The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Author: Henry James (1843 US - 1916 England)
Title : The Golden Bowl
First Published: 1904 (C. Scribner's Sons - New York)
Original Language: English (technically yes, but....)
Edition I read: 2001 (using the revised 1909 edition), Penguin Books, ~591 pgs (including Intro, Author's Preface and Notes), Intro by Gore Vidal, Notes by Patricia Crick
Blurb from the back of the book:
As the decaying traditions of old-world Europe meet the wealth and energy of Gilded Age American society, more than relationships and loyalty are laid to waste
American billionaire widower Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie are expatriates living in Europe, where they collect great works of art for a museum he plans to build in America. Maggie is swept away by Amerigo, a dashing--and penniless--Italian aristocrat whom she soon marries. Amerigo, unbeknownst to his new wife, once had an affair with the equally penniless albeit cosmopolitan Charlotte Stant, and American woman who, not inconsequentially, is Maggie's longtime friend. When Adam and Charlotte wed, their secret histories come to light, forever altering the fates of these four entangled lives.
Review:
I'll just start off by saying this is the first novel I've *read* by James, but I have seen a gloomy film adaptation of Washington Square. Henry James didn't like happy stories, did he?
The novel is structured in following way:
Preface
Volume I (The Prince), divided into three "books" with varying amounts of chapters per book
Volume II (The Princess), also divided into three "books" with varying chapter amounts
Cast of characters: Amerigo (aka "The Prince"), Maggie Verver UnknownMarriedName (aka "The Princess"), Adam Verver, Charlotte Stant Verver, Fanny & Colonel Assingham
From the first line of the Author's preface:
Among many matters thrown into relief by a refreshed acquaintance with "The Golden Bowl" what perhaps most stands out for me is the still marked inveteracy of a certain indirect and oblique view of my presented action; unless indeed I make up my mind to call this mode of treatment, on the contrary, any superficial appearance notwithstanding, the very straightest and closest possible.
English is my first language. This is just word vomit times infinity, IMO. Much of James' writing in The Golden Bowl comes across like the above sentence - you have to stare at it for a minute to understand what he is getting at. Perhaps my reading sensibilities are just geared towards modern English, but James seemed to try his darnedest to pile on the literary slop. He also did not meet a comma, semicolon or dash that he didn't like...the more, the better!!!
We learn from Gore Vidal's intro that James dictated his later novels to a typist. I think the following example shows the perils of this, and it makes me slightly suspect that an editor did not touch this book with a ten foot pole.
Volume 1 (The Prince) Book Third, chapter 7, page 273
What with the noble fairness of the place, meanwhile, the generous mood of the sunny gusty lusty English April, all panting and heaving with impatience or even at moments kicking and crying like some infant Hercules who wouldn't be dressed; what with these things and the bravery of youth and beauty, the insolence of fortune and appetite so diffused among his fellow guests that the poor Assinghams, in their comparatively marked maturity and their comparatively small splendour, were the only approach to a false note in the concert, the stir of the air was such, for going, in a degree, to one's head, that, as a mere matter of exposure, almost grotesque in its flagrancy, his situation resembled some elaborate practical joke carried out at his expense.
This is ONE sentence!!!! Reading this novel just wore my brain out...James' "reporter" droned ON an ON. Everything felt like a massive run-on sentence. For a novel that was a seeming precursor to an almost common soap-opera trope these days, it was remarkedly DULL. Even when a character FINALLY snapped and had a (rare) outburst, the text seemed to sap away any drama. I think it would've been improved with some fisticuffs, slapping, hair-pulling, or guns at dawn - "sadly" none of this was present.
If I did not HATE this book by the time I finished it, I may have felt a bit of sympathy for all the characters. In some ways, I don't completely blame Amerigo and Charlotte for their actions; Adam and Maggie apparently favored their own company to that of their respective spouses. Adam only marries Charlotte at Maggie's suggestion, and Maggie seems to be totally oblivious to Amerigo until things have gotten out of hand. Charlotte and Amerigo are really just pretty "knick-knacks" to them. HOWEVER, from all the information we are given, Charlotte and Amerigo only married the Ververs for money, which I also find distasteful. The only innocent in this story is Maggie and Amerigo's young son.
Do I think this belonged on the 1001 list? No, not really (see TL;DR). I suspect that it was included at first due to being James' last novel prior to death. The 2006 edition of 1001 does not shed any light in its inclusion - the write-up is just a two paragraph summary of the plot.
TL;DR: If you are a newbie to reading Henry James, like I was, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT START WITH THIS NOVEL!!!! Not only will it sap your will to live, it will crush any desire you might have to read any of his earlier (and *possibly* more accessible) works. If you are forced to read this, a better formatted edition with nicer footnotes would probably be helpful to your sanity. Also, The Golden Bowl was removed from the 2008, 2010, and 2012 editions of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" and is only present on the 2006 list. Good riddance, sez I. :-P