Ambassadors

Henry James' 1903 book The Ambassadors was first released as a serial in the North American Review (NAR). The dark comedy book centers on Lewis Lambert Strether, the main character, as he travels to Europe to reintegrate the son of his widowed fiancee into the family company. The book is told from Strether's perspective in the third person. The novel consists of Lewis Lambert Strether (character in the novel) being sent to Paris by his fiancee to find her wayward son Chad. Strether's transition from an American to a European perspective is detailed in the book. Strether encounters Maria Gostrey, who provides him with insightful information on European culture (and the reader). Strether's personal introduction to Paris begins to widen his own head and heart to a more expansive understanding of the possibilities the world has to offer. Strether's friendship with Madame de Vionnet will be severed if Chad decides to go back to Woollett. Even for James's work, The Ambassadors' publishing history is convoluted. Before The Wings of the Dove (1902), between October 1900 and July 1901, he wrote the book, but he did not immediately find a publisher.