Fergus, Quondam Happy Face's review of The Ambassadors (original) (raw)

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Fergus, Quondam Happy Face's Reviews > The Ambassadors

Come nearer, Odysseus,
Flower of all Greek warriors,
Bring your ship to rest, and hear our song.
Our voices are as sweet as honey in the comb,
And all things are known to us - all things that happened before Troy -
And all things that shall come to pass upon the fruitful earth.
- Homer, Odyssey, The Sirens’ Song.

And the Sirens in the Aegean, for us, echo those of the serpent to Adam and Eve: “I will make you as gods among men,” at the foot of the Tree of Good & Evil.

I have struggled to grasp the rationale that drives this book for nearly two years, and - now that I have - I see that it is a pivotal book for everyone attempting to grasp the raison d'etre of our chaotic times (that's the sole reason for my Full rating).

It is simply the ethical malaise of our own postmodern hearts: the constant barrage of the Siren’s (or serpent’s) song.

A good deal of this novel's milieu has a Parisian locale. That is no accident, as Paris was the venue of James' coming-out-of-the-closet, as is clearly evinced in the recent insightful book, Henry James in Paris, and I recommend it for your followup.

Now, I'm fully hetero, but like all of us boomers who came of age in proximity to Flower Power, have fallen victim to its conditioning - its widespread line-blurring - to evolve into a guy of tolerant confusion. And that's the new normal.

Further, there are Damoclean swords above us all to safeguard our bemusement.

For James, therefore, it is an awakening. To many of us, it however must remain a typical Jamesian aporia.

So this novel is not an unmitigated success. F.R. Leavis, as always, is right.

Or was, once. But guess what? The lines EVERYWHERE now are blurred. That's what makes Misinformation successful.

We 'moral majority' - now - are confused constantly. The devil is in the details, and we are swamped on all sides by details.

That's why this book is a Must Read for literate people.

James Taylor has recently written and performed a song about old age: and that’s the point we Boomers are advancing to now.

And Taylor's advice is good -

We've GOT to at least enjoy our aging experience as a downhill ride!

And that's all Henry James is saying to us older folks.

The wild call of the Sirens is endemic to our decaying Age -

We may not like the way it’s dimming the lights of our civilisation -

But we've GOTTA appreciate - at a distance, for a small moment - the fact that our own Ride Down is synchronized with the Transvaluation of all Values:

And that we are called to be perhaps the last guardians of the Old Ways of grace in a new world where change is the name of the game, and where "Max Flex" is the slogan of the times...

And that the tacit adaptability of our Faith can enable its survival.

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Reading Progress

November 28, 2019 – Shelved

October 2, 2021 –Started Reading

October 2, 2021 –17.0% "Incisively penetrating, from a psychological point of view. I am seeing Henry James through Entirely new eyes!"

October 3, 2021 –20.0% "I've just learned from a very good GR friend that Lambert Strether's "awakening" is as short-lived as mine has (on purpose) proven. Thank heaven, Henry (James)! Discretion is by far the HAPPIEST form of valour."

October 4, 2021 –22.0% "Part III begins. The deed is done, by Strether alone. What horrid critique will then issue from Waymarsh’s conservative lips? Not a temperate one, we think - if Strether has erred with young Chad. Time will tell!"

October 7, 2021 –24.0% "Waymarsh and Strether bicker over bringing young Chad back into The Family Fold. Strether remains sunny and positive, while Waymarsh - as his name suggests, with his head plunged into a Slough along the Way - remains choleric and negative!"

October 9, 2021 –Finished Reading

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