Experimental feature: Order Henry James : Novels 1871-1880: Watch and Ward, Roderick Hudson, The American, The Europeans, Confidence (Library of America) from the UK, Canada, Germany or France by clicking an appropriate flag below.

               

Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780940450134
ISBN: 0940450135
Label: Library of America
Manufacturer: Library of America
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 1287
Publication Date: 1983-11-15
Publisher: Library of America
Studio: Library of America

The first five novels of Henry James, presented complete in this volume, feature sparkling dialogue, masterfully timed suspense, and the romance of youthful artistic aspirations. The contrast between Europe and America, which gives a special dimension to all of James's cultural observations, is brilliantly deployed in these early works. "Watch and Ward," written when James was 28, is a Bostonian version of the Pygmalion story. In "Roderick Hudson," a headstrong and gifted young American sculptor loses his way among the temptations of Italy. "The American" was written in Paris and dramatizes a confrontation between the expatriate culture of American tourists and the protected world behind the barriers of old families and traditions. "The Europeans," by contrast, places two visiting European cousins in a pristine and conservative New England village. The little-known and charming "Confidence" is a light drawing-room comedy about the romantic entanglements of America! ns traveling through Europe.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Some great early novels by Henry James
Review: This book has five complete novels for one comparatively low price! "Watch and Ward," is a novel that James himself preferred to ignore as a youthful indiscretion, but I found it a vastly entertaining and suspenseful love story. Roderick Hudson is a compelling cautionary tale. The American is a gripping story that cries out for a movie version (in my fantasy Peter Weir would direct, and it might star Tom Cruise and Winona Ryder, although I'm sure many others would do just as well). This novel has love, a duel, a frightful skeleton in the closet, blackmail, Carmelite nuns, etc. The ending should be adjusted along the lines of the play version that James later wrote. The Europeans did not grab me, but Confidence is a delightful novel with something James later tended to avoid--a happy ending. This collection provides a lot of great novelistic entertainment for the buck. The way the Library of America does it is that for one they are non-profit, and second they use top quality thin acid-free paper, which allows them to fit five books into the space of something slightly larger than one thick paperback. The book even has a silky little bookmark to hold your place. Classy!

---

---