- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; Reissue edition (Sep 14 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0199538549
- ISBN-13: 978-0199538546
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #312,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Lambert Strether, a mild middle-aged American of no particular achievements, is dispatched to Paris from the manufacturing empire of Woollett, Massachusetts. The mission conferred on him by his august patron, Mrs Newsome, is to discover what, or who, is keeping her son Chad in the notorious city of pleasure, and to bring him home. But Strether finds Chad transformed by the influence of a remarkable woman; and as the Parisian spring advances, he himself succumbs to the allure of the 'vast bright Babylon' and to the mysterious charm of Madame de Vionnet. The text of this Oxford World's Classics paperback is that of the New York edition, with James's Preface.
About the Author
Henry James (1843-1916), son of Henry James Sr. and brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author and literary critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent much of his life in Europe and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for novels, novellas and short stories based on themes of consciousness and morality.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
And you thought Faulkner was difficult,
By "cmerrell" (Rosewll, GA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Ambassadors (Paperback)
I read this novel twice trying to appreciate its artistry. About half way through I started reading it aloud and I have to admit that I admire James mastery of the English language. However the plot was dull and plodding and I neither liked nor admired any of the charcters.The theme seemed to be that Americans were stuffy and dull while Europeans were cultured and cosmopilitan. From what I have read of James, he preffered Europe to his native America. I am assuming i will find the same theme in other James works.
4.0 out of 5 stars
My jury is out on this complex opus,
This review is from: The Ambassadors (Paperback)
Reading "The Ambassadors," I was awed by the subtletly of emotion and social gesture James was able to describe. Clearly here was a crafted that had been years in the honing, and I appreciate the book's liberation from the plot-heavy mechanics of earlier books like "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The American." Everything is only subtly insinuated; whole lives can hinge upon half-meant gestures or long-buried social prejudices. In this way, the book has some of the wistful tone of "The Age of Innocence," but more depth if less elegant prose.The prose is the thing -- James was dictating by this time (how on Earth does one dictate a novel?), and it shows. His chewy ruminations and meandering, endlessly parenthetical sentences are hard to digest. I think James went too far in his late style, and "The Ambassadors" might have benefited from a sterner editor. Still, this is an important book, absolutely worth the read.
3.0 out of 5 stars
New Englanders wilding in Paris,
This review is from: The Ambassadors (Paperback)
New Englanders visiting Paris just don't want to go home, back to the drudgery, the job, mom, responsibility. Wealthy Mrs Newsome wants her son back. Chad has been playing in Paris for I don't know how long. He's probably involved with a French woman, God forbid! So she sends her fiancee Strether to go get him. Not completely trusting Strether, she sends her spy Waymarsh along with him.Guess what. Strether likes it in Paris. He doesn't want to advise Chad to leave his French girlfriend. Waymarsh rats him out, and Strether is no longer a wealthy lady's fiancee. So Mrs Newsome sends in the big guns - big Sarah Pocock and her pretty daughter Mamie, the bait. Wouldn't it be nice if Chad married Mamie and CAME HOME! Will Sarah Pocock grab Chad by the ear and drag him home to marry her daughter? Will Sarah go wilding through Europe with Waymarsh? Will Strether marry Marie Gostrey, the woman who attached herself to him in Paris? Will Chad remain in Paris with his desperate but charming older woman, or will he return to New England to sell clocks? Will pretty Mamie Pocock fall for Chad or for Chad's friend Bilham? Is Bilham serious about Mamie or anyone else? Have you ever noticed the resemblance between classic literature and soap opera? The biggest problem with this book, for me, is that all of the characters seem to have a vague, in-between-the-lines way of expressing themselves.
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