The Ambassadors

The Ambassadors--------------------------------------------------Lambert Strether, a mild middle-aged American of no particular achievements,is dispatched to Paris from the manufacturing empire of Woollett, Massachusetts.The mission conferred on him by his august patron, Mrs Newsome, isto discover what, or who, is keeping her son Chad in the notoriouscity of pleasure, and to bring him home. But Strether finds Chad transformedby the influence of a remarkable woman, and as the Parisian springadvances, he himself succumbs to the allure of the 'vast bright Babylon'and to the mysterious charm of Madame de Vionnet. The text of thisOxford World's Classics paperback is that of the New York edition,with James's Preface.