Fiction, American & Canadian Literature, Fiction & Literature Classics, American Fiction, World Literature, Fiction Subjects

The American

Name: The American
Author: Henry James
ISBN: 9780140390827

by Henry James, William C. Spengemann, William Spengemann (Editor), William Spengemann

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Overview

Christopher Newman, a wealthy American businessman, descends on Europe in search of a wife to make his fortune complete. In Paris he is introduced to Claire de Cintre', daughter of the ancient House of Bellegarde, and to Valentin, her charming young brother. His bid for Claire's hand receives an icy welcome from the heads of the family, an elder brother and their formidable mother, the old Marquise. Can they stomach his manners for the sake of his dollars? Out of this classic collision between the old world and the new, James weaves a fable of thwarted desire that shifts between comedy, tragedy, romance, and melodrama - a fable which in the later version printed here takes on some of the subtleties associated with his greatest novels.

Synopsis

In this classic collision of the New World with Old Europe, James weaves a fable of thwarted desire that shifts between comedy, tragedy, romance, and melodrama.

About the Author, Henry James

Henry James was a master at tracing the social boundaries of the Gilded Age -- between Old and New World, Europe and America, desire and convention, men and women. He brought an invaluably clear-eyed, and critical, sensibility to America's evolving cultural mores.