The Wings of the Dove

I've read this novel half a dozen times over the years and my admiration for it grows more and more. James is as deeply experimental in his own highly iddiosyncratic manner as Joyce and Virginia Woolf were, taking us into the human psyche in new ways, echoing patterns of thought and subtleties of feeling as no one had ever done before. All of this genius is in service of a dark story of death and betrayal. When I first read the book, I had not suffered in love or suffered deeply in any way and while I enjoyed where it took me, I didn't resonate to it. As the years went by, however, it meant more and more to me. It's not to be read by the young or callow, by people expecting easy flash and false fire, by those who thought A Million Little Pieces was well written or even true. It's written at a pace that demands shifting one's perspective to a slower time, to a carriage ride, or better still, a ride in gondola. James loved his readers, loved the world, loved his craft, loved Venice, loved Milly Theale--the book bursts with it. Like The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl, The Wings of the Dove is demanding, but the rewards are rich and rare.

By the time Henry James had written WINGS OF THE DOVE in 1902, most of his best work was behind him. In many of these novels and short stories, James had shown a fascination with the theme of the new world American bumping into the old world European. Just as James himself seemed unable to label himself definitively as one or the other, so do many of his characters muck about with some Americans coming off as country bumpkins while other Americans have old-world fineness and grace hardwired into their genes. In WINGS OF THE DOVE, Milly Theale is an American heiress whose inner qualities James deliberately obscures. She is wealthy, beautiful, good-hearted--and dying. Milly seems too good to be true, and of course she is; she suffers not only from the dread disease of cancer but the equally dread disease of emotional blindness. Milly decides to take a trip to Europe, where she encounters her doppleganger, Kate Croy. Millie sees Kate as having a feral aggressiveness that Millie admires but can never duplicate. Yet, both Kate and Millie soon discover points in common: they like and admire one another, and more disturbingly they both love the same man, Merton Densher. James complicates the plot in a manner worthy of a soap opera. Kate discovers that Millie is dying and hatches a plan breathtaking in its audacity. Merton, who is both poor and secretly engaged to Kate, must worm his way into the affections of Millie, whom he will marry. Then, after her expected demise, he will inherit Millie's fortune, and thus be free to marry Kate. The problem with this plan becomes clear when we find out that it is one thing for two otherwise honorable people to contemplate deceitful actions and quite another for them to actually have the mental toughness to carry it out. James keeps the reader involved in this unlikely plan by shifting focus from victim to plotter. Millie is so good so kind that her only flaw is her inability to see what is right in front of her nose and yet this is quite enough to cause her undoing. If Kate were no more than a heartless backstabber, then the novel would have a huge hole in the plot where there ought to be some convincing motivation. James sidesteps this dilemma by making both Merton and Kate fully rounded characters, both of whom are fully aware of what they are doing and why, but unable to come up with another scenario that would permit them to marry. Kate is now the dramatic center. It is she who sizes up her own unhappy situation. It is she who correctly assesses Millie's feelings for Merton. And it is she who weighs cost versus benefit and decides that the latter outweighs the former. Of course, their plans go predictably awry when Millie discovers their plan and breaks up with Merton. Millie dies, and astoundingly, her will yet provides money for Merton. And it is here that James allows the moneyed world of the obtuse American to meld with that of the flawed but decent European. Kate and Merton then must ponder whether th

This is a story with an evocative London and Venetian setting that features two young women; Kate, a rare English Rose, and Millie, an American heiress. Their 'instant sisterhood,'with its questionable roots and rapid development is dramatically loving on a surface that hides a whirlpool of darker motives. The English girl has the manor and the man; while the American has the wealth and the tragic curses that often accompany it. Beautiful Kate, is in love with Merton Densher, a journalist with an education and a job, but with very little money. Though they wish to marry, Kate's aunt, who is her benefactress, opposes it and threatens to cut her neice off, should she procede against her wishes. Kate also comes from a cursed family. Her mother is dead, from worry, generated from her rogue yet romantic father. His gambling and generally shameful behavior is only underscored by the fact that he rejects Kate's offer to give up her aunt's protection and come to him as his hostess. That he refuses and urges her back to the manor and the manipulation, that he is reinforced by her two elder sisters who also see dollar signs throughout; may serve as some justification for Kate's calculated and extreme betrayal and exploitation of the American, Millie.James provides opulent settings and rare, ravishing beauty with an almost addictive love angle. Yet, the story is somewhat too narrow for the length of the book. The characters are believable and compelling, but they merely tease the reader into thinking that they are changing creating some confusion and sense of plodding. This book however, is a major moral statement about the nature of love and the fine line of sin that often intersects it. The decisions that Kate made and Merton reluctantly agreed to carry out, with regard to Millie; ultimately, like a devil's pact, lead to the desired end which is no longer either desirable or emotionally palatable to the victors. Beyond that, Kate too, cold and quick, is herself a victim; of a family, a culture and of a paradoxical passion which she cannot for all of her skepticism, eliminate.Not the best James by a long shot, but an interesting peak into his later life insistence on retribution as dealt to those guilty of ravaging betrayal.

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.

Henry James complained that people don't pay close enough attention when reading his books. He may not have realized what he was asking. Not only does one have to read this book closely; one has to read between the lines, as well. "The Wings of the Dove" is made up of characters so subtle and so intelligent that even a careful reader will be challenged to keep up. The story follows a young man, Densher, and woman, Kate Croy, who want to be together, but in a brighter financial situation. Kate devises a plan to improve their prospects and asks Densher only to be patient. Her intelligence and moral flexibility allow her to adjust her original plan when the possibility of an even better outcome presents itself in the person of Milly Theale, "the Dove." What the process will do to Milly is of little importance to Densher and Kate at the outset. However, as the pair gets to know Milly better, Densher's conviction begins to crumble. Despite his best efforts to turn a blind eye to his own part in a terrible deception, he feels his character eroding and needs constant reassurance from Kate that it all will be worth it in the end. By the end, though, he has come face to face with what he's done and the price he, Milly and his relationship with Kate have paid. This book is a tough read, but well worth it. I suggest reading a chapter at a time and then turning it over in your mind until you grasp what's going on; only then should you proceed to the next chapter.