An International Episode

Henry James' readership must be shrinking to a nub of scholars, students, and a handful of readers tuned to his peculiarly jammed frequency. Whatever point he was making with his ever more abstruse writing must be a point long past worth making. It is hard to imagine the modern reader taking pleasure in James - his themes seem so dated and his treatment of them so very heavy handed. Much of An International Episode consists of leaden, awkward conversations. As I listened to an audiobook version, I empathized with the LibriVox readers who struggled mightily and fruitlessly to find some manner and inflection that might make James' words sound conversationally plausible.

An interesting and brief read. There isn't a lot of substance plot wise, but there are social intricacies and nationalized generalizations to contemplate.