Status Updates From The Ambassadors

Day 3: At book 10 of 12. My favorite thing about James, or a Wharton or a Howells of this time and place, is inevitability. The controlling insanity inherent to high society, paired with the naïveté of those living in its gilded prison yearning to follow their heart, can only lead to one outcome. Watching that slow march towards devastation provides immense farce and extreme melancholy. Best of luck, Strether.

Day 2: James, the beguiler. How Europe has seduced the American out of his home. Like man evolving into a higher form of existence to become ape again. The temptation of temptation. Loving many of these characters but can’t shake Maria Gostrey, an un-Americanized American guiding the souls of Americans (Strether mainly) back to the continent. The Charon of a Jamesian underworld.

Day 1: Complete book 1 of 12. The Ambassadors is my wife’s birthday book this year (we read one of the others’ favorite books to swap for bdays). I am currently around 900 miles away from her and, what do you know, I feel like I’ve spent the evening with her. James is my wife’s Jupiter and Venus, and thus his prose has guided me back to her. Hope to share with you what makes his work special as I continue.

DNF got through about 30% and this was my ninth Henry James book as I went through all of them, but I reached my limit with this one. The pros was just too dense and I wasn’t up for it.