Elizabeth Bowen, The House in Paris

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Reminiscent of Henry James’s

What Maisie Knew

or

The Turn of the Screw

, Elizabeth Bowen’s

The House in Paris

has been described as a French novel in English, and not only for its obvious geographical setting. Interiority, attention to the unsaid or the barely articulated, and the power of passion to transform lives all play key roles in this rich and emotionally absorbing story, a favorite among devoted Bowen fans.

As she would do later in The Death of the Heart, Bowen expertly imagines children as entities separate from, and as psychologically complex as, the supposedly mature adults in control of their destiny. The novel opens and ends with the young Henrietta and Leopold in transit in Paris, and in the space of a single day their lives are changed irrevocably. They have been

909 words

Citation: Brassard, Genevieve. "The House in Paris". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10654, accessed 19 March 2024.]

10654 The House in Paris 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.