The Golden Bowl

Description

"James described The Golden Bowl as 'the most done of my productions--the most composed and constructed and completed.' In the novel an American woman, Maggie Verver, marries an Italian prince, while her wealthy father marries Maggie's girlhood friend, Charlotte Stant--neither Verver being aware that the Prince and Charlotte have been (and possibly continue to be) lovers. Maggie's eventual discovery of the nature of that relationship provides the basis for an exploration of the fragility and strength of human ties and further develops what James once called that 'complex fate, being an American.' This volume prints the New York Edition texts of The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl, which include the prefaces that James wrote for each work as well as the illustrations he commissioned from photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn.

Reviews

'One of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written' - A. N. Wilson 'A wonderfully luminous drama' - Gore Vidal