Abstract

Henry James’ “The Ambassadors” might be termed an Impressionist Suspense Novel in that the action of the novel centers on the shifting impressions and groping for hidden meaning in the mind of its main character, Lambert Strether. The subtle changes in Strether’s struggle for understanding are registered in a series of intense encounters with Chadwick Newsome, and his lover, Madame Marie de Vionnet and are communicated to the reader in the complex syntax of James’ prose. This article will examine James’ use of four linguistic devices to render character portraits and signal shifting impressions: clause relations, parallel grammatical structures, lexical repetition and replacement, and serial alliterative modifiers.

Highlights

  • Henry James’ “The Ambassadors” (1903) is a novel of suspense, but what hangs in the balance is not life or death, as in the typical suspense, but the outcome of a noble bet made by two middle-aged characters

  • The noble bet made by the two characters is that Chadwick will stay in Paris and marry Madame Marie de Vionnet, thereby honoring the gift of cultural enrichment she has bestowed on him, and vindicating the great risk Strether has taken in reneging on his commitment to his patron and fiancée Mrs Newsome

  • Findings and Discussion a series of key passages from the novel is presented to demonstrate James’ use of the target linguistic and syntactic devices and to analyze how they contribute to character and plot-development and shifting psychological dynamics between characters. 4.1 Parallel Structures: So finely Brown, so sharply Spare James’ use of multiple modifiers often creates complex noun phrases and clauses and the effect of these can be either to signal an equivalent intricacy of shifting impressions in a complex social situation, or a humorous incongruity between complex descriptive structure and ridiculous character behavior or situation

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Summary

Introduction

Henry James’ “The Ambassadors” (1903) is a novel of suspense, but what hangs in the balance is not life or death, as in the typical suspense, but the outcome of a noble bet made by two middle-aged characters. The two middle-aged characters in question are: Lewis Lambert Strether, a 55 year old magazine editor who returns to Europe after a long absence at the behest of his wealthy fiancée and patron, Mrs Newsome, with a very specific mission: to persuade her son, Chadwick, to break from his lover. The vivid impressions made on him by the artistic and cultural beauty of Paris and of Madame Marie de Vionnet’s person and milieu form a key part of the action in that they precipitate what is the central event of the novel, the change in Strether’s perceptions of the affair and the shift in his loyalties. The linguistic devices are clause relations, parallel grammatical structures, lexical repetition and replacement, and serial alliterative modifiers

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