The Ambassadors: 0 (Norton Critical Editions)

by Henry James (Author), S P. Rosenbaum (Author)

• Used

  Illustrated
  1994

  $6.66

  The importance of these variants and the conditions under which the novel was written and revised-conditions leading to the continuing controversy over the order of the chapters-are discussed in the editor's rewritten and updated essay on editions and revisions of The Ambassadors. As often as possible, the annotations to the text have been made by referring to James's other writings. A map of Strether's Paris and a virtually unknown photograph of James, which originally appeared with the serial of The Ambassadors, have been added to this Second Edition, and the original frontispieces to the New York Edition of the novel have been reproduced in their proper sequence for the first time. The Author on the Novel contains James's notebook entries on the inspiration for The Ambassadors as well as the long, remarkable preliminary statement that the author drew up before writing his novel. The selection of James's letters on The Ambassadors has also been expanded for the Second Edition. Criticism is comprised of fourteen essays that represent more than seventy years of analysis of The Ambassadors, by H. M. Alden, Percy Lubbock, E. M. Forster, F. O. Matthiessen, F. R. Leavis, Joseph Warren Beach, Joan Bennett, Leon Edel, Ian Watt, Sallie Sears, Nicola Bradbury, Maud Ellmann, Millicent Bell, and Philip Fisher. A Chronology and an expanded Selected Bibliography are also included.

• Used

  Paperback
  1992

  $3.99

  This work is a tale of the discovery of the charms of the old world by differing American types. It contains humour, irony and delicate perception and matches strong character portrayal with a sense of time and place.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $4.88

  Lambert Strether is sent by his wealthy fiancee, Mrs Newsome, to Paris to bring home her son Chad who is required to take charge of the family business. When Strether arrives he discovers the young man much changed by his old world environment and his relations with the Countess de Vionette.

• New

  paperback
  

  $13.41

  The greatest expression of his talent for witty, observant explorations of what it means to 'live well', Henry James' The Ambassadors is edited with an introduction and notes by Adrian Poole in Penguin Classics . Concerned that her son Chad may have become involved with a woman of dubious reputation, the formidable Mrs Newsome sends her 'ambassador' Strether from Massachusetts to Paris to extricate him. Strether's mission, however, is gradually undermined as he falls under the spell of the city and finds Chad refined rather than corrupted by its influence and that of his charming companion, Madame de Vionnet, and her daughter, Jeanne. As the summer wears on, Mrs Newsome concludes that she must send another envoy to confront the errant Chad - and a Strether whose view of the world has changed profoundly. One of the greatest of James' late works, The Ambassadors is a subtle and witty exploration of different responses to a European environment. This edition of The Ambassadors includes a chronology, further reading, glossary, notes and an introduction discussing the novel in the context of James' other works on Americans in Europe, and the novel's portrayal of Paris. Henry James (1843-1916) son of a prominent theologian, and brother to the philosopher William James, was one of the most celebrated novelists of the fin-de-siecle. In addition to many short stories, plays, books of criticism, biography and autobiography, and much travel writing, he wrote some twenty novels. His novella Daisy Miller (1878) established him as a literary figure on both sides of the Atlantic, and his other novels in Penguin Classics include Washington Square (1880), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Awkward Age (1899), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). If you enjoyed The Ambassadors , you might like Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End , also available in Penguin Classics .