Merve Emre on The Portrait of a Lady

In his remarkable preface to The Portrait of A Lady, Henry James described the problem posed by the novel as that of “organising an ado about Isabel Archer,” “the mere slim shade of an intelligent but presumptuous girl.” James’s solution was to write arguably the greatest Anglophone novel about the development of consciousness—a novel that insists on perceiving, thinking, and understanding as events, and exciting ones at that.

Merve Emre’s seminar on The Portrait of A Lady, conducted in spring, 2025, as part of her “What Will She Do?” series of seminars, is now available for purchase—for yourself or as the perfect gift for your favorite literature lover. Your purchase comes with complete access to the four seminar sessions featuring Emre’s introductory lectures plus the lively seminar discussions. This all-inclusive package also grants access to supplementary readings and guided reading prompts curated by the seminar host, so you can dive deeper into this great classic.

This seminar package includes four one-hour sessions.