PDF The Golden Bowl Penguin Classics Henry James Ruth Bernard Yeazell Philip Horne 9780141441276 Books
Download As PDF : The Golden Bowl Penguin Classics Henry James Ruth Bernard Yeazell Philip Horne 9780141441276 Books
A new edition of Henry James's searing study of marriage and Infidelity
Set in England, The Golden Bowl is Henry James's highly charged exploration of adultery, jealousy, and possession that continues and challenges James's characteristic exploration of the battle between American innocence and European experience. Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father, Adam, lead a life of wealth and refinement in London. They are both getting married Maggie to Prince Amerigo, an impoverished Italian aristocrat, and Adam to the beautiful but penniless Charlotte Stant. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret - one for which all concerned must pay the price. This story completes what critics have called the "major phase" of James?s career.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
PDF The Golden Bowl Penguin Classics Henry James Ruth Bernard Yeazell Philip Horne 9780141441276 Books
"This would be on my list of ten greatest novels ever written -- or at least in my personal universe.
James is the master of moral ambiguity, which he brings to his most painful and cruel apex in this novel.
There's too much to say about it to fit into a little amazon review, but one of the things I most love about
it is that the reader is left no comfortable place to "stand." James leaves us no character with whom we can
fully identify and not question what that says about us. IF the theme of this story had to be summed up
in a capsule (an idea which James, of course, would ridicule), it might be that no moral failure happens
in a vacuum, and that individual people determine more of each others' characters than they perhaps intend to. And,
as Lionel Trilling always taught his students, "follow the money."
It's possible that the novel as a form got as perfect as it's ever going to get with James, and that this is his best,
so if you care about novels, you want to read this one more than once, and to live with it, and to let it
affect you."
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The Golden Bowl Penguin Classics Henry James Ruth Bernard Yeazell Philip Horne 9780141441276 Books Reviews :
The Golden Bowl Penguin Classics Henry James Ruth Bernard Yeazell Philip Horne 9780141441276 Books Reviews
- This would be on my list of ten greatest novels ever written -- or at least in my personal universe.
James is the master of moral ambiguity, which he brings to his most painful and cruel apex in this novel.
There's too much to say about it to fit into a little review, but one of the things I most love about
it is that the reader is left no comfortable place to "stand." James leaves us no character with whom we can
fully identify and not question what that says about us. IF the theme of this story had to be summed up
in a capsule (an idea which James, of course, would ridicule), it might be that no moral failure happens
in a vacuum, and that individual people determine more of each others' characters than they perhaps intend to. And,
as Lionel Trilling always taught his students, "follow the money."
It's possible that the novel as a form got as perfect as it's ever going to get with James, and that this is his best,
so if you care about novels, you want to read this one more than once, and to live with it, and to let it
affect you. - Even though by this time in his life, James' style has become exceptionally baroque and difficult, he still manages to spin a spellbinding tale of intrigue and betrayal (for those who can wade through his perhaps user-unfriendly style). Was this clash of the continents ever real except in James' mind, with the jaded continentally influenced sophisticates (two ex-lovers) trying to outwit the goodness and innocence of the still untutored but solid Americans (a rich father and daughter). What do you do when you love and you're kind but you've been duped? Read James to find out
- One of many books I've bought from and through . Always satisfied. This novel is James' best, a small cast of characters perceptions of self and other so deep I would call it genuinely enlightening. The story too is full of surprises and despite the fact that there's no violence and not much in the way of "action," it's a thrilling page turner through psychological and emotional cliff-hanging. Sentences are long and convoluted, as are paragraphs, in the usual James manner, but he's perfect with it all in this one, and the complications of language are part of the fun.
- The print is so small you will need an extremely powerful magnifying glass to read it. Best to buy another publisher's edition.
- The text of this subtle, difficult and rewarding novel seems to be accurate (though I did not make a thorough check). But the 'classic illustrated edition' has a number of deficiencies. First, it does not contain James's preface - a real loss, since in the prefaces he discusses the fine points of his own art. Second, the type face changes from time to time unaccountably, and suddenly several pages look like they were composed on an old fashioned typewriter, before the text lapses back into the a conventional typeface for an electronic device. Third, the number of pages and minutes remaining in the chapter and in the book is wildly inaccurate, and as one turns the page jumps from 2 hours and 14 minutes, to 1 minute, with the chapter registering longer than the book, at times, with no rhyme or reason. (I've never had this problem before, nor do I have it with other books I am reading on the same device.) Fourth, the 'classic' illustrations are very, very few in number and only tangentially relevant. To illustrate a chapter about the relation between the adult Maggie and her father, we have a picture of a father with his pre-adolescent daughter. To illustrate a chapter containing a sentence in which Maggie offers to her husband half a dozen possibilities of where they might travel, which list includes the word 'Alps,' we have a folksy picture of an alpine cottage of a kind no one in this book would even remotely think of stopping in. The choices are laughably bad, even funny. I am reminded of the joke about two guests at a Catskills resort. "The food is terrible," one complains. "Yes," the other replies, "and such small portions.â€
In short, I recommend another edition -- any other edition -- for a more technically satisfying reading experience. - THE GOLDEN BOWL is one among many of James's novels or stories that depict flaws in the human character. The plot is secondary - merely a vehicle to reveal those flaws. And as in some of his other stories, the persons depicted are European and American. The setting is abroad, in Europe, and the American(s) is (are) visiting the Europeans.
In THE GOLDEN BOWL,(chapter 6) the description of the bowl itself is a good example of James's facility with words, seemingly pedantic, but, on close examination, vividly descriptive, not just in physical terms, but more in the psychological. The golden bowl portends an uncertain relationship in the pending marriage of Prince Amerigo and Maggie. It appears to be perfect but Amerigo has seen the crack in it.
If you are a reader seeking action, exciting plots or a fast read, forget about Henry James. James is a master of verbal, human portraits. His style is Victorian. Yes, he seems verbose, but his words mean something and leave you thinking. You must work through the nuances, metaphors and intellectual verbiage. And once you do, you will surely feel rewarded.
