Against the modern industrial backdrop of the late-Victorian culture, Henry James places Mrs. Jordan in the middle of a highly technologized London society as a florist whose aesthetic work in upper-class houses encodes sharp criticism of people’s negative attitude to nature and the ecological system they control and live in. Working as a florist, in other words, functions as an invitation to readers to reflect on the possible dangers and persistent horrors of the late-Victorian wasteland of prevalent industries of technological communication, here telegraphy. James employs Mrs. Jordan in his narrative to affirm and defend the transcendental ideals of a bygone eco-friendly human environment that discloses the continued conflict between the beautiful soul and old romantic image of nature and the agitations of the modern world in which relations and communication among late-Victorian individuals are becoming too rapidly technologized.

Title

The Comparatist

Publisher

The University of North Carolina Press

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

0.1

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

46

Year

2022

Pages

176-187