The American

Literary significance and criticism

At the time of the novel's serialization in The Atlantic, James rebuffed suggestions from his editor William Dean Howells to give the novel a happy ending with the marriage of Newman and Mme de Cintré. He wrote to Howells that:[1]

"we are each the product of circumstances and there are tall stone walls which fatally divide us. I have written my story from Newman's side of the wall, and I understand so well how Madame de Cintré couldn't really scramble over from her side. If I had represented her as doing so I should have made a prettier ending, certainly; but I should have felt as if I were throwing a rather vulgar sop to readers who don't really know the world and who don't measure the merit of a novel by its correspondence to the same. Such readers assuredly have a right to their entertainment, but I don't believe it is in me to give them, in a satisfactory way, what they require."

When James came to revise the book in 1907 for inclusion in the New York Edition of his fiction, he realised how fanciful much of the plot was. He made enormous revisions in the book to try to make all the goings-on more believable, but he was still forced to confess in his preface that The American remained more of a traditional romance rather than a realistic novel.

Most critics have regretted the New York Edition revisions as unfortunate marrings of the novel's original exuberance and charm. The earlier version of the book has normally been used in modern editions. Critics generally concede that the second half of the novel suffers from improbability but still find the book a vivid and attractive example of James's early style. More recently, some have taken the French characters to task for being obnoxious and imperialistic Europeans. But James' New World hero still finds many supporters, among critics and readers in general.

The American generally flows well and is easily accessible to today's reader, more so than some of James's later novels. Newman's friendship with Valentin de Bellegarde is particularly well drawn, and the descriptions of upper-class Parisian life are vivid.


This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.