roger and Nora marry in a conventional happy ending.

Key themes

The melodramatic doings in ''Watch and Ward'' probably caused James some embarrassment in later years, and it's easy to see why he disowned the book and spoke of ''

'' as his first novel. Still, many critics have pointed out that melodrama always held a certain fascination for James. ''Watch and Ward'' is only a particularly gauche example. James' technique is primitive at such an early stage of his career. Nora's development into the beautiful swan from the ugly duckling is told rather than shown, and Fenton is a stock

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

of the most routine kind. Still, hints of the master-to-be are apparent from the well-described scenes of New York low life and the charm that Nora eventually displays. A

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

ous side note is some of the erotic language that James slips into the novel. At one point Roger "caught himself wondering whether, at the worst, a little precursory love-making would do any harm. The ground might be gently tickled to receive his own sowing; the petals of the young girl's nature, playfully forced apart, would leave the golden heart of the flower but the more accessible to his own vertical rays."

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

and

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

were uncomfortable with such

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory ima ...

, though Henry might have enjoyed their uneasiness.

Critical evaluation

Critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

s have almost unanimously agreed with James' disowning of ''Watch and Ward'' as his first novel in favor of the infinitely more substantial and impressive ''

''. While Nora gets kudos as a pleasant enough ingénue, the other characters are forgettable and the

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

is too often silly. James did revise ''Watch and Ward'' for book publication in 1878, so he wasn't completely ashamed of it at that point in his career. But he dropped the novel from his 1883 collective edition and soon seemed to want to forget about it completely.

References

* ''The Novels of Henry James'' by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983) * ''The Novels of Henry James'' by Oscar Cargill (New York: Macmillan Co., 1961)

External links

* *
Original magazine publication of ''Watch and Ward'' (1871)

Variorum edition of 1871 magazine and 1878 book versions of ''Watch and Ward''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watch And Ward 1875 British novels 1875 American novels Novels by Henry James Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The Atlantic (magazine) Novels about orphans 1875 debut novels