A Passionate Pilgrim

Infobox Book |
name = A Passionate Pilgrim
author = Henry James
country = United States
language = English
genre = Novella
publisher = "The Atlantic Monthly"
release_date = March-April 1871
media_type = Print
pages = 40

"A Passionate Pilgrim" is a novella by Henry James, first published in "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1871. The story was the earliest fiction that James included in the "New York Edition" (1907-09) of his works. Set in England, the tale shows James' strong interest in the contrast between the Old World and the New. In fact, the difference between America and Europe erupts into open conflict in the story, which leads to a sadly ironic ending.

Plot summary

The narrator meets fellow American Clement Searle at an old-fashioned London inn. Searle has long wanted to settle in England to escape what he considers his arid life in America. But he is physically ailing, and he's also depressed because his lawyer can't uphold his claim to a share in a country estate currently owned by Richard Searle, a distant relation. Clement and the narrator visit the estate, where they meet the ethereal Miss Searle, who supports Clement's cause.

They also meet Miss Searle's brother Richard, who is at first suspicious and then outright hostile and combative toward Clement. Upset by the conflict Clement and the narrator travel to Oxford, where they help a gentleman, Mr Rawson, down on his luck to travel to America. Clement is now very sick and sends for Miss Searle. She responds to his call and tells him that her brother has been thrown from a horse and killed. Clement might now have a real chance for a share of the estate, but the opportunity comes too late for him. He dies and is buried in the England which proved so inhospitable to him.

Key themes

Clement Searle is an early example of James' imaginative and sensitive protagonists who are often defeated by less fastidious adversaries. The perhaps overly blunt irony of the story is that Clement might have realized his dream of living on an English estate if his physical frailty hadn't betrayed him.

The story shows James still in his apprentice stage. Although written in an assured and fluent manner, there are many passages of local color description that intrude rather obviously into the narrative. These passages do give substance to Clement's dream of settling and living in the England he has long idealized. Of course, Clement's creator would realize that dream by living and prospering in England for most of his adulthood.

The story also plays on another common theme in James' fiction: the simultaneous allure and danger of experience. The closer Clement gets to his goal of a home in the English countryside, the sicker he becomes. James' fiction would often show imaginative characters getting near the dense, "passionate" experience they desire, only to find that such experience can be destructive as well.

Critical evaluation

In his "New York Edition" preface James admitted the story's technical shortcomings. But the tale meant much to him as an early example of his international theme, the vivid contrast between Europe and America. Critics have generally agreed that the story makes the theme immediate and appealing, though there has been disagreement as to whether the tale is really all that much better than other early fiction James excluded from the "New York Edition".

Some critics have expressed impatience with Clement Searle as an impractical dreamer and a weak example of James' "poor sensitive gentlemen." Clement's physical illness makes him even less effective in the crude business of the world than some of James' other defeated protagonists. But his desire for a new and more emotionally fulfilling existence may gain him sympathy from readers who can identify with his dreams.

References

* "The Tales of Henry James" by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1984) ISBN 0-8044-2957-X
* "Modern Critical Views: Henry James" edited by Harold Bloom (New York: Chelsea House Publishers 1987) ISBN 0-87754-696-7
* "A Henry James Encyclopedia" by Robert L. Gale (New York: Greenwood Press 1989) ISBN 0-313-25846-5

External links

* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?coll=moa&root=/moa/atla/atla0027/&tif=00358.TIF&view=50&frames=1 Original magazine publication of "A Passionate Pilgrim" (1871)]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8080 "New York Edition" text of "A Passionate Pilgrim" (1908)]
* [http://www.henryjames.org.uk/prefaces/text13_inframe.htm Author's preface to the "New York Edition" text of "A Passionate Pilgrim" (1908)]
* [http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=137&section=notes Note on the texts of "A Passionate Pilgrim"] at the Library of America web site