Oil and Vinegar After reading The American, I find myself with a sort of Mirror Image in The Europeans. In the former the American man, who feels boundless, explores, and gets burnt, in the Europe full of boundaries. In The Europeans, we find a couple of siblings who feel bound and look for a way out in the open and clear new world. This time there is a split, for we are talking The contraposition of America and its values and Europe and its culture is an ongoing theme in James’s works – just

“A narrow grave-yard in the heart of a bustling, indifferent city, seen from the windows of a gloomy-looking inn, is at no time an object of enlivening suggestion; and the spectacle is not at its best when the mouldy tombstones and funereal umbrage have received the ineffectual refreshment of a dull, moist snow-fall.” “I have never entertained an idea. Ideas often entertain me;"

Senryu Review:Bitchy Baronesstakes cottage in New Englandwithout saying thanks

After having read three of his (earlier) works I slowly start to understand why Henry James is called 'the Master'. Again 5 shining stars!

A brilliant short early novel by James that prefigures his concerns with the conflict between the European and American worlds. Unlike Daisy Miller and The American, James brings the Europeans to America and specifically, an America suffused with Puritan morality.Without giving away the book, the role positions have switched; here, the Americans are cold and distant and the Europeans are warmly alive. But within the romantic and economic gold digging, a gentle look into the negotiations of the h...

There's a character in What Maisie Knew who plays billiards. Not only does she beat her opponents at home, she also travels abroad to compete in tournaments. Given that the book was written in 1897, her extraordinary prowess is a little surprising. But for all her talent, she isn’t half so great at sending things flying in multiple directions as the Baroness Münster in The Europeans.The Europeans was written in 1878 but it is set thirty years earlier; the narrator tells us on the first page. So

This short novel is a delightful introduction to Henry James, especially so for readers who have avoided this author because they’ve heard he’s “difficult” or “obscure.” The story is set in mid-nineteenth century Boston and it incorporates what’s sometimes referred to as James’s “International Theme,” the dramatic conflict between American innocence and European experience. Two expatriate Americans, Felix, a happy-go-lucky artist and his sister Eugenia, a baroness married to a minor German princ...

It's been more than 20 years since I read Henry James. Too long! So good to have renewed my acquaintance!

The Europeans is an absolutely delightful novel! Fun from the first page through the last. Also, it is really more of a novella and can easily be read in one or two sittings.The Europeans is actually a 'flip', if you will, in the normal Jamesian plot-line. In other words, rather than the story of an American expatriate in Europe, this is the tale of two American expats who come back to visit family in New England. This is the story of Eugenia, the Baroness Munster, and her younger brother Felix

Will review later.

What makes Henry James so special? You take one setting, place a few persons in it and what it ends in is a really spectacular story consisting only of dialogues and a very good insight in the world and thinking of his personages. Also this story is almost a comedy on the social behaviour of europeans versus americans. The dialogues are pretty fast written; like they are spoken in a theater. It makes his works so lively.I don't know when it was written but I guess it's a rather early James. I th...

PLOT SUMMARY (CONTAINS SPOILERS)Eugenia and her brother Felix arrive in Boston from Europe. The next day Felix visits some people. The day after that Eugenia visits them. Three days later their uncle visits them. Something about a painting. Eugenia flirts with a guy. Somebody got thrown out of college for drinking, heck, I don't know. Gertrude wants to marry Mr Brand. I don’t know who those people are either. No she doesn’t , her father wants her to because he can’t marry Mr Brand. Who's he? Thi...

3.5If you are warily debating whether to read Henry James for the first time or not, this early work might be a good place to start. It reads to me as HJ-Lite: full of his ‘typical’ themes but without his so-called obfuscating prose. The final conversation between two of the characters shows off his skillful dialogue, the type where you have to read it again after getting to its end: you think the words and omissions mean one thing, but they actually mean the opposite.

3.5 stars; rounded up.A brief novella, which is effectively a comedy of manners, in which, on the surface, little happens. It reminded me of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. The plot is simple; Felix Young and his sister Eugenia are the Europeans. Felix is a painter, who lives a bohemian lifestyle. He is incessantly (nauseatingly) cheerful. His sister Eugenia is in a morganatic marriage and her husband’s family want a divorce. They lead a wandering, essentially frivolous lifestyle. They dec...

A slight thing for a summer’s evening. Nowhere near the heft in terms of intellect, emotion, or insight, of the other, later James I’ve read. He had one or two points to make, at best, and made them quite straightforwardly. The best of it: His drawing of Felix was vivid, the frustration of Gertrude was palpably real and relatable. The father who can’t/won’t make an accurate judgment on a human to save his life was believably bewildered, and capricious Eugenia who has no interest in being made un...

86th book of 2021.3.5. An interesting look at division, as with many of James' novels, The Europeans illustrates people from differing continents. Eugenia and her brother Felix arrive in New England from Europe to stay with their cousins, the Wentworths. In the beginning there is a good mass of irony and humour as the American characters imagine grand old Europe: they wonder, for example, why Eugenia does not have a French maid, presume they have big lunches and sleep in the afternoons; the iron...

5/10.Ugh. If I had not known and loved Henry James in different incarnations, this would have stopped me dead cold in my pursuit of knowing him better. I may, in fact, have to re-think all of Henry James with the taint of this on my hands. The first 20, and the last 20 pages save this from a Zero rating: something actually happens in those two tranches that lifts it above stick people speaking in wooden tones and executing wooden actions. It reminded me of childhood games where we hoisted brooms...

Deceptively slight, this early James packs a punch full of complexity and resonating depths.It is sad to see so many students on this site dismissing it as an easy, and therefore a boring and unchallenging read.God Help America!!!!1967!! Adelaide University!!Miss Sweetapple doing my first Henry James!!They were both terrifying!!!I LOVED Gertrude Wentworth, the most gutsy, rebellious and unsung of all James' heroines, as far as I'm concerned.But what is happening?? The subtlety is suffocating...b...

I've never read a Henry James book before and then I saw a copy of this book in MacLeod's bookshop in Vancouver and thought I should give it a go.Well, I'm glad I did, but I doubt I will read another book by this author.It was interesting but not gripping and I didn't feel that invested in the potential amorous outcomes. The Europeans are Eugenia, Baroness Munster, wife of a German prince who wants rid of her. She crosses the sea to America along with her brother Felix Young. They make themselve...

All I can type down now is, read this overlooked Henry James classic , watch the movie of the same name by the film makers Merchant And Ivory made in 1979 starring Lee Remick. Henry James is considered a literary master for a reason. If you watch the film you won't be able to get the beautiful music out of your head.