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Available
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Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1985), Paperback, 208 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: Henry James, the nineteenth-century American writer who was lauded for his skill with insightful, elegantly styled prose, was fascinated by the differences between Americans and their European counterparts. This theme was a feature of many of his works, including the novella The Europeans. In this text, James takes a comic approach to highlighting the stark contrasts between the two cultures..
User reviews
LibraryThing member Figgles
A 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
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scene towards the end of this book that had me laughing out loud. Show Less
LibraryThing member ritaer
More of James' china doll people, with their fine heads but dead sawdust bodies.
LibraryThing member literarysarah
This slim book (James called it a "sketch") focuses on the interactions between a pair of rather hard-up cosmopolitan European siblings and their rich but puritanical American cousins. The "charming" Eugenia's dithering about whether to marry a somewhat less provincial American supposedly provides
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the dramatic tension. Everyone else in the story pairs off and marries in a mundane fashion. I'm honestly a little puzzled why this ho-hum book is still in print. Show Less
LibraryThing member michaelm42071
Felix 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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member seabear
I thought most of the characters were rather insipid, except Felix and Mr Brand. But I liked it more than "Portrait of a Lady".
LibraryThing member MrsPlum
This 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
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.
I found most of
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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.
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LibraryThing member Cecilturtle
I 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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member devenish
On a basic level this is a story of two Europeans,Felix Young and his sister Baroness Eugenia Munster visiting their well-off American relatives. The family consists of father William Wentworth and his two daughters,Gertrude and Charlotte,plus a son, Clifford.
As is usual with Henry James, we have
A very pleasant read.
As is usual with Henry James, we have
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here an extremely well written book in which very little happens. After much social by-play,most of the characters marry to mutual advantage.A very pleasant read.
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LibraryThing member Carmenere
I rather liked this story. Some liken James to Jane Austen. In my opinion, this novella seemed more like a Shakespearian Comedy where characters are thrown together and torn apart all orchestrated by the Baroness Munster aka Eugenia and her brother Felix who have come to Boston for money and love
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but, instead, creates chaos for those seemingly attached. Written in the usual late 19th century prose but readable non the less.Edit | More
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LibraryThing member christinejoseph
19th c. — Europeans in America
psychological novel — 1/2 truth — 1/2 lie
Baroness + Felix — staid NE family in awe of European Cousins —
Eugenia, the daughter of American expatriates, is the morganatic wife of a German prince, who is being urged to divorce her in favor of a state marriage.
psychological novel — 1/2 truth — 1/2 lie
Baroness + Felix — staid NE family in awe of European Cousins —
Eugenia, the daughter of American expatriates, is the morganatic wife of a German prince, who is being urged to divorce her in favor of a state marriage.
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She and her artist brother, Felix, travel to Boston to meet distant cousins relatives, partially in hopes of making a wealthy marriage. Show Less
LibraryThing member proustitute
Perhaps the weakest of his early novels, even including his first, disowned novel Watch and Ward, despite the fact that James's skills have developed quite a bit with Roderick Hudson and The American to allow a nice interplay between exposition and dialogue.
At times, The Europeans feels like a
Here, though, James was confined by two things: his editor wanted a short, 100-page piece after his lengthy previous novel; and his editor also wanted a happy ending—so we have a very compressed plot, with some of the most interesting characters we've yet encountered in James's novels (the Baroness Münster; her brother, Felix; the rebellious, free-spirited American, Gertrude; and some others who don't quite come off the page), which feel, in the novel's quickness and brevity, to be mere caricatures than deftly-drawn characters. And we have an Austenian end that comes far too abruptly and leaves the reader entirely without satisfaction after the drawn out games, intrigue, and sly subterfuge that's come before it.
All in all, though, it's an intriguing experiment in James's oeuvre, in that he tends to focus much more on Americans abroad; here, we have Europeans in America, so we see that inverted: it's not so much how Americans are polluted by (and how they pollute) Europe and the Old World traditions, but rather, how the Old Word can influence them all the same, even on their own soil.
If anything, this proves that James works best with large canvases, as in his finest novels of the late period. Still, this is an interesting, if minor, inversion of The American, if a bit stale and lackluster.
At times, The Europeans feels like a
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play—or else that it would work better as a play. We all know that James tried his hand as a playwright with Guy Domville and flopped, almost never recovering from that public failure. In later works, we can see the "playwright" James more seamlessly weaving his novelistic vision in works like The Awkward Age, which is more dialogue than anything else: a script lacking stage directions, and often lacking clarity on who's speaking. Ah, Jamesian ambiguity at its finest!Here, though, James was confined by two things: his editor wanted a short, 100-page piece after his lengthy previous novel; and his editor also wanted a happy ending—so we have a very compressed plot, with some of the most interesting characters we've yet encountered in James's novels (the Baroness Münster; her brother, Felix; the rebellious, free-spirited American, Gertrude; and some others who don't quite come off the page), which feel, in the novel's quickness and brevity, to be mere caricatures than deftly-drawn characters. And we have an Austenian end that comes far too abruptly and leaves the reader entirely without satisfaction after the drawn out games, intrigue, and sly subterfuge that's come before it.
All in all, though, it's an intriguing experiment in James's oeuvre, in that he tends to focus much more on Americans abroad; here, we have Europeans in America, so we see that inverted: it's not so much how Americans are polluted by (and how they pollute) Europe and the Old World traditions, but rather, how the Old Word can influence them all the same, even on their own soil.
If anything, this proves that James works best with large canvases, as in his finest novels of the late period. Still, this is an interesting, if minor, inversion of The American, if a bit stale and lackluster.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
One of the lesser-known or read of the novels of Henry James, this is not without interest for the reader who chooses to enter the realm of this fine author.
Language
Original publication date
1878
Physical description
208 p.; 5.06 inches
ISBN
0140432329 / 9780140432329