Story summary
Краткое содержание: Послы
- Чтение: 7 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A Woollett editor is sent to Paris to fetch a young man home and finds the city remaking him.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · Мы отправим вам электронное письмо до списания средств. · Отмените онлайн в два нажатия
Послы — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 7 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 10 h 45 min8 h 30 min fast, 12 h 45 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 153 000
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Сложное чтение long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Первая публикация
- 1903by Генри Джеймс
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
Бесплатно на 3 мес.
Получите полное краткое содержание Послы бесплатно
- 200 000+ классических книг в формате электронных книг, аудиокниг и кратких содержаний на 15 минут, а также печатные книги, в том числе крупным шрифтом, по себестоимости печати
- До 5 читателей в вашей семье на одном плане
Послы in short
The Ambassadors follows one man's errand and what it does to him. Lambert Strether is sent from Woollett to bring Chad Newsome home, and he finds that Paris has made Chad a different person. With the help of Maria Gostrey, little Bilham, and Madame de Vionnet, Strether discovers how much of his own life he has missed.
What Послы is about
What happens when a man sent to rescue someone finds that the person is not lost? That is the problem of Lambert Strether, a fifty-five-year-old editor from Woollett, Massachusetts. He crosses the Atlantic to bring home Chad Newsome, the son of a rich widow whom Strether hopes to marry.
The Ambassadors is a novel by Henry James, first published in 1903. James thought it the best thing he had written. Every scene reaches us through Strether's eyes alone. You meet Maria Gostrey, Waymarsh, little Bilham, Madame de Vionnet, and the Pococks, and you watch an errand of duty become a lesson in seeing.
Для кого. This book is for readers who love close attention to character, who enjoy elegant talk that says more than it seems, and who are drawn to Paris and to the quiet drama of a mind changing its view.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
Strether enjoys a free day at Chester
Strether lands at Liverpool and travels to Chester, where his old friend Waymarsh is due to meet him. When he learns that Waymarsh will come only in the evening, he is quietly glad. For a day he has nobody to answer to, and the feeling is stronger than he expects.
In the hotel hall a woman speaks to him. She has overheard him ask for Waymarsh. Her card reads Maria Gostrey, with a Paris address. Within minutes he has agreed to see the town with her.
He tells her he comes from Woollett as if owning up to a fault. She notices that he keeps pulling out his watch, like a man doing something wrong. His trouble, she says, is a general failure to enjoy. He answers that Woollett is not sure it ought to enjoy itself.
A single free afternoon is enough to show a dutiful man how much of life he has never touched.
- 2Начните читать бесплатно
Maria Gostrey becomes his guide to Europe
Miss Gostrey sorts people into kinds, as a printer sorts type.
- 3Начните читать бесплатно
Paris brings letters, doubts, and little Bilham
In Paris Strether hopes for letters from Mrs. Newsome.
- 4Начните читать бесплатно
Chad Newsome is not the man expected
At the Comédie-Française, in a box, Strether is talking with Miss Gostrey when a stranger enters.
- 5Начните читать бесплатно
In a sculptor's garden, Strether says live
On a bright Sunday Chad takes Strether to the garden of Gloriani, a famous sculptor.
- 6Начните читать бесплатно
Madame de Vionnet and Jeanne enter the story
In the same garden Chad introduces Strether to Madame de Vionnet, a French countess living apart from her husband, and to her young daughter Jeanne.
- 7Начните читать бесплатно
A telegram, a delay, and the Pococks arrive
A telegram from Woollett reaches Strether in the hotel courtyard.
- 8Начните читать бесплатно
The book sets freedom against duty
At its heart the novel puts two ways of living side by side.
- 9Начните читать бесплатно
Strether learns to see more than others do
James says in his preface that the whole business of the tale is simply the process of seeing.
- 10Начните читать бесплатно
Everything is told through one mind
James tells the story entirely from within Strether's consciousness.
Read all 10 key ideas now
3 months free, then 0,14 USD a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- Мы отправим вам электронное письмо до списания средств.
- Отмените онлайн в два нажатия
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Lambert Strether A fifty-five-year-old editor from Woollett, sent to bring Chad home, who finds Paris loosening every rule he has lived by.
- Chad Newsome Mrs. Newsome's son, long settled in Paris, now polished and self-assured, who wants to be left to his own life.
- Maria Gostrey A shrewd American guide to Europe who befriends Strether on arrival and helps him understand what he sees.
- Waymarsh Strether's old friend, a stiff lawyer from Milrose, Connecticut, who distrusts Europe and watches Strether's change with alarm.
- Madame de Vionnet A French countess, charming and mysterious, living apart from her husband, who is Chad's closest friend and wants Strether on her side.
- Little Bilham A cheerful young American art student and Chad's friend who keeps house in Chad's rooms and eases Strether into Paris.
- Sarah Pocock Chad's sister, poised and formal, who crosses the ocean for her mother and expects to put everything right.
- Mrs. Newsome A rich, high-minded widow in Woollett who sends Strether abroad and expects obedience, though she never appears in person.
How it ends (spoiler)
Strether sees clearly that Chad and Madame de Vionnet are bound together far more closely than he allowed himself to say, and he warns Chad not to abandon her. Chad stays committed for now but already shows interest in business and advertising. Strether gains nothing for himself and refuses Maria Gostrey's warm offer of a future. He chooses to go home to Woollett, richer in understanding but with no reward.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of Послы opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Вопросы о книге Послы
What is The Ambassadors about?
It follows Lambert Strether, an American editor sent to Paris to bring home Chad Newsome, a young man his rich mother wants back. Strether finds Chad changed and slowly learns to see life, and himself, differently.
Why is the novel called The Ambassadors?
Strether is first sent as his friend Mrs. Newsome's envoy to Paris. Later the Pococks come out as a second delegation from Woollett. Both parties are ambassadors, and Strether becomes more loyal to Paris than to those who sent him.
Who is Maria Gostrey and what is her role?
She is an American living in Europe who meets Strether at Chester and guides him. She asks him questions, explains things, and becomes his confidante. James called her a ficelle, a character who helps the reader follow the story.
When was The Ambassadors written and is it a true story?
Henry James published it in 1903, first in twelve monthly installments in the North American Review. It is fiction. James said it grew from a remark a friend repeated about a man speaking in a Paris garden.
What is the main message of The Ambassadors?
Strether's advice to live all you can carries the heart of it. The book also suggests that real understanding takes time, costs something, and may set you apart from those who prefer to keep their settled opinions.
Как сослаться на это издание
James, Henry. The Ambassadors. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ambassadors.
James, H. (2026). The ambassadors. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ambassadors (Original work published 1903)
James, Henry. The Ambassadors. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ambassadors.
@book{james2026ambassadors,
author = {James, Henry},
title = {The Ambassadors},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-ambassadors},
note = {First published 1903}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian GrayБесплатно на 3 мес.
Получите полное краткое содержание Послы бесплатно
- 200 000+ классических книг в формате электронных книг, аудиокниг и кратких содержаний на 15 минут, а также печатные книги, в том числе крупным шрифтом, по себестоимости печати
- До 5 читателей в вашей семье на одном плане
