융합을 향한 새로운 인식:국제주제와 『대사들』 = An Awareness toward Fusion: The International Theme and The Ambassadors

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

After using the international theme in his first writing period(mid 60s to 1881), Henry James does not use it for about 25 years. In his Major Phase, the theme appeared again but there's a great change in it. According to Jagdish Sharma the change is a departure from "emphasized internationalism" and the departure is very drastic. Therefore the notable difference between the earlier characters and the later ones is that the earlier are portrayed externally while the later internally. The Ambassadors is the typical work of the later dramas and is also one of the best of James's productions. In it the author focuses his mind on the "process of vision" of the hero, Strether. So it can safely be said that to analyze 'the process of vision' is the best way to understand James's literary world.
The American Strether comes to Paris to take Chad home whose mother he is engaged to. He is somewhat different from James's early heroes of international novel in that he is neither simple-minded nor innocent but rather complicated and intelligent. He is from the first exhilarated and feels extraordinary sense of escape in his new environment. He is very responsive and sensitive so he begins to correct his misunderstandings on Paris and Paris people. At last Chad is to him not a corrupted youth but looks to be a very smart one.
Strether's change of vision is associated with the image of water and the symbol of garden. Water is "most constant image for experience." All the people in Paris are like deep water that contains innumerable experiences. In order to get out of the "tin mould" of a life, to be immersed in the fathomless medium like "silent fish" is indispensable. All the vision and awareness has to do with the symbol of garden. Louise Damner says the crucial scenes are presented in gardens and the meaning of them leads us to the essence of Jamesian themes. Garden reminds us of the Eden and in order to get knowledge the prohibited fruit is necessary.
The moment Strether witnesses the adultery of Chad and Vionnet he experiences "the ritual death." Thus he acquires the wider vision that they are no better than he and he is neither better nor worse than they. In this sense the primary theme of James is "the necessity of experience." Marilyn Hardwig says by the time James wrote this later novel he saw that the association of Europe and America is having reached a stage of "achieved social fusion." In his early novels only James's American characters get something from their keeping company with the Europeans, but in his later novels both Americans and Europeans achieve "perfection" through the intermingle of cultures. Beyond the perfection lies the Jamesian vision of the complete fusion of both societies.