“The American” by Henry James.
As the title indicates, the novel, which is very Victorian, is about "The American," one Christopher Newman, who, while immersing himself in European culture as a change from making millions in industry, has the audacity to set his sights on marriage with a noble French women. But the woman in question is not just noble in her character; she is "noble" in the sense of having a title. Her mother is a marquise, her brother is a count, and the family is unhappy about the courtship with a man they consider so beneath them. Of course, being American, he doesn't feel inferior to anyone, and so he pursues his beloved, not understanding the undercurrents of tradition and status that threaten to undermine his goal. Some have suggested the thrust of James' theme was a refutation in response to Alexander Dumas' play L'Entrangere which depicted Americans as crude and disreputable.
This is James at the best of his earlier period, where he was exploring the naïve American in Europe, packing enormous meaning in every sentence, but before he began with the super subtle detail and very long and complex sentences that characterize his later works like; A Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl.
It’s quite a subtle and clever tale; it’s not quite a doomed romance, for there’s little indication that Newman and Claire really love each other. The romance in fact does not become romantic until it becomes tragic.
Claire de Bellegarde had been previously married to a much older aristocrat who had the grace to die quickly on her. She finds Newman novel and he finds her ideal, but would they make a happy couple? And as the book is told mostly from the viewpoint of Newman, it requires reading between the lines to see just what a bumbler the tall, rich, confident American is when it comes to European social traditions. Finally, there is deep suspense when Newman has the chance to damage the Bellegardes’ reputation. James draws the question out masterfully, and provides a very correct, if bittersweet, ending. It’s a fine novel of manners, written in skillful, deft prose.
What is so odd about this book is that, despite its title, it is very unclear, by the end of the novel, who is the winner; the likable, resourceful American or the stuffy, class conscious Europeans. But having said that, “The American” is an interesting melodrama; a tale of American sensibility: integrity, individualism, democratic manifestations, optimism, and blessed idealism. One could almost say that Christopher Newman is the American archetype, precursor to Gatsby, both of them embodying a romantic ideal that is now lost. It is also, always interesting to see how a man reacts to the novel experience of being deceived by an ancient French family. To be honest at times Newman really got on my nerves. He was too positive. He liked everything. He liked everyone. Even worse, he trusted everyone. And, that proved to be his error.
James has some really astute comments on the American temperament vs. the European, but he also has within it a contest of human will and his frank, hard moral outlook is bad wins over good, but what good brings to the fight is never enough, because it always wants it less or without the restrictions. So really, Charles Newman never had a chance because of his less cynical nature.
I've learned with these older novels not to pre-judge. Henry James’s “The American” is the incredible counter to someone like Austen here. Though inescapably narrow with its white Christian old world Europe versus White Christian new world America, James is able to work in an astonishing amount of depth and clarity regarding the two begrudgingly allied spheres. A marriage and its potential ramifications is given geopolitical and even pseudo biblical pathos as the tenets of human feeling are slammed against the (at times) paradoxical senses of class difference, blood purity, lineage, and the acquisition of wealth and power.
Along with all of this, “The American” is funny too. For a start, antiquated English is such a joy, and like Austen it made me wonder if I was supposed to laugh at some characters playing with tea-cups in elbow length gloves, whereas with James it made me genuinely chuckle at how ridiculous it is that folk put on airs simply because the concept of playing dress up never truly leaves some people.
Finally, the book helped give me direction for my own writing. Like Newman, I have worked most of my life, made a lot of money and am now facing the question of “What now?” Let me illustrate from a small extract.
“It had come back to him simply that what he had been looking at all summer was a very rich and beautiful world, and that it had not all been made by sharp railroad men and stock-brokers.”
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