How did Henry James’s years in Paris influence his work?

Henry James’s time in Paris from 1875 to 1876 was a pivotal period that significantly shaped his literary development. During this residency, he worked on his novel The American, which explores the contrast between a guileless American protagonist and the cunning nature of French aristocracy—a theme central to his later work.1

His experience in Paris also provided him with invaluable exposure to the French literary scene. Through his friendship with the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, James was introduced to the circle of Gustave Flaubert, where he met prominent writers such as Émile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, and Alphonse Daudet.1

From Turgenev, James gained critical confirmation for his own artistic philosophy: that a novelist should prioritize character development over the mechanics of a "story" to effectively reveal the protagonist's life experience. While James ultimately felt like an outsider in France and moved to London in 1876, these Parisian interactions helped solidify his approach to the "international novel" and his focus on the inner lives of his characters.12