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Henry James: The Europeans

Heteronym

New Member
I’ve been slowly reading Henry James’ novel after an inspiring article by Gore Vidal persuaded me to give the author of the awful The Turn of the Screw another try. I’m glad I did because I’m loving his novels. Henry James has some of the best prose I’ve ever seen in any American writer.

The Europeans is a very simple little book about a European baroness who comes to the New World to visit her American cousins and the problems that ensue from the two contrasting cultures. James’ powers of observation tend to the humorous, and it’s particularly funny how the Americans feel they’re not good enough to receive nobility in their midst and how they feel whatever they do is not good enough for the baroness, even though she’s always praising them (praise which they think is false).

I’m not sure the conflict James is trying to build here is genuine: the idea of the Europeans as these straightforward people unrestrained by moral mores who always say what goes on in their minds strikes me as forced. Nevertheless it just adds more fun to the book.

And is it just me or does James write women really well?
 
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