The poetry of the age: Economics, aesthetics, and ethics in Henry James's 'The Ambassadors'

This study is an exploration of the relationship between economic value and aesthetic value in Henry James's 1903 novel, The Ambassadors. Although the novel has traditionally been read as one of James's "international novels" which describe the confrontation between European and American mores and values, my examination of James's use of commercial metaphors and financial imagery revealed there was no tidy dichotomy between the money-grubbing values of industrial Woollett and the civilized, ideal values of European culture. The Ambassadors is characterized by economic language and imagery on all levels of the narrative. James wrote The Ambassadors when Western economies and culture were undergoing a period of transition. At the turn of the century, the American and European economies were being transformed from production to consumption economies. Through its pervasive economic imagery The Ambassadors exemplifies the effects of a nascent commodity culture on the human imagination and relationships. The Ambassadors goes beyond contrasting the values of a materialistic, capitalist culture with those of an older, more civilized society. Rather than claiming that a particular value system is superior to others, the novel demonstrates that the historical forces which shape human consciousness operate in all aspects of human life, and that at the turn-of-the century, American evaluative judgments are all shaped by the influence of commodity culture. This dissertation focuses on the influence of turn-of-the century capitalism on the value systems of The Ambassadors. Lambert Strether is often read as a man who is both oppositional to and outside of "the world of grab." But Strether's vision is profoundly influenced, if not created by the values of "the world of grab." Fundamental to my reading of The Ambassadors is the dismantling of the binary oppositions between aesthetic and economic value. This novel is a response to very specific economic and cultural pressures of the western world at the turn of the century. Rather than being antithetical, the commercial and the aesthetic ways of determining value at the turn of the century are interrelated, shaped by the effects of consumer culture.