Volume 45, Number 1 · January 15, 1998
A Finished Woman
By P.N. Furbank
The Portrait of Zélide
by Geoffrey Scott, Introduction by Shirley Hazzard, afterword by Richard Dunn
Helen Marx/Turtle Point, 227 pp., $13.95 (paper)
In August 1763, James Boswell went to Utrecht to complete his education, and within hours of arriving, appalled at the prospect of spending the winter in 'so shocking a place,' he fell into the blackest depression. He believed he was going mad and would rush out into the streets, weeping and crying aloud: 'Poor Boswell! is it come to this?' He fled but returned a week or two later full of good resolutions, and by the end of October he was studying six days a week, teaching himself French, and writing verses about his love for a vrouw, a Miss Isabelle de Zuylen—a lady who 'has nothing Dutch about her but the name.'
Review, 4197 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |