Wordsworth Classics: The Golden Bowl

This is a basic text element.

Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York and had an unconventional childhood, being educated in a variety of schools and living with his family mostly in hotels in England, France and Switzerland. He spent a term at Harvard Law School in 1862, before embarking on his career as a writer and continuing to travel extensively. He was naturalised as a British subject in 1915. James wrote twenty novels, innumerable short stories, many works of criticism or description, a number of plays and two excellent pieces of biography. He is most noted for his methodical construction, individual style, and careful characterisation.

With an Introduction and Notes by Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading. Henry James's last completed novel, The Golden Bowl, is the story of two flawed marriages. The lives and relationships of Maggie Verver and her widowed American millionaire father, Adam, are changed and challenged by the beautiful and charming Charlotte Stant, who is the former lover of Maggie's husband, the impoverished Italian, Prince Amerigo. The narrative is underpinned by complex symbolism. The gilded crystal bowl with its almost invisible flaw is the vehicle which James uses to reveal past misdemeanours and make his characters face their own defects in this classic tale of redemption.

This is a basic text element.