Daisy Miller and Other Stories
The tale of Daisy's irruption into staid European society enjoyed, as did Daisy herself, a succes de scandale; and it has remained one of James'smost popular short stories. Like the others collected here - 'Pandora', 'The Patagonia', and 'Four Meetings', it describes a confrontation between different values in a changing world. Is the new independent American girl enchanting in her spontaneity, alarming in her unpredictability, or merely vulnerable in her ignorance of social codes? The Prussian diplomat Count Vogelstein would like to be in love with Pandora; but what if she addressed the Kaiser as he has heard her address the President? Hung about with male admirers who seek, uncertainly, to grasp the new phenomenon, the American girl marches on undiscourageable, to her triumphant - or tragic - destiny.