&sq=&lang=&file=File:The_American_by_Henry_James.jpg) Cover of The American | |
| Author | Henry James |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | James R. Osgood and Company, Boston |
Publication date | 5 May 1877 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Serial, Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 435 pp |
| Text | The American at Wikisource |
The American is a novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1876–77 and then as a book in 1877.
The novel is an uneasy combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman's courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family.