AC's review of The Ambassadors (original) (raw)

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AC's Reviews > The Ambassadors

The Ambassadors by Henry James

The Ambassadors
by

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I have been reading quite a bit of James. Last year, I audio’d The Bostonians and Washington Square. I read The Aspen Papers, reread Beast in the Jungle, and read Turn of the Screw (which I disliked -- found it excruciating). And then this spring read a large collection of James’ stories (ed. Fadiman), then Wings of the Dove, and now The Ambassadors. I love the late James... Even though these books are long, and there is a certain degree of artificiality in the dialogue (much worse in Dove; much more economical in The Ambassadors), these two late novels represent a form of psychological thriller, the patient unraveling, layer by layer, of the inner drives (and narrative outcomes) of some remarkably rich characters. Kate Croy…, Strether…, Madame de Vionnet – all remarkable, and none more so than the latter two. It is shocking to find James creating a female character that one actually has the hots for! (And Maria Gostrey is a close second…!!). And Strethers… what a character HE is…!

I am surprised at the ambivalence about this book. It is an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion. I found nothing flabby or any excess in Ambassadors – while it is a slow and patient read – it is nearly perfection.

The one thing I would add – that makes the Ambassadors a bit difficult -- is that it is NOT (as Dorothea Krook correctly saw) actually a tragedy (as one expects from James). It is utterly tragic AND utterly comic… and it is not until the very end that one sees precisely how.

I’ll have to rest now from my James feast, and leave the Golden Bowl for a future repast, while I catch my breath.

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Reading Progress

May 30, 2015 –Started Reading

May 31, 2015 –27.0% "A 20th century mind peering out of a 19th century education and parts."

June 4, 2015 –57.0% "What a brilliant and marvelous mind...! I think the problem with late James is simply that people try to read him too quickly..."

June 5, 2015 –66.0% "James, writing in 1903: "Take, meanwhile, pray The Ambassadors very easily & gently: read five pages a day — be even as deliberate as that — but don’t break the thread. The thread is really stretched quite scientifically tight. Keep along with it step by step — & the full charm will come out.""

June 8, 2015 –Finished Reading

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