Garth Greenwell on Henry James's The Golden Bowl
"There can be no value without loss, and that is a tragic vision."
The Book They Were Preparing For
Greenwell says the hardest novel in English is really a romp, James's juiciest. Wessels on the book the James-obsessed are always preparing for.
Read the introduction →- 1 A Romp, Dictated Episode 1 • 16 min • Members
- 2 Cruising and the Coin Episode 2 • 13 min • Members
- 3 He Knew, He Knew, He Knew Episode 3 • 20 min • Members
- 4 The Crack and the Ricordo Episode 4 • 16 min • Members
- 5 A Church in the Square Episode 5 • 15 min • Members
- 6 A Book Without Villains Episode 6 • 17 min • Members
- 7 Nothing Happens, Everything Changes Episode 7 • 14 min • Members
- 8 They Vowed It Episode 8 • 18 min • Members
- 9 Volume Dial at Ten Episode 9 • 18 min • Members
- 10 The Nothing That Everybody Knows Episode 10 • 16 min • Members
- 11 The Sentence Factory Episode 11 • 17 min • Members
- 12 The Best Marriage in James Episode 12 • 15 min • Members
- 13 Locked Out of the Pagoda Episode 13 • 14 min • Members
- 14 One Card Ends the Game Episode 14 • 15 min • Members
- 15 What Does Adam Know? Episode 15 • 12 min • Members
- 16 Lie For Her, Lie To Her Episode 16 • 13 min • Members
- 17 Who Breaks the Bowl? Episode 17 • 19 min • Members
- 18 Nuns Don't Throb Episode 18 • 15 min • Members
- 19 The Saddest Chapter Episode 19 • 15 min • Members
- 20 Touch Him, Taste Him Episode 20 • 13 min • Members
- 21 Pity and Dread Episode 21 • 18 min • Members
In Conversation With – Where this book meets another
Paid In
Paul Guyer's Kant lets you hire a man if you pay him fairly. Garth Greenwell's Adam Verver pays the Prince perfectly and still does him a profound wrong.
Go deeper →I Couldn't Have Given You Up to Anyone Less
Sadie Stein weeps at Mr. Bennet's half-sentence goodbye. Garth Greenwell reads a whole novel about a father who can't say it, so the daughter must.
Go deeper →The Price of Knowing: James, Wharton, and the Women Who See Everything
Maggie Verver and May Welland are the real intelligences of their novels. Greenwell and Gay part on what each does with knowledge: reconstruction or control.
Go deeper →The Art of Not Saying It: Joyce and James on the Work of Not Knowing
Joyce's economy and James's late fog reach the same place: characters who work daily at not knowing. Banville and Greenwell map what that refusal costs.
Go deeper →The Questions these books keep starting →
Who Is Maggie Verver, and Why Does Everyone Underestimate Her?
Garth Greenwell reads Maggie Verver as James's great deception: taken for an innocent, she outthinks everyone and wins by choosing the scapegoat's part.
Go deeper →Is The Golden Bowl Actually a Romp?
The Golden Bowl (1904) is Henry James's novel of a double marriage, an adultery, and the choice not to know — and, Greenwell argues, his juiciest romp.
Go deeper →Why Is The Golden Bowl So Difficult?
James's difficulty has nameable sources — blended precision, drifting pronouns, dictated syntax, withheld knowledge — and Greenwell calls it the engine, not a flaw.
Go deeper →- Was Charlotte Lucas Right to Marry Mr. Collins? Sadie Stein on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
- What Does the A on Hester's Chest Actually Mean? Megan Marshall on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
- Was Thoreau Selfish? The Question of Self-Reliance John Kaag on Henry David Thoreau's Walden
- What Is Kant's Categorical Imperative? Paul Guyer on Immanuel Kant