Other editions of book The Golden Bowl

This ebook includes a biographical introduction, a short, critical analysis of James' career and a brief introduction to this work.First published by Scribners in 1904, The Golden Bowl was the last of the novels James published during what has come to be seen as his most productive and best period. It followed The Ambassadors in 1903 and The Wing of the Dove in 1902. The novel is essentially a study of character, concentrating on four figures, Prince Amerigo, an Italian aristocrat who is poor yet still charismatic, his partner Maggie Verver, the child of the incredibly rich financier, Adam Verver. The fourth character, Charlotte Stant, was previously Amerigo's lover, but this detail is kept from the Ververs.The essential plot follows the arc of the relationship between Amerigo and Maggie Verver and how the latter, on suspecting something more intense between Amerigo and Charlotte Stant, struggles to save her relationship with the man she loves while at the same time avoiding anything too turbulent socially. Where at the start of the novel, Maggie is seen as something of an innocent debutant, by the close she has matured and shows her worth. By concentrating almost exclusively on character and using what plot there to merely further the primary study James arguably fulfils his premise as a writer. Interestingly, the title refers to an item that Amerigo considers purchasing as a wedding gift for Maggie. He is assisted in the prospective purchase by Charlotte and it is this event, together with its repercussions, that act as the hinge upon which Maggie's development rests.

Widower Adam Verver is a wealthy American who has emigrated with his attractive daughter, Maggie, for the sole purpose of luxuriating in the brilliant shine of gilded society. Then Maggie falls in love and weds a charming Italian prince named Amerigo. Adam, too, finds romance when he meet beautiful young Charlotte. But it is the innocent gift of a golden bowl that shatters the polished surface of their charmed lives. For a dark mystery is revealed in the bowl, a mystery that could ruin them.But before that can happen, Maggie determines she must have her revenge.This is the final--and in many ways the most accomplished--novel in James' illustrious career.

Henry James’s 1904 novel “The Golden Bowl” is the story of Prince Amerigo, an impoverished but charismatic Italian nobleman who travels to London to marry Maggie Verver, the only child of the immensely wealthy American financier and art collector, Adam Verver. While in London, Prince Amerigo meets his former mistress, Charlotte Stant, who is Maggie’s close friend and soon to marry Maggie’s widowed father. Amerigo and the beautiful Charlotte find themselves often in each other’s company and the two are soon engaged in an adulterous affair. While Maggie is at first naïve and unaware of her husband and friend’s connection, she becomes wiser and more assertive as the novel progresses. No longer content to let her husband and his mistress have their way to detriment of both her father’s marriage and her own, she adeptly maneuvers everyone concerned till she finally has them where she wants them. Considered by some to be the last work of Henry James’ “major phase”, which was marked by the publication of “The Wings of the Dove” in 1902 and “The Ambassadors” in 1903, “The Golden Bowl” is a complex and insightful examination of marriage, family, and adultery. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

First novel by Henry James, serialized in The Atlantic Monthly in 1875 and published in book form in 1876. It was revised by the author in 1879 for publication in England. Roderick Hudson is the story of the conflict between art and the passions; the title character is an American sculptor in Italy. Faltering in both his artistic ambitions and his personal relationships, he travels to Switzerland and dies there.

The Golden Bowl is a novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James' career. The Golden Bowl explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses. The novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail but also with powerful insight. The title is a quotation from Ecclesiastes 12:6, "…or the golden bowl be broken, …then shall the dust return to the earth as it was".In the broadest sense of the term, The Golden Bowl is a novel of education. Maggie gradually sheds her childish naivete and grows into a capable woman who saves her marriage by dexterous handling of a potentially explosive situation. She realizes that she can't remain dependent on her father but must accept adult responsibilities in her marriage.Amerigo is portrayed as a European snob and far from scrupulous. But he comes to respect Maggie as she works to save their marriage. He had previously regarded Maggie and Adam as little more than "good children, bless their hearts, and the children of good children."It is unclear how much Adam knows of the situation, but he appears wise and understanding of his daughter's plan for the two couples to separate. Charlotte is a dazzlingly beautiful woman, but she may be a little "stupid," as the Prince pronounces in a harsh final judgment. She ultimately appears more bewildered than self-possessed.

Absolutely superb, stimulating, satisfying, rewarding masterpiece, one of Henry James' best, and he is probably my favorite author. Actually, I disagree with the review which pronounces this as his best novel--I think that honor would go to "The Ambassadors," which I re-read every few years and have, since I first came upon it in college. I so much love the manner in which he writes, the simple subject matter which he transforms into gripping drama, the lengthy, almost convoluted sentences that force one to remember, to pay attention, to think. All of James' novels, including this one, seem to be written to be re-read again and again. There are simply too many layers, too many subtleties, there is too much psychological action, real human emotion and interaction to absorb in a single read through. I would recommend "The Golden Bowl" to anyone, though those who haven't read a Henry James novel before might start with "Portrait of a Lady," "The American," "Daisy Miller," or something less stylistically complex. I suspect that as one immerses himself in the writings of Henry James, there just won't be enough of his writings to satisfy the whetted appetite for his works.

The Golden Bowl is a novel by Henry James first published in 1904. Against the backdrop of England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery complete what some critics call the "major phase" of James career. The Golden Bowl explores the confusing relationship between father and daughter and their respective spouses. The novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters. The title is a quotation from Ecclesiastes 13:6-7: "Before they break the silver cord, and break the golden cup". The novel has been adapted to film.*This book contains a small biography of the author.

Shy Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, shares an uncommonly close bond with her father. Widower Adam Verver, a financier and art connoisseur, has bought everything he wants, including a titled husband for his daughter. Maggie is charmed by Prince Amerigo, an Italian nobleman of reduced means. Wishing to provide her father with companionship, she persuades him to marry her best friend, Charlotte Stant. But unbeknownst to Maggie and Adam, Charlotte and the Prince are concealing a guilty secret that will strike at the foundations of both marriages.Henry James explores his favorite themes in this novel — money, class, desire, and the collision of European and American cultures. Rich in the author's characteristic psychological insights, the story constitutes a fascinating study of character in a privileged, claustrophobic backdrop. James examines the illusions that unite people, the deceits that keep them together, and the way that trust can become a form of denial.

'This story of the alliance between Italian aristocracy and American millionaires is "a work unique among all [James'] novels: it is [his] only novel in which things come out right for his characters ...he had finally resolved the questions, curious and passionate, that had kept him at his desk on his inquiries into the process of living. He could now make his peace with America - and he could now collect and unify the work of a lifetime' - Leon Edel in "The Life of Henry James".

The Golden Bowl is a 1904 novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James' career. The Golden Bowl explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses. The novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail but also with powerful insight. The title is a quotation from Ecclesiastes 12:6, "…or the golden bowl be broken, …then shall the dust return to the earth as it was".