The Wings of the Dove (Classic Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Wading Through the Muck
Review: I am a huge fan of the classics, and one of my goals is to read as many classic novels as possible. I have a shelf full of them in my house! However, when I sat down to read "The Wings of the Dove," I found myself wondering what in the world this author was trying to say. Henry James writes in a very thick, wordy manner, and many of his sentences are so long and convoluted that they take up an entire half of one page!I would read the same sentence over and over again, going,"Huh? " I've attempted to read this novel three times now since acquiring the book and have not made it past page 69. The basic plot of the story sounds very enticing and I know it must be a good story. The problem is that reading this book is like reading a foreign language. You know it's in English; you even know what all of the words mean! But the way Mr. James puts these words together into thoughts and sentences is so dense you feel as though you're wading through the muck and you've forgotten your overshoes. I kept thinking that this would be a great book if it was written in modern English, and I kept mentally rewording all of the sentences as to how I would say it if I were writing the book. Finally, I got frustrated and relegated it back to my bookshelf where it's been sitting for the past year, unopened. This is definitely not a book you'd want to take with you on your summer vacation;if you read this, you'll think you've taken a job as a foreign correspondant and they've forgotten to pay you! Don't torture yourself!

Rating:
Summary: A Highly Complex and Beautiful Character Study
Review: I very recently read Colm Toibin's masterful book, THE MASTER, a novel of Henry James and that fueled my desire to reread some of my favorite James works. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is, I think, my second favorite James book, coming in only a smidgen behind THE GOLDEN BOWL.

I reread most of THE WINGS OF THE DOVE on a long flight from Lima, Peru to Madrid, Spain, then finished it on a much shorter flight from Madrid to Nice (with a change of planes in Paris). Even with all that traveling, I was still mesmerized by James' elegant and formal prose and the way he has of folding a sentence back on itself and then folding it yet again. James' stylized prose has been a favorite of mine since my teenaged years. I can't get enough of it and doubt I ever will.

THE WINGS OF THE DOVE opens around the year 1900 in London and focuses on Kate Croy, who, shortly after the death of her mother, goes to live with her very wealthy Aunt Maud. Aunt Maud, of course, will do the "right" thing for Kate and marry her off to a very socially acceptable and wealthy young man, Lord Mark. If love enters into the picture, fine. If it doesn't, that is equally fine and Kate should be grateful and manage as best she can. There is one huge problem, however. Kate is very much in love with the journalist, Merton Densher, a man with little money and no social status and, as such, totally unsuitable to Aunt Maud. When Aunt Maud threatens to disinherit Kate, Kate thinks she's come up with the perfect solution. Like many perfect solutions, however, this one goes terribly awry.

Milly Theale is a wealthy, young American woman who has come to Europe because she is seriously, even fatally, ill. In Europe, Milly hopes to find a "cure" for her disease. Kate befriends Milly and introduces her to Densher. When all three take a holiday to Venice, it is Kate who, without Densher's knowledge or blessing, suggests that Milly charm her way into Densher's heart. Kate, of course, is hoping that Milly will die sooner rather than later and that she and Densher will then be free to marry each other and be the beneficiaries of Milly considerable wealth. But a few things happen that Kate didn't count on.

James was nothing if not the master of complex characters. Although he presents the character of Kate Croy in a very harsh light, she isn't completely without redeeming qualities. Either is Densher. And Milly isn't quite as gullible as one might initially expect. All of this complexity, of course, simply adds to the richness of this already rich and complex novel.

Unlike many, I don't think Henry James, in general, or THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, in particular, is a particularly "difficult" read and English is my third language, not my first. His sentences are long and convoluted and his paragraphs run for pages, but this doesn't make him "difficult," it only means that you can't speed read your way through one of James' books. And who, in their right mind, would want to speed read through James anyway? His writing is so rich, so insightful, so elegant, that it's writing to be savored, not hurried through.

James is slow-paced. This is something I really enjoy about his writing, but others might want a faster, crisper read. If you're a rabid fan if Hemingway (I'm not), you probably won't like James. If, on the other hand, you admire Faulkner's prose, you just might like James' equally as well.

If you decide to begin THE WINGS OF THE DOVE and fine it simply too slow going for your taste, I would suggest renting the film. It is slightly different from the book, but not in any substantive way and it's better than not experiencing James at all.

THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is one of my all time favorite books. I would recommend it highly to everyone who loves highly intelligent, highly literary writing and who can tolerate a slow-paced novel. Believe me, the payoffs will certainly be worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Through a glass darkly
Review: I've carried on a love-hate affair with The Wings of the Dove for more than 20 years. In that period of time, I started the novel (the same beautiful little Signet paperback edition) at LEAST 15 times and could never get past page 30 or so. But it kept nagging at me to read it. Last summer, I plowed through its dense prose thicket, and I felt as though I were peering through a glass darkly. Several times I felt like tossing it aside. I've studied Enlish and literature all my life and yet I had one heckuva time with those daunting banks of prose. But I'm glad I read it. It's masterful. Worth all the effort. Those scintillating scenes in Venice. Nothing like them! I just read The Golden Bowl, another difficult but rewarding book. There are astonishing scenes in it, like when the husband of the busy-body watches her in a pensive mood as if she were in the middle of a lake, coming closer. It's just an extraordinary scene! I love early James too, like that perfect jewel of a book, Washington Square. Sometimes, great as the late books are, I really do think they lose something of the wonderful clarity James achieved earlier. There are still a few scenes in Wings and Bowl, for instance, in which I have NO IDEA what James was trying to express. Talk about super subtle! But do make the effort, folks, they're incredible books.

Rating:
Summary: An Old-Fashioned Genius
Review: Two responses to previous reviews: it was written one hundred years ago, so it would of course be somewhat dated. Second, you should perhaps READ THE ENTIRE BOOK before you attempt to review the text.

The text follows the fascinating development of a manipulation: Milly Theale, an American woman, enters the London scene, endowed with prodigious wealth, youth, and beauty, and several characters vie for her affection. It's a standard James plot in that way. Much like Portrait of a Lady, the wealthy American is exploited by her European acquaintances. Kate Croy convinces her lover Merton Densher to take advantage of Milly's interest in him, and to go so far as to attempt to marry the young American for her money. She is, after all, fatally and tragically ill. James brilliantly depicts the struggle between Densher, Kate Croy, her powerful Aunt Maud, the piquant Susan Shepherd, Sir Luke, and Lord Mark, and his characteristically enigmatic ending does not disappoint. James manages to breathe life into these odd characters in a way that so few writers can: his genius is for complex character, and this book embodies that genius at its height.

The trouble with the book, however, is that it does not qualify as a "light read." The pace is incredibly slow - deliberately slow, of course. It is a novel about decisions, and the development of those decisions constitutes the bulk of the novel. James's prose does lack the terseness of a Hemingway, but the latter writer often fails to capture the nuances that James so elaborately evokes in his careful prose.

James, like Faulkner, is not for the faint of heart. Some of his work is more accessible; readers in search of a more palatable James should look to Washington Square, What Maisie Knew, or his popular masterpiece, The Turn of the Screw. This novel does not fit easily into a category, and its principal interest is that very quality of inscrutability. It's not really a "British" or an "American" novel but contains elements of both. It's not "Modern" or "Victorian" but both. Originally published in 1902, it's also not easy to include him in either the 19th or the 20th century. He appears to be writing in both.

In short, then, it's not a light-hearted novel and the prose can be challenging at times. But I believe that the effort of reading this book is well rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Wings of the Duck
Review: Yes, it's a great novel. Yes the language is rich, the story is subtle, and the psychology is complex. And yet, I didn't like it.

Of course, who am I to review Henry James? Granted, I read more books and watch less television than most of my peers, but still I think I might be too "late Twentieth Century" for this book. Maybe despite my strict avoidance of video games I just can't help detesting the millipede pace of this book. I've never had much affinity for drawing room conversations to begin with, and unlike my father I don't believe that wit must be meted out in tortuous sentences.

But it isn't my background or personal prejudices that make me recoil from "Wings of the Dove". There is something about the deliberate quality of Henry James that bothers me. He knows perfectly well what he's doing with his fat succulent sentences. He won't feed you a meal of lean pork and vegetables. He'll serve you tons of tiny truffles and oil-oozing, crispy skinned duck.

To read "Wings of the Dove" is like encountering a cookbook that decided to include as much of the delicious fatty foods as possible. Of course its a rare meal and quite wonderful in its way. But some how, it made me a little nauseous at the end.