Unlike the routine study guide for Henry James' Daisy Miller I was expecting, Daniel Mark Fogels' Daisy Miller: A Dark Comedy of Manners is packed with insights and well-researched observations. I especially appreciated Fogels' thoughts on the novella's point of view(s) and the excerpts from travel guide books of the 19th century "selling" the various locales used in the work. It was interesting to discover that James himself used such guidebooks in his own initial European tours. This is, all in all, a well-rounded guide to Daisy Miller and I'm interested in reading the Twayne guide to The Portrait of a Lady after I've read that novel.
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