He was a very prolific writer. He published as many as three volumes in
twelve months. Year after year, with few exceptions, he brought out either
a novel, a book of essays, or a volume of short stories. His most
interesting novels are _Roderick Hudson_ (1875), _Daisy Miller: A Study_
(1878), _The Portrait of a Lady_ (1881), and _The Princess Casamassima_
(1886).
_Daisy Miller_ is a brilliant study of the Italian experiences of an
American girl of the unconventionally independent type. She is beautiful,
frank, original, but whimsical, shallow, and headstrong. One minute she
attracts, the next moment she repels. One feels baffled and provoked, but
is held to the book by the spell of a writer who is clever, intellectual, a
master of style, and a skilled scientist in dissecting human character. In
_Roderick Hudson_ and _The Portrait of a Lady_, the characters are much
more interesting, the situations are larger, the human emotion deeper, and
the books richer from every point of view. These novels also show Americans
in European surroundings. Isabel Archer and Ralph Touchet in _The Portrait
of a Lady_ have qualities that deeply stir the admiration and emotions.
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