Madame de Mauves

Infobox Book |
name = Madame de Mauves
author = Henry James
country = United States
language = English
genre = Novella
publisher = "The Galaxy"
release_date = February-March 1874
media_type = Print
pages = 37

"Madame de Mauves" is a novella by Henry James, originally published in "The Galaxy" magazine in 1874. The story centers on the troubled marriage of a scrupulous American wife and a far from scrupulous French husband, and is told mostly from the point of view of a male friend of the wife. The tale reflects the intense interest James took in the "international theme," especially early in his career. One of the longest fictions he had yet attempted, the smoothly narrated story shows that James was rapidly maturing in style and technique.

Plot summary

Outside Paris a wealthy American man named Longmore is introduced to his countrywoman Euphemia de Mauves. She is the sweet but austere wife of Comte Richard de Mauves, a cynical, womanizing Frenchman who hints that Longmore should take an amorous interest in his wife. Longmore resists the suggestion, even though he spots Richard with his latest mistress in a Paris cafe.

Longmore still can't bring himself to become involved in an affair with Euphemia. He goes on a trip in the French countryside, where the sight of an artist and his girlfriend on a holiday, as well as a disturbing dream about Euphemia, makes him wonder if his scruples aren't foolish. Longmore finally leaves for America. Two years later he hears that Richard has committed suicide because Euphemia wouldn't forgive his adulteries and reconcile with him, though Richard promised to be faithful to her in the future. Although Euphemia is now free, Longmore is undecided about returning to Europe to pursue her.

Themes

In this story James' international theme takes a tragic and even perverse turn, as the marriage of a somewhat puritanical American woman and an easy-living, pagan Frenchman leads to despair and suicide. Whether an affair between Longmore and Euphemia (suggested by the amoral Richard and his equally cynical sister Madame de Clairin) would have made any difference is doubtful, but things couldn't have turned out much worse under any circumstances.

Longmore is somewhat typical of James' male protagonists, hesitant about taking action and entering fully into life. Even at the end of the story he can't decide whether to return to Euphemia. This paralysis of the will affects many of James' central characters, but Longmore is extreme even by Jamesian standards in his uncertainty and indecision.

The final lesson seems to be that American idealism and European sophistication can make for a dangerous, even lethal mixture. James would write many more fictions about the clash of America and Europe, leading to the ultimate synthesis in "The Golden Bowl". In that much later novel, a marriage similar to the one in "Madame de Mauves" is saved by the kind of careful diplomacy that neither spouse in the earlier story is capable of.

Critical evaluation

Much critical dispute has arisen over Richard's suicide after Euphemia's refusal to reconcile with him. Some commentators find it frankly incredible that his wife's rebuff would drive Richard to self-destruction. Others maintain that such a man could easily sicken of life and decide to end it all, but have doubted that he could ever have repented and asked Euphemia's forgiveness in the first place.

Although the believability of the story's conclusion is somewhat in doubt, many critics agree that James narrates the tale in a more assured and masterful manner than he had demonstrated in any of his previous fictions. James' decade-long apprenticeship in short narrative was starting to pay off, and he would soon begin his productive career in the full-length novel.

References

* "The Tales of Henry James" by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1984) ISBN 0-8044-2957-X
* "A Henry James Encyclopedia" by Robert L. Gale (New York: Greenwood Press 1989) ISBN 0-313-25846-5
* "A Companion to Henry James Studies" edited by Daniel Fogel (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1993) ISBN 0-313-25792-2

External links

* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?coll=moa&root=/moa/gala/gala0017/&tif=00218.TIF&view=50&frames=1 Original magazine publication of "Madame de Mauves" (1874)]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7813 "New York Edition" text of "Madame de Mauves" (1908)]
* [http://www.henryjames.org.uk/prefaces/text13_inframe.htm Author's preface to the "New York Edition" text of "Madame de Mauves" (1908)]
* [http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=137&section=notes Note on the texts of "Madame de Mauves"] at the Library of America web site