An International Episode

An International Episode is a short novel by Henry James, first published serially in Cornhill Magazine in 1878 and then in book form in 1879. It is one of his earliest treatments of what would become his lifelong subject, the meeting of Americans and the English in social settings where money, manners, and class all collide in slow motion.

The story splits into two halves. In the first, two young Englishmen visit New York and Newport in summer, and one of them, Lord Lambeth, becomes attached to a young American woman named Bessie Alden. In the second half, Bessie travels to London with her sister and the situation reverses. Now she is the outsider, watching how the English aristocracy actually closes ranks when an American girl threatens to marry into a great family. Lord Lambeth’s mother and sister go to some trouble, very politely, to discourage the match.

James is genuinely funny in this book, which is something he is not always given credit for. The comedy lives in the gap between what people say and what they actually mean, especially when the English ladies talk about American freedoms in a tone that is half admiration and half horror. Bessie is one of his earlier strong American women, sharp enough to see exactly what is happening and proud enough to refuse a man whose family does not really want her.

For readers new to Henry James, this is a much friendlier place to start than the late novels like The Wings of the Dove or The Golden Bowl. The sentences are still detailed but the plot is direct, and at around a hundred pages it does not demand a long commitment. The novella also pairs well with his Daisy Miller, published the same year, which handles a similar theme from a different angle.