A Walk Worthy of Art
The American Lambert Strether has been sent to Europe on family business by his new fiancée: he must collect his soon-to-be stepson and bring him back to Massachusetts. Although his mission seemed a relatively simple one when setting out, the delights of being abroad have made Strether himself question ever returning to his own normal life. On walks in the stunning French countryside, his overactive imagination makes him believe he is in a painting like those he has seen in the museums.
He really continued in the picture—that being for himself his situation—all the rest of this rambling day; so that the charm was still, was indeed more than ever upon him when, toward six o’clock he found himself amicably engaged with a stout white-capped deep-voiced woman at the door of the auberge of the biggest village, a village that affected him as a thing of whiteness, blueness and crookedness, set in coppery green, and that had the river flowing behind or before it—one couldn’t say which; at the bottom, in particular, of the inn-garden. He had had other adventures before this; had kept along the height, after shaking off slumber; had admired, had almost coveted, another small old church, all steep roof and dim slate-colour without and all whitewash and paper flowers within; had lost his way and had found it again; had conversed with rustics who struck him perhaps a little more as men of the world than he had expected; had acquired at a bound a fearless facility in French; had had, as the afternoon waned, a watery bock, all pale and Parisian, in the café of the furthest village, which was not the biggest; and had meanwhile not once overstepped the oblong gilt frame. The frame had drawn itself out for him, as much as you please; but that was just his luck.
What we love about this passage...
The long, rambling, and evocative sentences of a pleasant afternoon journey make us think of Impressionist artists who, at the same time as James was writing, were doing their painting en plein air and exploring color, the countryside, and the effects of light on the canvas. Strether not only takes inspiration from these paintings, but begins to visualize his own life through them.
Also taking a cue from the experiments of these painters, James's description of Strether's walk is neither straightforward nor objectively descriptive. The writing alights on picturesque details rather than giving us a photographic or bird's-eye view of the scenery. In doing so, we as readers may almost experience Strether's dreaminess and are perhaps reminded of the way a walker lost in their own thoughts experiences a pleasant mix of fantasy and reality.
And yet, despite this enthusasism for daydreaming, at the end of the passage, the description turns to the mysterious frame of Strether's imagined painting–a perhaps ominous symbol that reminds us of the limits of art and the heaviness of reality.
About the author
Henry James (1843-1916) was a prolific American (and eventually, British) author whose fictional works often focused on the difficulties of Americans in Europe or Europeans in America. In these studies, he discovered some of the fundamental themes of modernity: the difficulties of different cultures living alongside each other, the psychology of the individual, the rise of modern industry, and the role of art in society. He wrote widely across genres, including well-respected essays on art criticism, numerous novels widely considered to be masterpieces (including The Ambassadors), and plays.
To read alongside...
Authors inspired by Henry James, and particularly The Ambassadors, range widely. Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley directly draws on James's novel with its focus on the unexpected turns in the journey of an American sent to Europe for the purposes of collecting an errant son. The well-known film based on it (with the same title) is a great summer watch, and so is the earlier French film based on Highsmith's novel: Plein Soleil (featuring Alain Delon in his first major role!).
LGBTQ+ writers have long drawn on James's depictions of unconventional romance, and The Ambassadors's particular style–in which romantic liaisons are hinted at but rarely brought to light–has served as a strong foundation for twentieth-century works. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin similarly concerns an American abroad coming to terms with his life, identity, and desires. More recently, Alan Hollinghurst's Man Booker-prize winning novel The Line of Beauty features a young, gay protagonist who uses James's novels to understand the relationship between art and life in England in the 1980s.
Perhaps fittingly, James's rich life has been transformed into the art of biography in two relatively recent works: Colm Tóibin's The Master and David Lodge's Author, Author.
Suggest a LitHit!
Tell us your own favourites from literature you've read, and we can feature you as a Guest Curator. Just email us with the following information:
Your full name
The title of the book you're suggesting
The location of the excerpt within the book (e.g., "in the middle of chapter 5"), or the excerpt itself copied into the email or attached to it (in Word)
Why you love it, in just a few sentences
**Please note that we welcome all suggestions but at the moment we can only release excerpts that are out of copyright and in the public domain. This means 75 years or more since the author's death. You can find many such out-of-copyright texts on the internet, for example at Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks.
About LitHits
Today's guest curator
Dr Daniel Abdalla, core member of LitHits and an expert in nineteenth and twentieth-century American and British literature and particularly its relationship to science.
You might also enjoy...
Writers Make Worlds: https://writersmakeworlds.com/
The Ten Minute Book Club: https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/ten-minute-book-club
Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/
Standard Ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/
“Five Tips to Get Reading Again if You’ve Struggled During the Pandemic,” The Conversation (8 January 2021): https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-get-reading-again-if-youve-struggled-during-the-pandemic-152904
Feedback
We'd love to hear your thoughts on our newsletter:
kirsten@lit-hits.co.uk
Graphic design by Sara Azmy
All curation content © 2022 LitHits. All rights reserved.