Henry James and Beethoven: The Critique of Bildung and Pure Sound in The Portrait of a Lady

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores the influence of Beethoven on The Portrait of a Lady and how the novel critiques contemporary beliefs about pure music, asserted by critics such as George Grove, editor of Macmillan's Magazine where the novel was serialized. By considering the serial structure of the novel, the article argues that The Portrait , much like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," questions its own formal ideals and unsettles its Bildungsroman structure that parallels the sonata's tripartite formation. The Portrait problematizes the self's ultimate union with the world, undermining the idea of transcendence that the Beethovenian sonata and Bildungsroman were believed to inspire.