統合される時間,分散する時間,時間の"virtuous attachment" : The AmbassadorsにおけるStretherの現在認識

Abstract

In The Ambassadors Lambert Strether, who comes to Europe to take Chad back to America, knows the "virtuous attachment" between Chad and Madame de Vionnet. If we think the word "virtuous attachment" to mean Platonic relationship, it is said that Chad and Madame de Vionnet don't associate with each other "virtuously." But Strether thinks their relationship to be the embodiment of two kinds of sense of "time." The aim of this essay is, through analyzing how Strether feels two kinds of sense of time, to consider the meaning of the life and of the "present" for him. In America, the people around Strether work hard in the developing capitalism. What is important for them is the time to save money for "future." The name of the commodity in Newsome's factory is unknown, because it doesn't need to be identified. This fact symbolizes that the people lose individu- ality in their daily lives, and that both they and their time are parts of the capital in their society. On the other hand, Strether enjoys history and tradition in things European. He feels that the people in Europe have their own "past" time, and that their past marks their individuality. And for Strether, the relationship between Chad and Madame de Vionnet embodies the attachment of two kinds of "sense of time," that is, the American sense of time minding their common "future" and the European sense of time minding their individual "past." In the end, Strether realizes that he is an outsider from both kinds of "sense of time." That is, he, as well as Henry James, cannot become familiar with both America and Europe as an expatriate. Through his travel, he knows the importance of the "present" time, for it is the unique time point to live and to grasp both the "past" and the "future" of his own.