Paris as the “Vast Bright Babylon” for Strether

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not only tasteful but archaic factors. Strether’s longing for novelty and for something intellectual are all substantially provided in Paris. As such, Strether acquires

refreshment from his marvelous spatial experiences in the Louvre. Strether’s spatial intimacy in connection to his impressive feeling of refreshment ignited by the sensuous stimulation of various things is evident in this novel.

3.3.2 Paris as the “Vast Bright Babylon” for Strether

The modern landscape of Paris emblems as a charming cultural mixture of the ancient heritage and the grandeur of the French empire, by which Strether’s pursuit of intelligences and diversities could be nourished and satisfied. In The Ambassadors, James’ use of “the vast bright Babylon” (63) is a spatial metaphor, which connotes Strether’s intellectual pursuit of an archaic culture.

It hung before him this morning, the vast bright Babylon, like some huge iridescent object, a jewel brilliant and hard, in which parts were not to be discriminated nor differences comfortably marked. It twinkled and trembled and melted together, and what seemed all surface one moment seemed all depth the next. . . It all depends of course—which was a gleam of light. . . Was it at all possible for instance to like Paris enough without liking it too much? (63)

The quote above is a symbolic evocation of Strether’s topophilia for Paris, which provides Strether with a whole landscape in connection to a cosmopolitan vision nourished by cultural varieties. Paris offers Strether impressive spatial experience, which could be seen from Strether’s walks from the congested Boulevards to the Luxembourg Gardens. Strether’s meditations in the Luxemburg Gardens show his observances of and fondness with Paris: Paris as “the vast bright Babylon,” “a gleam of light” and “a jewel brilliant and hard” (63). Strether’s imaginative capabilities are

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inspired by the hidden revelations and inspiration throughout the scenes in Paris. His transitional/liminal stage of meditation is shown from his self-discovery of his own difference and his finding of “freedom” in the Luxembourg Gardens. He is aware of his “difference of being” (“finding himself so free”) in Paris (57). He becomes different from his being in his American hometown (“where he was and as he was,”

that “form[s]” his “escape” in Paris) (57).

Strether’s continual comparison of differences in his mind, between Woollett and Paris, shows his changed perspectives and values, which unveil his conscious decision to release himself from his old and local restrictions in Woollett. Different settings underline the course of Strether’s reconstructed vision. His topophilia for Paris and his gradual awareness of human complexities are subtly disclosed along with his spatial experiences in Paris. While Chester in England reflects a quality of a life in order (11), Paris exhibits an alternative life style — a dynamic city providing diversities involving both antiquities and novelty in connection to freedom,

intelligence, and sensuous pleasures.²⁹ It could be seen from Strether’s reflective mind to the “wandering western airs” in Paris: Europe is as “an elaborate engine,”

which dissociates him from “the confined American” knowledge (55). Unlike Strether’s “first ‘note’ of Europe” in Chester in England, the free air in Paris (compared with his American hometown in Woollett) and his appreciation of old historical monuments in the banks of the Mersey in Chester testify how Paris provides much more cultural diversities.

29 In The Ambassadors, Strether talks to Miss Gostrey while they take a walk in Chester, an old English town in the U.K. “Precisely. Woollett isn’t sure it ought to enjoy” (11). Meanwhile, in London, Strether’s meditation that “those before him and around him were not as the types of Woollett” (36) shows his comparison of two different cultures between Europe and America. In addition, with reference of the Notes 12.25 to The Ambassadors, Strether remarks on American constitutional values that they are “unimaginative, self-important and provincial, developing commercially but with little place for ideas, protected from ‘life’” in Woollett, which is “without much time for hedonism” (441). It shows the same continual comparison of European and American values in Strether’s mind.

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The main purpose of James’ detailed depiction of the setting is to introduce the mentality of his fictional figures, which is shown from his spatial metaphor referring to Paris as “the vast bright Babylon” (Ambassadors 63). On the one hand, Strether’s intoxication with things exhibits his topophilia with Paris because its cultural varieties. On the other hand, James characterizes Strether’s spiritual longing for his own space through his mediations in Paris. Strether’s process of seeing is unveiled by a series of incidents and scenes. Accordingly, his longing for reviving his free young spirit demonstrates an intimate nearness as returning to one’s primitive home—one’s upmost comfort corer in one’s mind. Unlike many moral absolutes and constraints in Woollett, Paris provides Strether with moral flexibilities and much more opportunities to develop his artful pursuit. It could explicate why Paris provides Strether with the utmost spatial intimacy. The first reason is that Paris is a place filled with brilliant and new things (novelty).³⁰ James himself considers Paris as a city of happiness.

Obviously, a “Babylonic” culture that Strether sees in Paris implies double meaning.

On the one hand, it refers to its urban life filled with kaleidoscopic things and people of intelligences, to which Strether is strongly allured. On the other hand, he perceives the intricate side of human complexities and human degeneration (as what Babylon literally means). He fully experiences his spatial intimacy and what is beneath the surface of man-made brilliance (gaslight). The major attractiveness that evokes Strether’s topophilic feelings also brings a sense of personal freedom from old restrictions like in either Woollett or Chester.

The observant James discloses the ugly truth of international commerce.

Despite his strong infatuation with Parisian images, James is not satisfied with a

30 From Strether’s walk in the Garden Luxembourg Gardens, we know he is thinking of the nocturnal walk in the right bank of the Seine at the first night upon arrival. Even after the night walk, in the second morning, the brilliancy of the night scene of Paris still hung before the eyes of Strether, which proves to be a great stimulation stirred in Strether’s mind (James, Ambassadors 63).

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single-minded perspective. In The Art of Travel, we could trace his comparison of Paris to a “fairy-tale” as well as his criticism of the “dullness of trade, the emptiness of its pockets” (216). Instead of a purely romantic tourist vision, we will find same sharp observation from Strether. All in all, James’ repeated evocation of the Babylonic culture could be seen as his fascination for the brilliant Parisian images and his

archaic pursuit of historical heritages. In a way similar to Benjamin’s fascinations with things, I prove both James and Strether share the similar topophilic emotions for Paris — their fabulous impressions of the Parisian cultural heritage and cultural varieties. Paris obviously symbolizes “a vast bright Babylon.” The connection between James and Strether’s topophilia is clear.