Travelling Companions

by Henry James

This early work by Henry James was originally published in 1919 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. One of thirteen children, James had an unorthodox early education, switching between schools, private tutors and private reading.. James published his first story, 'A Tragedy of Error', in the Continental Monthly in 1864, when he was twenty years old. In 1876, he emigrated to London, where he remained for the vast majority of the rest of his life, becoming a British citizen in 1915. From this point on, he was a hugely prolific author, eventually producing twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories and novellas, as well as literary criticism, plays and travelogues. Amongst James's most famous works are The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1878), Washington Square (1880), The Bostonians (1886), and one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, The Turn of the Screw (1898). We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

309 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1870

About the author

Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."

Reviews

[Ronald Wendling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A common conflict in James’s fiction up to the later eighteen eighties is between a feeling for the beautiful (in this short story the landscape, galleries and churches of Southern Italy) and the sense of duty (as found in the ethic of hard work in Northern Europe and America). All three main characters are Americans: the Romantic narrator Mr. Brooke, currently living in Germany but touring in Italy, Mr. Evans, the unpolished but likable father of Charlotte Evans, and young Charlotte herself, the person who balances the aesthetic and the moral most believably.

The story opens in the Milan cathedral where we meet Charlotte, lost in her appreciation of Leonardo’s “The Last Supper” and Mr. Brooke, also entranced by that painting and especially by her. After a brief chat he, Charlotte and her protective father agree to meet in Venice a few weeks later.

The narrator makes his leisurely way to Venice by way of Vicenza where he meets a young painter living with his mother and sister who claims to own an authentic Correggio he would be willing to sell. Highly doubtful that the painting is authentic, the narrator buys it anyway partly out of sympathy with the poverty of the young man and his family but mostly because the Madonna in the so-called Correggio reminds him of Charlotte.

When they meet in Venice, the narrator and Charlotte spend lots of time together lounging in gondolas, luxuriating in Titians and Tintorettos, exploring Saint Mark’s, and visiting the Lido, where the narrator tells Charlotte he loves her and she quite reasonably replies that it is not her he loves, but Venice. Suddenly Mr. Evans, Charlotte’s father, is called back to Milan, leaving her unchaperoned and Mr. Brooke liable to the suspicion of the Venice locals that he is up to no good.

The couple does not help matters by visiting Padua together in the absence of Mr. Evans and unwittingly missing the last train to Venice, staying innocently overnight in the same Padua hotel. Escorting Charlotte back to Venice and being faced with her father, returned from Milan, the narrator proposes marriage to Charlotte because he loves her, or thinks he does, and also because he wants to avoid the slightest hint of scandal. But like Daisy Miller in James’s story of that name, Charlotte scoffs at the aristocratic convention of that time that demands marriage to her admirer because she could be carrying an illegitimate child who will one day lay claim to an inheritance, a possibility that would lower her value in the marriage market.

When Mr. Evans asks Mr. Brooke if he has made Charlotte an offer of marriage, Mr. Brooke replies that he has—in other words, that he has done the right thing. But fortunately for James’s plot, Mr. Evans dies and the inconsolable Charlotte, now alone in the world except for Mr. Brooke, memorably chides him that love is poetry but marriage is “stern prose.”

“Travelling Companions” ends with the narrator and Miss Evans at the Borghese Gallery in Rome gazing at a masterpiece by Titian. It pictures two young women, one “full of mild dignity and repose” , and the other “with unbound hair, naked . . . and radiant with the frankest physical sweetness and grace.” The naked woman, says the narrator, resembles love as “the passion that fancies,” the dignified one as “the passion that knows.” Whether Charlotte is now as ready for the first as she has so far been for the second my readers will have to discover for themselves.

[Will Cadle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it has been some time since I last read these stories, I found them easily engaging and masterfully written. Henry James can be demanding, but these stories were all engrossing and a pleasure to read.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story provided a lovely opportunity to revisit some beloved art work and places in northern Italy and envision them as they were a 150 years ago, before everybody in the world showed up. The romance is sweet and satisfying.

James' early tales are such treasures. It's fun to see his style evolve, and the variety of subjects he tackled at the start. It's equally fun to see such themes as ghosts, social norms, fascination with art, and smuggling all in play.

Young Henry James is as sensitive and perceptive as he was in his later years, though it does take him a while longer to get up a house, or show a character's motivation. If you are used to his later works you'll find that in these early works he describes a lot more twhich is helpful, but uncharacteristic for Henry James.

[Laura McNeal · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the happier Henry James stories--perhaps the only happy one I have ever read--and essentially a bundle of love letters to Venice, Padua, Rome, and Giotto. In other words, it is the next best thing to a gondola, a parasol, and a handsome stranger.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable short stories concerning travel -- primarily in Italy in the 1800s.