234:, yet it is noteworthy that James does not naĂŻvely portray Paris as a faultless paradise for culturally stunted Americans. Strether learns about the reverse side of the European coin when he sees how desperately Marie fears losing Chad, after all she has done for him. As one critic proposed, Strether does not shed his American straitjacket only to be fitted with a more elegant European model, but instead learns to evaluate every situation on its merits, without prejudices, by selection. The final lesson of Strether's European experience is to distrust preconceived notions and perceptions from anyone, anywhere, but to rely upon his own observation and judgment.
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caused the transformation he sees in Chad. When Chad offers to introduce him to some of his close friends—Madame de
Vionnet and her grown daughter Jeanne—Strether eagerly accepts. Miss Gostrey is also in Paris and continues as Stretcher’s advisor. She reveals she knew Madame de Vionnet at finishing school in Switzerland. When the introduction occurs, Strether finds the mother and the daughter to be refined, virtuous and thoroughly admirable. He wonders if the lovely daughter is what has brought about the improvements in Chad. He learns that Madame de Vionnet is married but has been separated from her husband for years.
207:(Newsome) Pocock demands that Strether get himself in line and insist to Chad that Chad return. While the Pocock party is away on a short trip, Strether is advised by Miss Gostrey to venture out of Paris to see the countryside and happens upon Chad and Madame de Vionnet in a setting where it is evident that they are romantically and sexually entangled. Possibly this has been engineered by Miss Gostrey. He feels deceived but still acknowledges the improvements in Chad's character.
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European tour because of an inappropriate romantic liaison, perhaps with a vulgar adventuress. The reader is given to understand, in indirect ways, that if
Strether fails, his engagement to Mrs. Newsome is at risk. Strether meets Maria Gostrey who delivers valuable insights about things European to him (and the reader).
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Once
Strether locates Chad, he is surprised to discover that Chad has improved from when he last knew him in America. Chad exhibits restrained urbanity, elegance and manners. This is not what Strether expected of someone in the grip of an inappropriate romantic entanglement. Strether wonders what has
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supplied him only one set, instead of the requested two; thus, in August 1903, James supplied the
British publisher with a carbon-copy of the unrevised, original typescript to enable them to meet their scheduled publication date. Moreover, at that time, he also lacked duplicate copies of the omitted
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mentioning a "fearful ... weakness" he was referring to the chapter order in her
Methuen edition copy. McGann explained the chronological discrepancies by noting that the start of (the Harper edition) chapter 28 tells that it will describe a conversation that will occur in the 'future' (relative to
210:
Chad makes the decision to return to
Woollett, which will mean the sundering of his relationship with Madame de Vionnet. Strether has very mixed feelings about this. He, too, will return to Woollett, even if this means a less-alive existence. It is unclear whether Mrs. Newsome will receive him back
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Meanwhile, Mrs. Newsome grows tired of
Strether's failure to act. She sends over a set of new ambassadors to accomplish the mission—including her daughter and son-in-law. The group clearly doesn't see Paris, life's possibilities, Chad or Madame de Vionnet in the same way that Strether does. Sarah
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Strether himself is introduced to Paris in a way that starts to open his own mind and heart to a larger vision of the world's possibilities. He feels alive and renewed. His own interest in returning to
America wanes. It is also clear that he is not exerting himself to talk Chad into returning. He
357:
A continuing literary mystery is the nature of the "little nameless object" made in
Woollett. Strether calls it: "a little thing they make—make better, it appears, than other people can, or than other people, at any rate, do"; and he calls the business: "a manufacture that, if it's only properly
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Critical controversy has swirled over
Strether's refusal of Maria Gostrey, with some seeing it as a perverse rejection of his best chance for happiness. Others have said that Strether, whilst a great friend of Maria's, is not in love with her, and that the couple could not have made a successful
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Mediation/Intermediation: a major theme of the novel involves Strether's position as an ambassador. Strether, when giving his final account to Maria Gostrey, justifies his decisions by connecting his intermediary position to his concerns about gaining experience (and pleasure) whilst working on
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Strether, a middle-aged American of insignificant means, is sent to Paris by Mrs. Newsome, his wealthy fiancée. The mission he has been given is to talk her son, Chad, into returning to the family business in Woollett, Massachusetts. The Newsome family believes that Chad might be overstaying his
353:
In a letter to a friend, James said that Strether bears a vague resemblance (though not facial) to his creator. It is true that Strether shows an ability to grow in understanding and good judgment, although some critics have seen him as limited and timid, despite his European experiences.
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marriage. Critics also have speculated about whether or not Chad will heed Strether's advice to remain with Marie, or if he will return to America for the substantial rewards of family business – their general verdict is that Chad will follow the money.
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reopened the question in 1992. He noted that the publishing history revealed by Birch made it unlikely that James had the order wrong in the editions he closely supervised. Moreover, he controversially claimed that when James wrote to novelist
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develops some feelings for Madame de Vionnet. Chad has made clear he has no interest in marrying Jeanne de Vionnet, for whom he arranges a suitable marriage, while his liaison continues "virtuously" with Mme de Vionnet.
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passages, and those two circumstances resulted in significant textual variations in the Methuen edition. One of the most serious variations was that a chapter, not published in the serial version, was inserted
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have followed McGann's research and restored James's apparently preferred order, but, in characteristic postmodern way, it is now up to the reader to decide in which order these chapters should be read.
410:, traveling to Europe in pursuit of a wealthy man's son with orders to bring him back to the family business. The inspiration is acknowledged in the novel with an explicit mention of James'
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to find Chad, the wayward son of his fiancée Mrs Newsome. The book is entirely told from Strether's point of view and chronicles his change from an American to a European view of things.
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the juncture reached in the story), and that the 'that evening' line, at the start of chapter 29, refers not to the evening just described in chapter 28, but to the previous one.
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serialization, passages were omitted, including three chapters. For the book versions, James expected to use the serial-version proofs to provide the majority of copy to the
671:
James, Henry: "Letter to Mrs Humphrey Ward, December 16th 1903", C. Waller Barrett Collection, University of Virginia Library; printed in McGann, Jerome: op.cit., page 122
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277:'chapter 28', not after it, as in the Harper edition (which James thoroughly proof-read). Five years later, when he prepared the revised text for the
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to Europe to bring the son of his widowed fiancée back to the family business. The novel is written in the third-person, from Strether's
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In 1950, Robert E. Young, knowing neither the Methuen edition difference nor the details of James's work on the novel, argued that the
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behalf of others. This conflict between personal desire and duty is important to consider when thinking about Strether's psychology.
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The theme of liberation from a cramped, almost starved, emotional life into a more generous and gracious existence plays throughout
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281:(NYE), James worked from the Harper edition, and the two chapters (numbers 28 and 29) became chapters 1 and 2 in book 11.
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of the novel, is a cultured man in his fifties from the fictional town of Woollett, Massachusetts, who is dispatched to
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have been notable dissenters. James's evocation of Paris has gained many plaudits, as the city becomes a well-realized
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order was incorrect, based upon the chronology of the story's events. Most critics agreed with Young, especially when
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as the best of his novels. Critics have generally agreed that it ranks high in the list of his achievements, though
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McGann, Jerome: "Revision, rewriting, rereading; or, 'An error in The Ambassadors'",
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looked after, may well be on the way to become a monopoly". In an article in
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The Ambassadors: An Authoritative Text, The Author on the Novel, Criticism
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256:(1902), yet he did not immediately find a publisher. To fit the eventual
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164:(NAR). The novel is a dark comedy which follows the trip of protagonist
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Birch, Brian: "Henry James: some bibliographical and textual matters",
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edited by S.P. Rosenbaum (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994)
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False Positions: The Representational Logic of Henry James's Fiction
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Edel, Leon. "A further note on 'An error in The Ambassadors'",
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Henry James's New York edition: the construction of authorship
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magazine, Joshua Glenn proposes that the nameless object is a
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as "Maria Gostrey" (she later played "Eugenia" in the 1979
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Ambassador (disambiguation) § Literature and painting
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64 (1992), 95-110; reprinted in: McWhirter, David (ed.):
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Works originally published in the North American Review
654:, Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, 1995,
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television series first aired on March 13, 1977, with
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This article is about the book. For the painting, see
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The BBC television adaptation of the novel for their
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100 best English-language novels of the 20th century
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620:Young, Robert E.: "A error in The Ambassadors",
607:, ser. 5, vol. 20 (1965), 108–23; also known as
533:by Oscar Cargill (New York: Macmillan Co., 1961)
785:from the Collections of the Library of Congress
313:Since 1992, few publishers of new editions of
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583:, London, Allen Lane (Penguin Press), 1999,
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406:(1955), begins with the protagonist,
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543:(Cambridge University Press, 2015)
322:Literary significance and criticism
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681:Glenn, Joshua (31 October 2007).
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456:in 1972; it proved unsuccessful.
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570:. Stanford U P (1996). pp.58-59
330:preface Henry James proclaimed
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581:Henry James: a life in letters
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756:Ted Gioia (Fractious Fiction)
438:A musical theatre version of
219:Henry James got the idea for
107:United Kingdom, United States
44:Cover of the first UK edition
760:Ways to Read The Ambassadors
765:Edith J. R. Isaacs (1920).
738:public domain audiobook at
424:(2010), tells the story of
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1214:Notes of a Son and Brother
1118:French Poets and Novelists
1091:Theatricals: Second Series
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387:Adaptations and influences
246:The publishing history of
223:from his friend, novelist
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1305:American political novels
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514:The Novels of Henry James
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909:The Princess Casamassima
768:"Ambassadors, The"
379:27th on its list of the
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1134:A Little Tour in France
1064:The Beast in the Jungle
637:23 (March 1951), 128-30
403:The Talented Mr. Ripley
84:Harper & Brothers,
1198:A Small Boy and Others
893:The Portrait of a Lady
774:Encyclopedia Americana
683:"Is It a Chamber Pot?"
181:Lewis Lambert Strether
166:Lewis Lambert Strether
1295:Novels by Henry James
1056:The Turn of the Screw
1013:The Sense of the Past
973:The Wings of the Dove
941:The Spoils of Poynton
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253:The Wings of the Dove
161:North American Review
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1290:1903 American novels
1257:Alice James (sister)
268:publishers, but the
225:William Dean Howells
648:American literature
635:American Literature
622:American Literature
154:is a 1903 novel by
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1206:Notes on Novelists
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476:as "Strether" and
398:Patricia Highsmith
242:Publishing history
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71:Dark Comedy
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461:Television
452:, then on
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