Henry James' highly charged study of adultery, jealousy and possession, "The Golden Bowl" is edited with an introduction and notes by Ruth Bernard Yeazell in "Penguin Classics". Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father Adam, a billionaire collector of objets d'art, 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, a friend of his daughter. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret - one for which all concerned must pay the price. Henry James' late, great work both continues and challenges his theme of confrontation between American innocence and European experience. This edition of "The Golden Bowl" contains a chronology, suggested further reading, a glossary, notes and an introduction by Ruth Bernard Yeazall discussing James' original conception of the novel and later changes made to its structure and characters. Henry James (1843-1916) son of a prominent theologian, and brother to the philosopher William James, was one of the most celebrated novelists of the fin-de-siecle. In addition to many short stories, plays, books of criticism, biography and autobiography, and much travel writing, he wrote some twenty novels. His novella "Daisy Miller" (1878) established him as a literary figure on both sides of the Atlantic, and his other novels in "Penguin Classics" include "Washington Square" (1880), "The Portrait of a Lady" (1881), "What Maisie Knew" (1897), "The Awkward Age" (1899), "The Wings of the Dove" (1902) and "The Ambassadors" (1903). If you enjoyed "The Golden Bowl", you might like Theodor Fontaine's "Effi Briest", also available in "Penguin Classics". "A wonderfully luminous drama". (Gore Vidal). "One of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written". (A.N. Wilson).

亨利•詹姆斯（Henry James,1843—1916）

十九世纪继霍桑、麦尔维尔之后最伟大的美国小说家，也是美国乃至世界文学史上的大文豪。出生在纽约的亨利•詹姆斯长期旅居欧洲，对十九世纪末美国和欧洲的上层生活有细致入微的观察，因此其作品无一不涉及美国与欧洲在文化上的差异与冲突。代表作有长篇小说《一位女士的画像》《鸽翼》《使节》《金钵记》，中篇小说《黛西•米勒》《阿斯彭文稿》《螺丝在拧紧》等。此外还写了许多文学评论、游记、传记和剧本。他擅长描绘内心意识的微妙变化，被认为是心理分析小说的开创者之一，是二十世纪小说意识流写作技巧的先驱，对二十世纪崛起的现代派及后现代派文学有着非常巨大的影响。