The Ambassadors [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION 'Caring for little but his writing' is the key to Henry James's work. Because of his privileged position as a man of independent means, he was able to devote himself single-mindedly to being a professional author. He used his considerable powers of observation well, and these, coupled with his cosmopolitan childhood and youth and extensive travels in both the New and Old Worlds, brought to his writing in general, and to The Ambassadors in particular, a focus for his literary talent By the time The A?Tibassadors was published in 1903, Henry James had already written widely on the theme of Americans at home and in Europe, in such novels as The American., Daisy Miller and, most notably. Portrait of a Lady. The Ambassadors marks the mature flowering of this genre in which the author is at his most eloquent, amusing and penetrating. The book is based on an anecdote of W. D. Howells who, realising that he has passed a worthy life of conformity, advises a young friend to 'live'. The theme of the book is therefore one that concerns those leaving the somewhat sanitized security of the New World and discovering the charms of the Old. Such a story, in the hands of a novelist of James's calibre and with his ironic vision, brings out the romantic drama to the full. Thus the scene is set for the conscientious middle-aged American, Lambert Strether - the focal character of the book -who is engaged to the wealthy widow, Mrs Newsome of Woollett, Mass., to be sent on his mission to Paris. Strether is to secure the return of Mrs Newsome's son - Chadwick - so that he can take up the running of the family business. Strether discovers Chad immersed in Parisian culture and in love with the Comtesse de Vionnet. Chad is captivated by la vie Parisienne and delays his return home. His sister, Mrs Pocock, and her husband Jim, are then sent by Mrs Newsome as further and sterner emissaries to arrange Chad's return, and represent the archetype of American philistinism. The story continues with Strether's trust in Chad being betrayed, the breaking off of his engagement to Mrs Newsome, his abandoning a promising and happy friendship with the American expatriate, Maria Gostrey, and