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Research Articles Issue 2 · 2011 · pp. 80–88 · Issue page

EUROPE AND AMERICA IN HENRY JAMES’S INTERNATIONAL NOVELS

DI
Diana-Gabriela POPA (LUPU)1
1 Phd. student, Doctoral School of Philological Studies, „Al.I.Cuza” University, Iaşi, Romania.
Accepted 24 March 2026
Available Online 15 September 2011
Abstract
IN HENRY JAMES’S INTERNATIONAL NOVELS, THE CONTRAST BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA REFLECTS THE COMPLEMENTARY VALUES OF SOCIAL EXPERIENCE AND SPIRITUAL SPONTANEITY. AMERICANS IN EUROPE, AS SYMBOLS OF THE NEW WORLD, ARE USUALLY CHARACTERIZED BY POSITIVE ASPECTS, WHILE THE EUROPEANS, EXPONENTS OF THE OLD WORLD, ARE CHARACTERIZED BY NEGATIVE ONES. THE MORAL AND CULTURAL CONTRAST BETWEEN AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS IS REMARKABLY USED BY JAMES WITH THE PURPO SE OF HIGHLIGHTING THE AMERICAN’S INNOCENCE AND THE EUROPEAN KNOWLEDGE, AS A FORM OF PRESENTING THE LARGER PROBLEM OF SELF AND OTHER, OF INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY. IF JAMES’S EARLY NOVELS DEAL WITH THE COMEDY BASED ON THE CONFLICT BETWEEN AMERICAN AND EUROPEA N MANNERS, IN HIS LATER NOVELS IT IS REPLACED BY A TRAGIC PROBLEM, IN WHICH MANNERS ACT LIKE CONVENTIONS DETERMINING MORALS.
Keywords
INTERNATIONAL THEME AMERICA EUROPE INNOCENCE
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