The American

ISBN: 1455123277

Author: James, Henry

Condition: New

Product Description [This is the MP3CD audiobook format.] During a trip to Europe, wealthy American businessman Christopher Newman proposes marriage to the scintillating and beautiful aristocrat Claire de Cintré. To his dismay, he comes up against the machinations of her impoverished but proud family, who find Newman to be a vulgar example of the American privileged class. Brilliantly combining elements of comedy, tragedy, romance, and melodrama, this tale of thwarted desire vividly contrasts nineteenth-century American and European manners. Literary critic Leon Edel, considered the foremost authority on the works of Henry James, wrote of this novel: ''Behind its melodrama and its simple romance is the history of man's dream of better worlds, travel to strange lands, and marriage to high and noble ladies. At the same time, the book reveals a deep affection for American innocence and a deep awareness that such innocence carries with it a fund of ignorance.'' Review ''A masterpiece of American romanticism in which James shows us his profound grasp of what he was ultimately to call 'the Americo-European legend.' '' --Leon Edel, literary critic, biographer, and foremost authority on the works of Henry James About the Author HENRY JAMES (1843-1916), American novelist, short-story writer, and man of letters, was born in Washington Place, New York, to a family of distinguished philosophers and theologians. He attended schools in New York, Boston, and throughout Europe, where he later settled. A major figure in the history of the novel, he is celebrated as a master craftsman who brought his great art and impeccable technique to bear in the development of abiding moral themes.