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Henry James's first full-length novel (1875) features a classic Jamesian situation, an entertaining, witty and tortuous examination of romantic feelings that are caught up in a frenzy of youthful impetuousness, ambition and artistic genius, complicated by the social expectations of others and the unfathomable workings of the female mind. If it isn't entirely successful on those terms, lacking the kind of precision that James would become better known for in later novels, there is however an interesting subtext to the story where James considers that other topic of interest to him regarding notions of identity from a European and an American perspective and whether there is any compatibility between them.  Such matters are considered not so much through the titular character as through the figure of Rowland Mallet, a young man from New England, with no fixed place in the world, no great ambitions, no woman or love in his life and no genius of his own. As a buyer and importer of ...

"Confident early-James” One of Henry James' earlier works, Confidence (1879) is set in the familiar territory of young rich Americans on extended trips in Europe, making friendships and romantic acquaintances with other Americans in the expatriate society that has been established in the glamorous settings of Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France. Less melodramatic than his previous novel, The American  and therefore showing less of the influence of European writers, Confidence rather establishes familiar Jamesian themes and explores ideas that contrast European Old World and American society, albeit in a style that is rather more light-hearted that his more notable later works, with the advantage however that it is still entertaining and more readable than some of the latter-day novels. The story is centred on Bernard Longueville, a young man travelling freely around Europe, sketching and painting, who meets two fellow Americans in Siena - a Mrs Vivian and her daughter Ang...