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The American

by Henry James

Read the complete text of The American, with chapter navigation and sentence-by-sentence listening.

~14 hr 1 min · full book48 reading sectionsFree to read
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Psychological fictionLove storiesWidows -- FictionCourtship -- FictionParis (France) -- Fiction

Inside this work

  1. 01CHAPTER I~23 min
  2. 02CHAPTER II — part 1~25 min
  3. 03CHAPTER II — part 2~5 min
  4. 04CHAPTER III — part 1~25 min
  5. 05CHAPTER III — part 2~18 min
  6. 06CHAPTER IV — part 1~24 min
  7. 07CHAPTER IV — part 2~13 min
  8. 08CHAPTER V — part 1~25 min
  9. 09CHAPTER V — part 2~10 min
  10. 10CHAPTER VI — part 1~24 min
  11. 11CHAPTER VI — part 2~8 min
  12. 12CHAPTER VII — part 1~25 min
  13. 13CHAPTER VII — part 2~12 min
  14. 14CHAPTER VIII — part 1~25 min
  15. 15CHAPTER VIII — part 2~1 min
  16. 16CHAPTER IX~21 min
  17. 17CHAPTER X — part 1~24 min
  18. 18CHAPTER X — part 2~12 min
  19. 19CHAPTER XI~22 min
  20. 20CHAPTER XII — part 1~24 min
  21. 21CHAPTER XII — part 2~14 min
  22. 22CHAPTER XIII — part 1~24 min
  23. 23CHAPTER XIII — part 2~15 min
  24. 24CHAPTER XIV — part 1~25 min
  25. 25CHAPTER XIV — part 2~3 min
  26. 26CHAPTER XV — part 1~25 min
  27. 27CHAPTER XV — part 2~5 min
  28. 28CHAPTER XVI — part 1~24 min
  29. 29CHAPTER XVI — part 2~17 min
  30. 30CHAPTER XVII — part 1~25 min

A few words to begin

On a brilliant day in May, in the year 1868, a gentleman was reclining at his ease on the great circular divan which at that period occupied the centre of the Salon Carré, in the Museum of the Louvre. This commodious ottoman has since been removed, to the extreme regret of all weak-kneed lovers of the fine arts, but the gentleman in question had taken serene possession of its softest spot, and, with his head thrown back and his legs outstretched, was staring at Murillo’s beautiful moon-borne Madonna in profound enjoyment of his posture. He had removed his hat, and flung down beside him a little red guide-book and an opera-glass. The day was warm; he was heated with walking, and he repeatedly passed his handkerchief over his forehead, with a somewhat wearied gesture. And yet he was evidently not a man to whom fatigue was familiar; long, lean, and muscular, he suggested the sort of vigor that is commonly known as “toughness.” But his exertions on this particular day had been of an unwonted sort, and he had performed great physical feats which left him less jaded than his tranquil stroll through the Louvre. He had looked out all the pictures to which an asterisk was affixed in those formidable pages of fine print in his Bädeker; his attention had been strained and his eyes dazzled, and he had sat down with an æsthetic headache. He had looked, moreover, not only at all the pictures…

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