[*] “Mr. James is like his simple original self in this charming book.”
| + + | Critic. 47: 572. D. ‘05. 40w. |
[*] “These interpretations of English life carry the reader with them by their quality of tonic freshness, which takes the place of the bewildering curiosity about everything and nothing characteristic of the late novels.”
| + | Dial. 39: 381. D. 1, ‘05. 260w. | |
| * | + | N. Y. Times. 10: 836. D. 8, ‘05. 220w. |
[*] “But these lapses though apparent are rare—more apparent, indeed, on account of their rarity—and it is impossible to resist the engaging enthusiasm, the fine freshness of mind which he brings to bear on the variety of topics and places about which he chatters in the fugitive papers bound up in this volume.”
| + + — | Sat. R. 100: sup. 5. D. 9, ‘05. 730w. |
James, Henry. [Golden bowl.] $2.50. Scribner.
“Four principals and two particularly diverting subordinates make up the role of characters” in this story whose action centers about the marriage of an American girl to an impoverished foreigner. “The four are Adam Verver, widower, and his daughter, Maggie, Americans,—the husband of Maggie, an Italian prince, and Charlotte Stant, a young woman of exquisite intelligence, and paramount charm, American by birth, cosmopolitan by nature.” The elements of tragedy are fostered thru the prince’s yielding to his former love for Charlotte Stant, the princess’ friend, and now Adam Verver’s wife. The strength of the story is embodied in the princess’ determination to win back the love of her husband, “which she vows must be as complete and perfect as the original crystal of the broken bowl, that picturesque property of the story that takes so unique a part in the development of the plot.” (Reader).
“The intellectuality overpowers the sensuous and objective traits proper to a novel, until one has the impression of reading an abstruse treatise of psychology rather than a tale. Despite exasperations of detail, the novel in the main is masterly. The three leading women are differentiated with the nicest skill: each is living and persuasive. But it fairly ranks as a master-work—if a master-work flawed by some of his obscurest later mannerisms.”
| + + + | Acad. 68: 128. F. 11, ‘05. 1020w. |