ABSTRACT
The typical character in such outstanding novels of James's first phase as Roderick Hudson (1875) and The American (1877) is the American abroad, and the typical theme is the clash between transatlantic Puritanism and European tolerance.' The comic aspects of situations developing from these antagonistic traditions James very rarely explored; he was more interested in serious social contrasts. During his first years in Europe he was a fascinated observer of Mayfair and the Quartier St. Germain, the world of privilege and prestige. There was a gradual diminution of emphasis upon the theme of the expatriated American, and by the time we reach The Portrait of a Lady (1881), the masterpiece of this first period, the fact that Isabel Archer is an American is an almost immaterial consideration in her story.
