num_pages: 204
description: Set in the countryside around Boston in the mid-nineteenth century "The Europeans" is concerned with the effect of Old World experience on new World innocence.Feckless, charming Felix and his sister Eugenia, the Baroness Munster, descend on their well-to-do, God-fearing New England cousins, the Wentworths, and both parties are confronted by an attitude of life beyond their experience or faith."The Europeans, the visiting cousins, are there mainly to provide a foil for the American family, a study of the New England ethos being James's essential purpose... Nevertheless James's irony is far from being unkind; he sees too much he admires in the ethos he criticizes to condemn it... James is not condemning or endorsing either New England or Europe... This small book, written so early in James's career, is a masterpeice of major quality" - F.R. Leavis
language: English
title: The Europeans
titlecomplete: The Europeans
characters: Clifford Wentworth, Robert Acton, Charlotte Wentworth, Gertrude Wentworth, Felix Young, Eugenia, the Baroness Munster
genres: Fiction, American, The United States Of America, Literature, American Classics, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 4842
publisher: Penguin Classics