A little trip around France

Sweet France will bring fruit to admirers exclusively as a whole, and therefore it is unwise to limit her beauties to the tinsel displayed in Paris. The peculiar corners of this diverse country also captivated the devotees of the picturesque to Henry James, and thus, as the most famous American representative of the refined tradition of the late nineteenth century, he admires them with the same interest that he devoted to the graceful lines of a coffee cup in his novels. A young man from a good New York family, for whom French was a ticket to the Old World, demonstrates a sympathy for the joie de vivre of the South of France, an elegant style and the keen eye of an art connoisseur. the reconstruction of the medieval fortress in Carcassonne or the line of the most famous cathedrals, whether he is inspecting ancient monuments in Provence or just on the beach in Normandy glossing over the egalitarian conditions of the Third French Republic, something serious shines out from under this gentle sneer, which surpasses even the writings of his predecessor Stendhal. James appreciates the unique charm that the host country breathes, which must be preserved because the pilgrim will not encounter it anywhere else in the world. One and a quarter centuries later, the author's features speak, among other things, about the true meaning of modern "being on the road", which, under the pressure of speed and banality, has turned into uniform tourist entertainment for the masses.