The American by Henry James
"The American" is a novel by Henry James, published in 1876, focusing on Christopher Newman, a wealthy American businessman who travels to Paris to refine his aesthetic sensibilities and seek a wife. The narrative begins with Newman meeting Mlle Nioche, a young copyist, who introduces him to her father, a struggling shopkeeper, marking the start of Newman's interactions with the local culture. As he navigates the complexities of Parisian society, he becomes enamored with Claire de Cintré, a widow from an aristocratic family, whose past marriage has left her with a deep-seated aversion to marriage.
Despite his wealth, Newman faces resistance from Claire’s family, particularly her brother, the Marquis de Bellegarde, who believes that an American businessman is unsuitable for their lineage. Throughout the story, themes of social class, love, and the moral dilemmas of revealing dark family secrets unfold. As Newman pursues his love for Claire, he discovers the extent of her family's secrets, ultimately leading him to a poignant moral crossroads regarding loyalty and sacrifice. The novel explores the cultural contrasts between American optimism and European aristocracy, culminating in a reflective conclusion as Newman grapples with his place in a society that rejects him.
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The American by Henry James
First published: serial, 1876-1877; book, 1877
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: Mid-nineteenth century
Locale: Paris
Principal characters
Christopher Newman , an AmericanMr. Tristram , a friendMrs. Tristram , his wifeM. Nioche , a shopkeeperMlle Nioche , his daughterMadame de Bellegarde , a French aristocratClaire de Cintré , her daughterMarquis de Bellegarde , her older sonValentin de Bellegarde , her younger sonMrs. Bread , her servant
The Story:
In 1868, Christopher Newman, a young American millionaire, withdraws from business and sails for Paris. He wants to relax, to develop his aesthetic sense, and to find a wife. One day, as he wanders in the Louvre, he makes the acquaintance of Mlle Nioche, a young copyist. She introduces him to her father, an unsuccessful shopkeeper. Newman buys a picture from Mlle Nioche and contracts to take French lessons from her father.
Later, through the French wife of an American friend named Tristram, he meets Claire de Cintré, a young widow, daughter of an English mother and a French father. As a young girl, Claire was married to Monsieur de Cintré, an evil old man. He soon died, leaving Claire with a distaste for marriage. In spite of her attitude, Newman sees in her the woman he wishes for his wife. An American businessman, however, is not the person to associate with French aristocracy. On his first call, Newman is kept from entering Claire’s house by her elder brother, the Marquis de Bellegarde.
True to his promise, M. Nioche appears one morning to give Newman his first lesson in French. Newman enjoys talking to the old man. He learns that Mlle Nioche dominates her father, who lives in fear that she will leave him and become the mistress of some rich man. M. Nioche tells Newman that he will shoot his daughter if she does. Newman takes pity on the old man and promises him enough money for Mlle Nioche’s dowry if she will paint more copies for him.
Newman leaves Paris and travels through Europe during the summer. When he returns to Paris in autumn, he learns that the Tristrams were helpful; the Bellegardes are willing to receive him. One evening, Claire’s younger brother, Valentin, calls on Newman and the two men find their opposite points of view a basis for friendship. Valentin envies Newman’s liberty to do as he pleases; Newman wishes himself acceptable to the society in which the Bellegardes move. After the two men become good friends, Newman tells Valentin that he wishes to marry his sister and asks Valentin to plead his cause. Warning Newman that his social position is against him, Valentin promises to help the American as much as he can.
Newman confesses his wish to Claire and asks Madame de Bellegarde, Claire’s mother, and the Marquis for permission to be her suitor. The permission is given, grudgingly. The Bellegardes need money in the family. Newman goes to the Louvre to see how Mlle Nioche is progressing with her copying. There he meets Valentin and introduces him to the young lady. Mrs. Bread, an old English servant of the Bellegardes, assures Newman that he is making progress with his suit. He asks Claire to marry him, and she accepts. Meanwhile, Valentin challenges another man to a duel in a quarrel over Mlle Nioche. Valentin leaves for Switzerland with his seconds. The next morning, Newman goes to see Claire. Mrs. Bread meets him at the door and says that Claire is leaving town. Newman demands an explanation. He is told that the Bellegardes cannot allow a commercial person in the family. When he arrives home, he finds a telegram from Valentin stating that he is badly wounded and asking Newman to come at once to Switzerland.
With this double burden of sorrow, Newman arrives in Switzerland and finds Valentin near death. Valentin guesses what his family did and tells Newman that Mrs. Bread knows a family secret. If he can get the secret from her, he can make the family return Claire to him. Valentin dies the next morning. Newman attends the funeral. Three days later, he again calls on Claire, who tells him that she intends to enter a convent. Newman begs her not to take this step. Desperate, he calls on the Bellegardes again and tells them that he will uncover their secret. Newman arranges to see Mrs. Bread that night. She tells him that Madame de Bellegarde killed her disabled husband because he opposed Claire’s marriage to M. de Cintré. The death was judged natural, but Mrs. Bread has in her possession a document proving that Madame de Bellegarde murdered her husband. She gives this paper to Newman.
Mrs. Bread leaves the employ of the Bellegardes and comes to keep house for Newman. She tells him that Claire is in the convent and refuses to see anyone, even her own family. The next Sunday, Newman goes to mass at the convent. After the service, he meets the Bellegardes walking in the park and shows them a copy of the paper Mrs. Bread gave him.
The next day, the Marquis calls on Newman and offers to pay for the document. Newman refuses to sell. He will, however, accept Claire in exchange for it. The Marquis refuses. Newman finds he cannot bring himself to reveal the Bellegardes’ secret. On the advice of the Tristrams, he travels through the English countryside and, in a melancholy mood, goes to some of the places he planned to visit on his honeymoon. Then he goes to America. Restless, he returns to Paris and learns from Mrs. Tristram that Claire became a nun.
The next time he sees Mrs. Tristram, he drops the secret document on the glowing logs in her fireplace and tells her that to expose the Bellegardes now seems a useless and empty gesture. He intends to leave Paris forever. Mrs. Tristram tells him that he probably did not frighten the Bellegardes with his threat, because they knew that they could count on his good nature never to reveal their secret. Newman instinctively looks toward the fireplace. The paper is burned to ashes.
Bibliography
Cargill, Oscar. The Novels of Henry James. New York: Hafner Press, 1971. An analysis of the sources of the novel, including writer Ivan Turgenev, French theater, and James’s own inspiration. Defines the international novel in which a character possessing one set of cultural values is confronted with a different set of values.
Coulson, Victoria. Henry James, Women, and Realism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Examines James’s important friendships with three women: his sister Alice James and the novelists Constance Fenimore Woolson and Edith Wharton. These three women writers and James shared what Coulson describes as an “ambivalent realism,” or a cultural ambivalence about gender identity, and she examines how this idea is manifest in James’s works, including The American.
Freedman, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Henry James. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. An essay collection that provides extensive information on James’s life and literary influences and describes his works and the characters in them.
James, Henry. The American, edited by Gerald Willen. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972. Includes the text of the later, revised version of the novel, a preface by James, the ending from the original version of the novel, a letter from James to his editor William Dean Howells, and ten interpretative essays by different critics on subjects as diverse as point of view, romantic elements, the revision, and the American self-image depicted in the novel.
Lee, Brian. The Novels of Henry James: A Study of Culture and Consciousness. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978. Argues that James was interested in the concept of consciousness and its response to culture. Thematically, The American, with its confrontation between an innocent American and sophisticated Europeans, opposes moral consciousness and social consciousness. Lee notes James’s later assessment of his novel: that it violated the reader’s sense of how things really happen.
Long, Robert Emmet. Henry James: The Early Novels. Boston: Twayne, 1983. Places The American in the context of James’s early career. Provides basic information about the novel’s magazine serialization, James’s subsequent revision, and the novel’s influences. Discusses the roles of romance, melodrama, and realism.
Person, Leland S. Henry James and the Suspense of Masculinity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. Examines several of James’s works, including The American, to describe how he challenged traditional concepts of heterosexual masculinity, depicting characters with alternate sexual and gender identities.
Powers, Lyall H. Henry James: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Discusses the theme, nomenclature, humor, gothic elements, and characterization regarding Christopher Newman.