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James's THE EUROPEANS.(Henry James)(curtains as metaphor)(Brief Article)(Critical Essay)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19940622
Author:PETITJEAN, TOM

Curtains play a very important part in the life of Eugenia, the Baroness Munster, in Henry James's The Europeans. Edwin T. Bowden, in his study The Themes of Henry James: A System of Observation through the Visual Arts, explicates James's often-repeated theme of house as metaphor, discussing Eugenia's ostentatious use of curtains in chapter four of The Europeans and concluding, "But to Eugenia, whose mind never grasps the beauty of the very simplicity and lack of ostentation, the house remains forever a bungalow, a symbol not of the family's solid worth but of its lack of proper ...

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