In a "Memorandum," H. M. Alden advised his superiors at Harper and Brothers against accepting The Ambassadors. He noted, "the scenario is interesting, but it does not promise a popular novel." Alden was correct; the novel has never been a widely read book. But David Lodge was not exaggerating when he summed up the place of James' novel in the English canon. In his 20th Century Literary Criticism, Lodge wrote, "more than any other single writer, James may be said to have presided over the transformation of the Victorian novel into the modern novel, and at the same time to have laid the foundations of modern criticism of the novel." Gore Vidal agreed, saying that in James's third period of work, "the magician" broke his "Golden Bowl" and reached the height of his powers.

The incredible awe in which James was held before his death checked...