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Book Review: A Foregone Conclusion
Nov. 30th, 2019 08:34 amWilliam Dean Howells’ A Foregone Conclusion is a weird book. The “foregone conclusion,” possibly, is that befriending Catholic priests always ends in tears, for the priest more than anyone else. At any rate, that’s certainly how things work out in the book.
Alternatively, the internet tells me the title is a quote from Othello, and there are points where the story echoes that play: the Venetian setting, the theme of jealousy. But on the whole, it’s certainly not close enough to call a retelling.
The story is a love triangle between the American consul to Venice, Ferris, who is also a painter; an American expatriate girl, Florida Vervain (named after the state of her birth); and Don Ippolito, a skeptical Venetian priest who would really rather throw over his priesthood and go to American to invent things.
( Spoilers )
Alternatively, the internet tells me the title is a quote from Othello, and there are points where the story echoes that play: the Venetian setting, the theme of jealousy. But on the whole, it’s certainly not close enough to call a retelling.
The story is a love triangle between the American consul to Venice, Ferris, who is also a painter; an American expatriate girl, Florida Vervain (named after the state of her birth); and Don Ippolito, a skeptical Venetian priest who would really rather throw over his priesthood and go to American to invent things.
( Spoilers )
