Daisy Miller/The Real Thing

Henry James was as careful about naming his characters as are brand-new parents. His innocent young heroine, a blossom of American civilization, reminded him of the wildflowers that covered the American fields in June…hardy and bright, but uncultivated.James created Daisy as a “child of nature and freedom.” She deliberately defied European conventions and for her troubles became the literary toast of two continents. Not incidentally, she made her creator instantly famous.THE REAL THING, published in 1892, is one of James’ most reprinted tales; a fable of the reality of the imagination and the insubstantiality of the “real.”