The Ambassadors, Henry James

High school students, and perhaps college students, should not be assigned to read some authors. Henry James is a case in point.

Henry James is an exquisite writer and perhaps serious college students should be exposed to Henry James' life, the subjects of his books, and his style of writing. But no one, not until they have had life experiences, should read Henry James.

I have read very little of Henry James; I have just completed four of his shorter works (I loved The Beast in the Jungle; and appreciated Four Meetings, The Pupil, and the Turn of the Screw).

Today, I can say that I am very, very happy to have completed The Ambassadors, the first Henry James novel I have read. One can read about the story line, the publishing history and analysis of this novel at wikipedia.

I group James Joyce (Irish), Virginia Woolf (English), and Henry James (American) in the same group, writing at the same time, and about similar subjects.

Some first impressions of The Ambassadors:

1. It is autobiographical.
2. Henry James had moved (psychologically) from the US to Europe.
3. Henry James wondered if life had passed him by.
4. The Ambassadors has much in common with The Beast in the Jungle; both explore inner feelings about relationships and missed relationships.
5. Serious readers who have not read Henry James, but are interested, should read three works in this order: a) Leon Edel's biography of Henry James; b) The Beast in the Jungle; and, c) The Ambassadors.
6. The more time one has spent in Paris, the more enjoyable is The Ambassadors.
7. Henry James writing style is perfect for learning to diagram sentences (which I doubt anyone does any more). His sentences are very, very long. Likewise, his passages are very long. James can take two pages to say that two people look alike.
8. I have found at least one occasion in which James uses a word that doesn't exist in the English language, but looks like it should. In context, one can almost figure out what James was saying but who knows for sure.


I am 58 years old. The protagonist in The Ambassadors is 55 years old. He and I are asking the same questions.


[This is what the reviewers had to say in the concluding paragraph of their essay in "1000 Books You Must Read Before You Die": Overall, The Ambassadors' vision is tragic: its most sensitive characters are largely victims of a seemingly inescapable social regulation. Indeed, with The Ambassadors, James excels at representing figures who are aware of their loss of youth, and who seem increasingly out of pace with the world.]