Henry James - The American (1/?)

A couple of days ago I started reading The American by Henry James. Here's a quick plot summary for all of you who haven't read the novel, but are still interested in this post:

"[The American] is an uneasy combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman's courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family." (Wikipedia)

I'm about seven chapters into the novel now and so far I'm really enjoying it. There were a couple of slow places, admittedly, like when the main character goes travelling through Europe in the fifth chapter (I really can't deal with page long descriptions of people travelling - it tends to bore me senseless, unless there's some dialogue to break up the descriptive bits). Overall, however, I can honestly say that I've enjoyed reading this novel so far, and here's why:

1) The representation of the French language

With regard to the language, I'm fascinated by how James manages to give an impression of the French language through the French characters, even while translating what they're saying into English for the benefit of the reader. He does this really cleverly by not writing perfect translations of their parts of the dialogue - rather, he seems to be choosing words which are near equivalents in English and French, while simultaneously trying to mimic the French syntax wherever possible.

I remember Charles Dickens did this really well in A Tale of Two Cities too, and as someone who speaks a little bit of French I find it hugely entertaining to read these lines in English and yet feel like I know exactly what the characters are saying in French, too. It's like the written equivalent of a French accent (if that makes any sense). Here's a taste of it:

"Monsieur is constant; I understand perfectly. It's a rare virtue. To recompense you, you shall have your picture on the first possible day; next week--as soon as it is dry. I will take the card of monsieur." And she took it and read his name: "Christopher Newman." Then she tried to repeat it aloud, and laughed at her bad accent. "Your English names are so droll!" (The American, Chapter I)

Now, "droll" means funny or comical in both English and French (although it's spelled as "drôle" in French), but I'd argue that in this context it would not be the natural choice for native English speakers (I'm not a native speaker myself, so please correct me on this if I'm wrong!). If I had to translate what the French lady is saying in this paragraph, I'd go for "funny" instead - mostly because in French "drôle" is the word commonly used for all things funny, so it has a much less specific usage than the English "droll". Deciding to go for the English word "droll" in spite of this has two effects: 1) It immediately draws attention to the "foreign-ness" of the speaker, 2) It gives the reader an idea of the language that's really being spoken here. Honestly, I just love it! I find it so clever!

2) The interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds

As anyone who's gone travelling or read travelogues before will know, encountering cultures that are different from your own can lead to many (and often quite funny) misunderstandings - and the book does not shy away from telling the reader about some of these. For example, there is this one great moment in the first chapter which features an elderly French gentleman, Monsieur Nioche, telling the main character, Christopher Newman (an American), about his recent misfortunes, which have left him quite desolate:

"'Do I understand you to say that you have had reverses?' asked Newman.
'Reverses? Oh, sir, misfortunes - terrible.'
'Unsuccessful in business, eh?'
'Very unsuccessful sir.'
'Oh, never fear, you'll get on your legs again,' said Newman cheerily.
The old man drooped his head on one side and looked at him with an expression of pain, as if this were an unfeeling jest." (The American, Chapter I)

This is such a classic moment of American optimism clashing with European pessimism, I really can't help but smile when reading this. It's perfect - there's the European gentleman, really just looking for someone to agree with him about his awful lot in life, but then he meets the optimistic American, brought up to view the world as his oyster. Of course there's bound to be some confusion here, and I'm really laughing in equal measure at the Frenchman's hurt expression and at the American's bewilderment. It's fantastic.

I hope I'll be able to say more about this novel as I read on, as there's lots more to say about it - it all just depends on my work load for uni, which these days really seems to be getting a bit ridiculous. See you soon though I hope!

Quotes

James, Henry. 1877. The American. http://fiction.eserver.org/novels/the_american.html. Accessed: 03.11.2014.

Wikipedia. The American (novel). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_(novel). Accessed: 03.11.2014.