''The Golden Bowl'' is a 1904 novel by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James's 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 Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail but also with powerful insight.

Plot summary

Prince Amerigo, an impoverished but charismatic Italian nobleman, is in London for his marriage to Maggie Verver, only child of the widower Adam Verver, the fabulously wealthy American financier and art collector. While there, he re-encounters Charlotte Stant, another young American and a former mistress from his days in Rome; they had met in Mrs. Assingham's drawing room. Charlotte is not wealthy, which is one reason they did not marry. Although Maggie and Charlotte have been dear friends since childhood, Maggie does not know of Charlotte's and Amerigo's past relationship. Charlotte and Amerigo go shopping together for a wedding present for Maggie. They find a curiosity shop where the shopkeeper offers them an antique gilded crystal bowl. Charlotte lacks the money to buy the bowl and the Prince declines to purchase it, as he suspects it contains a hidden flaw. After Maggie has married, afraid that her father has become lonely, as they had been close for years, she persuades him to propose to Charlotte, who accepts Adam's proposal. Soon after the wedding, Charlotte and Amerigo are thrown together, because their respective spouses seem more interested in their father-daughter relationship than in their marriages. Amerigo and Charlotte finally consummate an adulterous affair. Maggie begins to suspect the pair. She happens to go to the same shop and buys the golden bowl they had rejected. Regretting the high price he has charged her, the shopkeeper visits Maggie and confesses to overcharging. At her home, he sees photographs of Amerigo and Charlotte. He tells Maggie of the pair's shopping trip on the eve of her marriage and their intimate conversation in his shop. (They had spoken Italian, but he understands the language.) Maggie confronts Amerigo. She begins a secret campaign to separate him and Charlotte while never revealing their affair to her father. Also concealing her knowledge from Charlotte and denying any change to their friendship, she gradually persuades her father to return to America with his wife. After previously regarding Maggie as a naïve, immature American, the Prince seems impressed by his wife's delicate diplomacy. The novel ends with Adam and Charlotte Verver about to depart for the United States. Amerigo says he can "see nothing but" Maggie and embraces her.

Main characters

*Maggie Verver *Prince Amerigo *Charlotte Stant *Adam Verver *Fanny Assingham *Colonel Robert Assingham

Literary significance and criticism

''The Golden Bowl's'' intense focus on its four main characters gives the novel both its tremendous power and its peculiar feeling of claustrophobia. Henry James himself had a high regard for his last work, describing it to his American publisher as "distinctly the most done of my productions ― the most composed and constructed and completed...I hold the thing the solidest, as yet, of all my fictions." Critics consign ''The Golden Bowl'' to James's "Old Pretender" phase of writing, which characterises his final novels. Although the narrative is very focused compared to his earlier works, with minimal characters, the writing is complex and elaborate.

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

attributed this verbosity in part to James's habit at the time of dictating his novels to stenographers rather than typing the manuscript himself. Vidal thought the style of ''The Golden Bowl'', as well as '' The Wings of the Dove'' (1902) and '' The Ambassadors'' (1903), mimicked James's own rhetorical manner, which was "endlessly complex, humorous, unexpected - euphemistic where most people are direct and suddenly precise where avoidance or ellipsis is usual..." Robert McCrum included the novel in '' The Guardian's'' list of 100 Best Novels, describing it as an "amazing, labyrinthine, terrifying and often claustrophobic narrative." Author

Colm Toibin Colm is a male given name of Irish origin. Colm can be pronounced "Collum" or "Kullum". It is not an Irish version of Colin, but like Callum and Malcolm derives from a Gaelic variation on ''columba'', the Latin word for 'dove'. People * Colm B ...

called ''The Golden Bowl'' Henry James's best work, in part because James "stripped down" the number of characters to four. He describes James's style of expressing

as "a system of clauses, sub-clauses, modifications, qualifications and in some cases ruminations", which anticipates the later styles of

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First L ...

writing by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

also compared James's modernist stream of consciousness technique, which characterises ''The Golden Bowl'', to James Joyce, summarising it as "a style designed to catch, with immense, with fiendish, subtlety, and in sentences of labyrinthine intricacy, the very texture of conscious life." The author

Rebecca West Dame Cicily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...

, on the other hand, said of it that "winter had fallen on ames'genius in ''The Golden Bowl''." Critics have noted the overbearing symbolism of the golden bowl, which is eventually broken in a scene that may not be fully effective. In 1998, the

Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...

ranked ''The Golden Bowl'' 32nd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Some critics believe that ''The Golden Bowl'' was an inspiration for

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her ...

, a known fan of James, and, in particular, her novel ''

A Severed Head ''A Severed Head'' is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's fifth published novel. Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilised and educated people. Set in and aroun ...

''. The title is taken from

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly us ...

12: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity."

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1972, the BBC produced a six-hour televised version that was highly praised, with a screenplay by

Jack Pulman Jack Pulman (11 July 1925 – 20 May 1979) was an award-winning British television screenwriter, most famous for the critically acclaimed 1976 BBC television series, ''I, Claudius'', based on the novels ''I, Claudius'' and ''Claudius the God'' ...

Gayle Hunnicutt Gayle Jenkins, Lady Jenkins (''née'' Hunnicutt; born February 6, 1943) is an American retired film, television and stage actress. She has made more than 30 film appearances. Early life and education The daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicut ...

as Charlotte,

Barry Morse Herbert Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008), known professionally as Barry Morse, was a British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio, best known for his roles in the ABC television series '' The Fugitive'' and the British sci-fi drama '' ...

as Adam Verver,

Jill Townsend Jill Townsend (born January 25, 1945) is an Anglo-American actress best known for her roles as Elizabeth Chynoweth in ''Poldark'' and Dulcey Coopersmith in the 1967 western television series ''Cimarron Strip''. Life and career Townsend was born ...

as Maggie, Daniel Massey as the Prince, and

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians, and was renowned for his in ...

as Bob Assingham, ingeniously presented as the narrator, commenting on the development of the story very much in the style of Henry James. This version, presented on '' Masterpiece Theatre'', was more faithful to the book than the later Merchant-Ivory film in the U.S. In 2000, '' The Golden Bowl'' was filmed by

Merchant Ivory Productions Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During their ...

, directed by

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...

, and starred

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...

and

Jeremy Northam Jeremy Philip Northam (born 1 December 1961) is an English actor and singer. After a number of television roles, he earned attention as Mr. Knightley in the 1996 film adaptation of Jane Austen's '' Emma''. He has appeared in the films '' An Ide ...

. In some ways

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (; 7 May 19273 April 2013) was a British author and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. In 1951, Jhabvala ma ...

's adaptation differs from James's novel. In the book, Charlotte is a calculating, amoral character who manipulates and manages those around her with a glance or a smile; however, in the movie, Charlotte appears to suffer from some

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, exhibiting symptoms of

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

and

obsessive love Obsessive love or obsessive love disorder (OLD) is a proposed condition in which one person feels an overwhelming obsessive desire to possess and protect another person, sometimes with an inability to accept failure or rejection. Symptoms include ...

Critical editions

Henry James, ''The Golden Bowl'' (Wordsworth Classics, 2000), ed.

Nicola Bradbury Nicola Anne Lulham Bradbury D. Phil. (born 1951) is an English literary critic, lecturer, editor, and author, specializing in the 19th century novel. Life Bradbury was born in Weston-super-Mare, the daughter of Robin J. Bradbury and Joan Lulham, w ...

References

Bibliography

* ''The Novels of Henry James'' by

Edward Wagenknecht Edward (Charles) Wagenknecht (March 28, 1900 – May 24, 2004) was an American literary critic and teacher who specialized in 19th century American literature. He wrote and edited many books on literature and movies, and taught for many years at v ...

(New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983) * ''The Novels of Henry James'' by Oscar Cargill (New York: Macmillan Co., 1961) * Gibson, Suzie. "Love's Negative Dialectic in Henry James's 'The Golden Bowl'",
Philosophy and Literature
', 39.1, 1–14, 2015.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Bowl, The 1904 American novels 1904 British novels Novels by Henry James American novels adapted into films British novels adapted into films British novels adapted into television shows