Ambassadors (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

outstanding edition

I suspect the review above was written by an Oxford editor. I say this because I possess the B&N Classic edition of The Ambassadors as well as the Oxford version, since I am a college professor and like to compare books before having the store order them in bulk for my classes. Not only is the B&N Classic $2 cheaper than Oxford -- no small consideration for my students -- it contains several editorial features found no place else: about a dozen book reviews from the early 1900s, a fascinating short essay on books "Inspired By" The Ambassadors (with a discussion of Woolf and Hemingway's reaction), and an introduction that is twice as long as Oxford's. Moreover, the B&N Classics intro is far more up-to-date, modern, and relevant to today's readers, whether they are students or a general audience. I found the Oxford introduction a bit outdated and skimpy, to be honest. As for Kate Croy's complaint about the footnotes -- it's true that the B&N Classics edition has fewer of them, but the other amenities of the book more than make up for it, and the Oxford notes are really not that interesting anyway. I don't usually comment on these sites, but wanted to balance what I felt was an unfair review by the pseudonymous Kate Croy.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Get a new editor!

Henry James' masterpiece deserves a better editor than Kyle Patrick Smith. While most Barnes & Noble editions are edited by professors, Smith's sole qualification for this job is his bachelor's degree from Harvard; must we imagine that James' own brief attendance there confers the missing laurels? (He does inform us, however, that he was "raised in San Diego," and "lives in Manhattan." Ah, well never mind then.) Smith's annotations are almost sublimely poor. He tells us that the "Café Riche is a popular Parisian theater" and that "nearby is the Gymnase, a well known restaurant." One need look no farther than James' own text (and common sense. and historical sense.) to know that of course the reverse is true. Equally bad is his Spanish spelling of France's famous Opéra National de Paris: Smith gives us the comical Opéra Nacional. The list of errors continues, but before you discover them for yourself, I recommend you select the wonderful Oxford edition instead. Unless of course you want your copy of The Ambassadors to assure you that you too could be an editor. But then again, where do you live?

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

The Master

Although I wasn't riveted initially, the Master had plans for the patient reader. Even during the slow murky start (murky because it was probably over my head) I could proclaim that the prose was stellar, the best I've come across. This guy was a master of his craft. Ultimately, a fine fine book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Americans who won't leave Paris

James captures the ambiance and ambivalence of Paris at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. He places Americans (as he often does) in the seductive milieu strikingly new to them--particularly to New Englanders--and shows us, in his slow, difficult prose (intentionally difficult, like Faulkner's, I think) how some yield to it and blossom; others are repelled and find the boat for home. The novel ends, not tragically quite, but wistfully, in regretful melancholy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A little wordy but a good read.

While I like Jame's fantasy/horror works like The Turning of the Screw a little more, this was an interesting book to read.
His writing style is a little to verbose (it's a little like reading Dickens) but the style works for the plot.

Sluggishly D-U-L-L

I wish I could be as kind as the reviewer below, but I can't. James's rambling went on far TOO long and I didn't find any of the characters particularly sympathetic. You're not missing much.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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