The great rooms caused so much poetry and history to press upon him that he needed some straying apart to feel in a proper relation with them, though this impulse was not, as happened, like the gloating of some of his companions, to be compared to the movements of a dog sniffing a cupboard. It had an issue promptly enough in a direction that was not to have been calculated.

《金钵记》是亨利•詹姆斯所著的最后一本长篇小说，与另外两本小说《鸽翼》和《使节》并列为他后期创作成熟阶段的三大重要著作。在美国兰登书屋一九九八年评选的“二十世纪百佳英文小说”中，詹姆斯的这三部小说都榜上有名，且排名靠前。
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长相俊帅的亚美利哥是意大利没落贵族的后裔，他凭着王子的头衔，迎娶了美国大富翁亚当•魏维尔的千金——本不识愁滋味的单纯女子玫姬。夏萝是玫姬自童年就保持着联系的好朋友，但玫姬不知道的是，她和亚美利哥是旧日的恋人。当亚当•魏维尔续弦娶了夏萝为妻，他们之间的关系变得微妙起来……
夏萝正式进了魏维尔家门后，越来越不避嫌地与王子俨然以男女主人之姿现身。玫姬难道对于丈夫与继母间的行为真的不知不觉吗？但由于缺乏实质证据，她无从得知真相。直到有一天，玫姬买下一只古董金钵作为送给父亲的生日礼物……

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When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. A story of intense poignancy, Isabel's tale of love and betrayal still resonates with modern audiences.

Henry James's last completed novel, The Golden Bowl, is the story of two flawed marriages. The lives and relationships of Maggie Verver and her widowed American millionaire father, Adam, are changed and challenged by the beautiful and charming Charlotte Stant, who is the former lover of Maggie's husband, the impoverished Italian, Prince Amerigo. The narrative is underpinned by complex symbolism. The gilded crystal bowl with its almost invisible flaw is the vehicle which James uses to reveal past misdemeanours and make his characters face their own defects in this classic tale of redemption.

The narrator is a young governess, sent off to a country house to take charge of two orphaned children. She finds a pleasant house and a comfortable housekeeper, while the children are beautiful and charming. But she soon begins to feel the presence of intense evil.

Isabel Archer，来自于纽约，应姨母之邀，来伦敦探望她和她的丈夫Daniel的宅邸拜访。后，Isabel的父亲过世。在葬礼期间，她遇到了她的表亲Ralph Touchett，一个友善而病弱的青年，以及Ralph粗鲁的另据Warburton爵爷。Isabel拒绝了Warburton仓促的求婚，同样她也拒绝了Caspar Goodwood的求婚，尽管CG是个富有魅力的人而且是波士顿十分富有的磨坊继承人。尽管Isabel倾心于CG，但是她不希望通过这样的婚姻降低自己的独立性。她觉得，与CG结婚会让她丧失自由。Ralph的父亲年迈重病，要求他的儿子在自己死后把大部分资产留给Isabel。
Isabel周游大陆，在弗洛伦萨遇见了一个被流放的美国人，（当时对于罪行，尤其是宗教或者政治异见者，有流放海外殖民地以及放弃本国国籍的责罚制度。一般流放可以免除拘役或坐监）Gilbert Osmond。尽管她拒绝了之前的两次求婚，但是接受了GO的求婚。她没有意识到，这桩婚事，是富有心计但并不值得信任的Merle 女士，另一个被流放的美国人，暗中积极策划促成的。
Isabel和Osmond停留在罗马，然而他们的婚姻不久就陷入不睦。原因是Osmond过分的自大以及对妻子的忽视。Isabel温柔地对待Pansy，Osmond第一次婚姻的女儿，并且试着促成她想要的婚事，嫁给Edward Rosier，一个年轻的艺术收藏家。但是贪财的Osmond希望女儿嫁给之前向Isabel求过婚的Warburton。而Isabel则猜疑Warburton接近Pansy，只是为了重新向自己示好而已。
而Isabel和Osmond的婚姻矛盾日益加重。此时，Isabel得知Ralph在英格兰垂死。想要回英格兰与他道别。但是Osmond自私地拒绝了这个计划。于此同时，Isabel从Osmond的姐妹处得知Pansy其实是Merle女士和Osmond的女儿。
Isabel最后一次看望Pansy，Pansy祈求Isabel以后再回来看她。Isabel不情愿地答应了。她之后就在Osmond不知情的状况下独自离开了，去英格兰看望Ralph，并陪伴他知道他过世。CG向Isabel表白，并且求她离开Osmond。他情不自禁地拥抱并亲吻了Isabel。但是Isabel退缩了。本来CG和Isabel约好第二天见面，CG赴约却被告知Isabel已经离开前去罗马。故事留给了读者想象的空间。是重回婚姻，还是带着Pansy离开Osmond。

Transplanted to Europe from her native America, Isabel Archer has candour, beauty, intelligence, an independent spirit and a marked enthusiasm for life. An unexpected inheritance apparently gives her freedom, but despite all her natural advantages she makes one disastrous error of judgement and the result is genuinely tragic.

Henry James, a master of haunting atmosphere and riveting tension, presents one of the most famous ghost stories of all time. A young governess is sent to a country home to take charge of two orphans, and unsettled by a sense of intense evil within the house, becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. Growing increasingly uneasy, she becomes drawn into a frightening battle against an unspeakable evil that may or may not be real.

To be an American is, as Henry James famously observed, a "complex fate." But complexity was that rococo master's stock-in-trade, which may explain why he returned to his native country in 1904 after an absence of more than 20 years. To be sure, he was interested in a Jamesian walk down memory lane, with its full quota of meditative hairsplitting. Yet he also meant to take advantage of his hybrid status as a Europeanized American. "I made no scruple," James explains in his introduction, "of my conviction that I should understand and should care better and more than the most earnest of visitors, and yet that I should vibrate with more curiosity ... than the pilgrim with the longest list of questions." Vibrate he did, in the ornate and extraordinary periods of his late phase, and the result was a one-of-a-kind travel book, The American Scene.
James opens his book with an impressionistic overture, which can be slightly off-putting: he seems too intent on leaping beyond the dry donnée of American life into pure abstraction. But readers shouldn't be discouraged. Even in the opening pages the author manages some brilliant snapshots, like this description of New Hampshire's Saco River: "The rich, full lapse of the river, the perfect brownness, clear and deep, as of liquid agate, in its wide swirl, the large indifferent ease in its pace and motion, as of some great benevolent institution smoothly working; all this, with the sense of the deepening autumn about, gave I scarce know what pastoral nobleness to the scene, something raising it out of the reach of even the most restless of analysts." And once James begins his journey proper up and down the Eastern seaboard, he delivers one amazing page after another. He doesn't, of course, care for everything he sees--the skyscrapers of Manhattan strike him as vertical monstrosities, and he lets loose with more than one politically incorrect shaft at the minority population.
What appalls him the most, though, is the Almighty Dollar, which he perceives as "the preliminary American postulate," the very bedrock of New World life: "This basis is that of active pecuniary gain and of active pecuniary gain only--that of one's making the conditions so triumphantly pay that the prices, the manners, the other inconveniences, take their place as a friction it is comparatively easy to salve, wounds directly treatable with the wash of gold." Some will argue that the fussbudget author had spent too much time in England, where money remained a dirty word until after the Second World War. Others may find his diagnosis eerily prescient. In any case, The American Scene remains required reading for anybody interested in U.S. history, Henry James, or the incredible evolution of the compound sentence. --James Marcus
From Library Journal
James here reminisces about a trip taken from Boston to Florida upon his return to the United States after a 20-year sojourn in Great Britain. This 1907 title works as both literature and travelog.

Emerging from the grit and stigma of poverty to a life of fairytale privilege under the wing of her aunt, the beautiful and financially ambitious Kate Croy is already romantically involved with promising journalist Merton Densher when they become acquainted with Milly Theale, a New York socialite of immense wealth. Learning of Milly's mortal illness and passionate attraction to Densher, Kate sets the scene for a romantic betrayal intended to secure her lasting financial security. As the dying Milly retreats within the carnival splendour of a Venetian palazzo, becoming the frail hub of a predatory circle of fortune-seekers, James unfolds a resonant, brooding tale of doomed passion, betrayal, human resilience and remorse.

Famous novella chronicles a young American girl’s willful yet innocent flirtation with a young Italian, and its unfortunate consequences. Throughout, James contrasts American customs and values with European manners and morals in a narrative rich in psychological and social insight.

Kate Croy 和 Merto Densher是一对订婚了的伦敦人。他们极度想结婚，但是却没有足够的钱来实现。Kate还时常被自己家庭的琐事所困扰。现在Kate和她盛气凌人的姨母Maud Lowder住在一起。之后他们的圈子里加入了一个极度富有的美国女人Milly Theale。Milly曾见过Densher，并且已经深深地爱上了他。尽管她没有表露出自己的感情。Milly的旅伴（这个应该是雇佣制的一个这位，就像家庭教师一样的地位）Mrs Stringham，本人是Maud姨母的一位旧友。Kate和姨母引导Milly进入伦敦社交界，并获得成功。
Milly让Kate陪同去一位著名的医生Sir Luke Strett那里求医，因为Milly担心自己患上了一种不治之症。医生没有明确表态，但是Milly极度忧虑。Kate则怀疑Milly很快就会死去。而Densher从美国回来（他是在美国之旅期间见到Milly的）后，回到伦敦，又一次见到Milly。Kate希望Densher把一切注意力都放在Milly身上，Densher全然不知目的何在。同时，Kate开始极端注意不让任何人，尤其是Milly获悉自己已经与Densher订婚的事实。
Milly天天生活在身患重病的疑虑中，她决定和陪伴一起旅行去威尼斯。Maud姨母，Kate和Densher与她们一起。在威尼斯，一个聚会上，Milly向densher示好，而后kate把自己的全盘计划告诉了Densher：D必须娶M，然后在M病故（可预见，不会很久）后，D可以继承M的遗产。Densher其实已经怀疑Kate之前让他接近Milly的动机不纯。此时他要求在执行这个计划前和Kate圆房。
姨母Maud和Kate返回伦敦，而Densher则继续陪伴Milly。不幸的是，Milly从Kate以前的追求者那里得知了Kate的全部计划。她受此打击病势日重。在返回伦敦前Densher再去看过一次Milly。在回到伦敦后，他接到了Milly的死讯。Milly的确留给他一大笔钱。但是Densher不愿意接受这笔钱，并且告诉Kate，除非她同样拒绝这笔钱，否则，他就拒绝和Kate成婚。他要Kate在钱和他之间选择一个，而如果Kate选择钱，他愿意把遗产全额给予kate。故事结束于Kate的一句隐晦的惊叹：我们永远不再是以前的我们了！

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).

Set amid the splendor of London drawing rooms and gilded Venetian palazzos, The Wings of the Dove is the story of Milly Theale, a naïve, doomed American heiress, and a pair of lovers, Kate Croy and Merton Densher, who conspire to obtain her fortune. In this witty tragedy of treachery, self-deception, and betrayal, Henry James weaves together three ill-fated and wholly human destinies unexpectedly linked by desire, greed, and salvation. As Amy Bloom writes in her Introduction, “ The Wings of the Dove is a novel of intimacy. . . . [James] gives us passion, he gives us love in its terrible and enchanting forms.”

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The Turn of the Screw remains one of Henry James's most remarkable narratives, one whose popularity when it was published is matched by its power to stir readers today. It is one of James's most teachable texts, an indispensable reference point for such critical concerns as point of view and unreliable narration. As such, it is an invaluable introduction to the intricacies of James's style and technique in the novels of the "major phase." This revised Norton Critical Edition of The Turn of the Screw is again based on the authoritative New York Edition text, with history and notes. "Contexts" includes twenty-six selections from James's letters, notebooks, and other writings centering on "my little book," the ghost story, and the supernatural. Four Charles Demuth paintings, inspired by James's text, are included. Since The Turn of the Screw has been a focal text in recent theoretical considerations of James and of the narrative generally, "Criticism" has been thoroughly updated to include seventeen new assessments, along with twelve earlier seminal essays. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. About the Series : Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations-from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory-as well as a bibliography and, in most cases, a chronology of the author's life and work.

The Ambassadors, which Henry James considered his best work, is the most exquisite refinement of his favorite theme: the collision of American innocence with European experience. This time, James recounts the continental journey of Louis Lambert Strether--a fiftysomething man of the world who has been dispatched abroad by a rich widow, Mrs. Newsome. His mission: to save her son Chadwick from the clutches of a wicked (i.e., European) woman, and to convince the prodigal to return to Woollett, Massachusetts. Instead, this all-American envoy finds Europe growing on him. Strether also becomes involved in a very Jamesian "relation" with the fascinating Miss Maria Gostrey, a fellow American and informal Sacajawea to her compatriots. Clearly Paris has "improved" Chad beyond recognition, and convincing him to return to the U.S. is going to be a very, very hard sell. Suspense, of course, is hardly James's stock-in-trade. But there is no more meticulous mapper of tone and atmosphere, nuance and implication. His hyper-refined characters are at their best in dialogue, particularly when they're exchanging morsels of gossip. Astute, funny, and relentlessly intelligent, James amply fulfills his own description of the novelist as a person upon whom nothing is lost. --Rhian Ellis --This text refers to the Paperback edition.