The American**Key Facts**

The American

Henry James





Key Facts




full title ·
The American




author · Henry James



type of work · Novel



genre · Romantic tragedy; travelogue;
regional novel; novel of nineteenth-century aristocratic French
society; cross-cultural encounter



language · English



time and place written · Paris (with interludes in greater France) and London, 1875—1877



date of first publication · Published serially in the Atlantic Monthly,
June 1876—May 1877; first published in volume form in May 1877 by James
R. Osgood and Co., Boston; significantly revised by the author in 1907
and published in its current form



publisher · Charles Scribner's Sons, New York (1907 edition)



narrator · The narrator is objective and detached, with occasional bursts of omniscience



point of view · The narrator speaks in the
third person, objectively describing the actions and thoughts of
Christopher Newman. The narrator has no access to scenes that Newman
does not witness, but often looks more carefully and candidly than
Newman at the scenes that transpire. With exceptions, Newman's thoughts
and motives escape the narrator.



tone · The narrator's tone is delicate,
detached, discreet and erudite. The narrator speaks of Newman as of a
close friend, whose thoughts and motives may be reliably but never
completely guessed. The narrator is evidently quite worldly, speaking
with a sophistication and depth well beyond Newman's own.



tense · Past



setting (time) · May 1868 and the several years thereafter



setting (place) · The majority of the novel
takes place in Paris, France, though the narrative also travels
throughout continental Europe, to London, and from New York to San
Francisco.



protagonist · Christopher Newman, an American visiting Paris



major conflict · Newman, in search of the
perfect wife to complete his fortune, wants to marry the beautiful
aristocrat Claire de Cintré, but her domineering mother and older
brother cannot reconcile themselves to the prospect of accepting a
nouveaux-riches American businessman into their family



rising action · Newman's arrival in Paris;
Mrs. Tristram's suggestion that Newman meet Claire; Valentin's
endorsement of Newman's cause; Newman's declaration of love to Claire;
the Marquise and Urbain's agreement to allow Newman to woo Claire;
Claire's acceptance of Newman's hand; the arrival of Lord Deepmere; the
Bellegardes' ball; Valentin's departure for a duel



climax · Claire's renunciation of her engagement to Newman under pressure from her mother and brother



falling action · Valentin's death; Claire's
flight to the nunnery; Newman's discovery of the Bellegarde family
secret; Newman's confrontation of the Bellegardes; Newman's trip
abroad; Newman's visit to the nunnery; Newman's decision to renounce
revenge



themes · The role of misperception in the
cultural divide between Europe and America; personal happiness vs.
family duty; the depth and force of cultural difference; the oppressive
weight of tradition; the vulgarity of money



motifs · Parables, episodes, and anecdotes;
physical travel and emotional displacement; formalism and ritual vs.
spontaneity and directness; narrative repetition and foreshadowing;
female purity and sacrifice vs. male self-destruction, art as a mirror
of narrative events; the nuance of elaborate social rituals



symbols · The walls of the Carmelite
convent; letters and written communication; the hearth fire; Noémie's
copied paintings; Newman's gaudy apartment; the Occidental Club; the
opera boxes; the duel; the walled Bellegarde mansion; the Bellegarde
retreat at Fleurières



foreshadowing · Newman's story of his failed
business revenge, related to Tom Tristram at the novel's beginning;
Valentin's offer to show Newman the house and his claim that he will
get his own fun out of Newman's courtship; the opera Don Giovanni; Mrs.
Tristram's report of Claire weeping during confession; the agitated
scene between Lord Deepmere and Madame de Bellegarde at the Bellegarde
ball, and later between Lord Deepmere and Claire; Newman's comparison
of Noémie to the young Marquise de Bellegarde; Newman's sudden rush
down the hill at Valentin's funeral.



enjoy reading!