Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Henry James claimed that he got the idea for What Maisie Knew when he overheard an anecdote about a crazy custody arrangement at a dinner party. (Source)
Before writing Maisie, James wrote a long short story called "The Pupil." It's a bit weird—not at all your typical teacher-student tale. It makes an especially good companion piece to Maisie because James sometimes thought of the two texts as complementing each other. (Source)
James was also a celebrated author of ghost stories. We recommend The Turn of the Screw in particular after Maisie because it includes a much creepier governess than Mrs. Wix. (Source)
What Maisie Knew was published in 1897, which was also the year that saw poor, misunderstood Oscar Wilde released from Reading Gaol. He'd been imprisoned for "gross indecency" and posing a moral threat to England's youth. The history of his trial, imprisonment, and death puts James's ideas about "moral sense" into a different perspective, one that's actually a little disturbing. (Source)
We've said that people took adultery more seriously when Maisie was first published than they do today. (Remember, Mrs. Wix calls Mrs. Beale and Sir Claude "criminals.") But check it out: according to this article, adultery is still technically a punishable criminal offense in 23 U.S. states! (Source)