All Formats & Editions

The second of James's three late masterpieces, was, in its author's opinion, "the best, all round, of my productions".

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.

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The greatest expression of his talent for witty, observant explorations of what it means to 'live well', Henry James's The Ambassadors is edited with an introduction and notes by Adrian Poole in Penguin Classics.

Concerned that her son Chad may have become... Read Full Overview

Live all you can; it's a mistake not to, declares the primary ambassador of this 1903 novel, adding, It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?
In this complex tale of self-discovery,... Read Full Overview

First published in 1903 in serial form, Henry James' "The Ambassadors" is the story of the middle-aged and na ve Lewis Lambert Strether, who travels to Europe at the behest of his widowed fianc e to find her supposedly wayward son, Chad Newsome. Mrs. Newsome fears he has fallen... Read Full Overview

The Ambassadors by Henry James tells the story of Lambert Strether, a middle-age man from Woollett, Massachusetts who agrees to assume a mission for his wealthy fianc?e: go to Paris and rescue her son from the grip of a wicked woman. This is a classic tale and one of Henry James's... Read Full Overview

This complex tale of self-discovery -- considered by the author to be his best work -- traces the path of an aging idealist, Lambert Strether. Arriving in Paris with the intention of persuading his young charge to abandon an obsession with a French woman and return home, Strether... Read Full Overview