Summary Strether, Maria, and Waymarsh spend three days in London. On the third evening, Strether and Maria have dinner before attending the theatre; Waymarsh has decided not to accompany them. At dinner, Strether compares Maria with Mrs. Newsome. Maria’s dress is cut low around her shoulders and she wears a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapter ISummary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter III
Summary Strether and Waymarsh have arranged to take an afternoon train to London, but Strether learns that Maria intends to leave earlier. They meet in the coffee-room of the hotel and then remove to the garden, where Maria tells Strether more about herself. She says that she thinks of herself […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter IIISummary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter II
Summary Strether, Maria, and Waymarsh dine together that evening, and Strether decides “that Waymarsh would quite fail . . . on whatever degree of acquaintance, to profit by her.” After the trio takes a stroll through the moonlight, the two men go to their rooms, but Strether is restless and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter IISummary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter I
Summary Lambert Strether, an American widower of fifty-five, arrives at his hotel in Chester, England, where he is to meet his old friend, Waymarsh. Strether, a “lean . . . slightly loose figure of a man” with glasses, full but graying hair, and a thick, dark moustache “of characteristically American […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 1: Chapter IBook Summary
Lambert Strether arrives in England as a representative of his benefactress, Mrs. Newsome, with the express purpose of convincing her son, Chad Newsome, to leave off the carefree life he has been leading in Europe and return to the family business in Woollett, Massachusetts. Strether, convinced at the start of […]
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