The Europeans
By Henry James
4/5
()
About this ebook
Felix Young and his sister the Baroness Munster descend upon their Puritan cousins, the Wentworths, in the Arcadian setting of the New England countryside of mid-nineteenth century America. The inevitable clash between European epicureanism and Puritan restraint ensues, providing humour, paradox, and some revealing insight.
Truly one of James's masterpieces, The Europeans constitutes a dazzling performance of delicacy and wit.
Henry James
Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.
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Reviews for The Europeans
4 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I always enjoy James's ability to capture the subtleties in his characters, to the point where as to what they are thinking or feeling - the reader must almost have an intuition more than a knowledge of what will happen next. The Baroness's interest in Robert is dubious as is Robert's; Felix and Gertrude finally come together but in a most unorthodox fashion. Only Charlotte and her clergyman seem an obvious fit, but it's one that will seemingly never happen!Of course, my favourite are all the half-said words and little piques, which are a careful observation of society and its mores. The pitting of Americans and European is charming albeit sometimes stereotypical, but created a great backdrop for all the romantic intrigues.A light, delightful, little book in James's traditional style.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This well crafted (1878) novella was intended as a comedy, contrasting European values and manners with those of more puritanical Americans. While I can appreciate James's written style, his comedic intentions fell a little flat with me, most likely due to differences in our times.I found most of the characters too lightly drawn to sympathise with or particularly like. I can see how James intended us to laugh at them, particularly the haughty, fortune-hunting Baroness. In my view, she is too easy a target, and more to be pitied as James dooms her to a loveless end as pennance for her defects of character.There is a delicate art to creating characters who can be laughed at, heartily, but without cruelty. P.G. Wodehouse and George Bernard Shaw are two of its masters. I'm not convinced about James, despite his other literary talents.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Felix Young, a dilettante artist, and his sister Eugenia—Baroness Münster—descend on their American cousins the Wentworths. Eugenia is looking for money—she is about to be put away by her husband, the younger not the reigning Prince of Silberstadt-Schreckstein. Felix falls in love with Gertrude Wentworth, the younger, less attractive sister, easily taking her away from the dour young minister, Mr. Brand. When Felix tells Mr. Brand that the older sister Charlotte loves him, he becomes reconciled to the fact that Gertrude doesn’t, and eventually marries Charlotte.Meanwhile, will Mr. Acton marry the Baroness? Has she sent the letter agreeing to her marriage’s annulment? She says yes, but Acton finds out she lies. She goes back to Europe, mumbling about having gained nothing.The Wentworths live a straight-backed, spare life, though rich. They don’t seem to know how to take pleasure. Gertrude is different and suspects there is more out there; she ends up turning the tables on the clever Europeans by using Felix to get what she wants: to see the world. There is a subplot involving young Clifford Wentworth, who eventually marries Acton’s sister, but whom Eugenia tries to use, telling Acton the boy is in love with her. He isn’t, and candidly answers Acton’s questions about himself and Eugenia; thus Acton finds out that Eugenia lies.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A delightful and delicate tale of how two branches of a family (one unsophisticated, upright New Englanders one sophisticated, upright Europeans) come together to their mutual confusion and ultimate benefit (well benefit to some!). I had never thought of Henry James as a humourist but there is one scene towards the end of this book that had me laughing out loud.