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The Wings of the Dove
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.”
741 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
About the author
Henry James
3,862 books3,656 followersHenry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
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May 23, 2015
THE WINGED GRADATION
I have been a devotee of Henry James for a while now. But this novel has overflowed me. So far this is the most Jamesian writing I have read. May be The Ambassadors is of the same tone and texture, and I would like to immerse myself in it too.
Anyway, reading this was like listening to a lullaby that would drag you into a lethargic mood in the early hours of the afternoon. Not a sign of boredom, just a state of undefined bliss. Following James’ account one is pulled into a blurred consciousness, with those veiled descriptions, faint thoughts, dim suggestions, subtle observations, foggy ethical dilemmas, equivocal dialogues.... It is with this succession of washes that a picture begins to emerge even if upon closing the book one wonders if one has been staring at the reflections of the Venetian lagoon rather than deciphering black graphics on a white page.
No, his writing has no defined contours and his exploration of the referentiality of language is pulled to its tight extremes, for example, with the way he spins and stretches personal pronouns... the ‘she’ and the ‘she’, the ‘her’ and the ‘her’, the ‘you’ or the ‘I’, or is it the 'I' and the 'you'?. All these shifting identities at times perform an interrelated dance in front of multiple mirrors that confound the illusion with the tangible or verifiable, and we remain on a state of surmising.
James ability to explore the malleability of language is also seen in his widened used of some terms, however simple these may be. Never before have I felt so bewildered by the word ‘beautiful’ used in differing semantic placements. With James it could refer to awareness, or to money, or to intelligence, or to subtlety, or to health, or to consideration. Also to beauty.
For me then, in this novel, James writing takes a much higher flight than I had been able to survey before.
For winged it certainly is.
December 29, 2022
”’The women one meets--what are they but books one has already read/ You’re a whole library of the unknown, the uncut.’ He almost moaned, he ached, from the depth of his content.
‘Upon my word I’ve a subscription.’”
There is a 1997 movie starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, and Alison Elliott.
Merton Densher is in love with Kate Croy. Their circumstances, though seemingly impossible, are not unusual in a class bound society like Edwardian England. Kate’s future is held hostage by her Aunt Maude, who is attempting to save her from the ruinous circumstances of her father. ”’If you hear anything against her father--anything I mean except that he’s odious and vile--remember it’s perfectly false.’” Doesn’t he sound like an interesting chap? Kate does feel compelled by her father and his circumstances. To accept her father and his way of life would allow her to escape the life her Aunt is so determined to thrust upon her.
She will be ruined of course, but a certain level of freedom does come with being socially wrecked.
Does she love Merton Densher?
That is a good question, and if you ask me that question at different times in the book, I might give you a different answer. He is a journalist, wonderfully knowledgeable about a great number of things. He is pleasant and charming and would make any woman a wonderful companion, but he is lacking one very important thing that nullifies all of his best traits…money.
Kate could ruin herself with Densher as easily as she could with her father, but she hesitates to do so. The longer she takes to accept one of the gold rings her aunt has arranged, the more time she gains for circumstances to change. She is, in other words, more practical about their relationship than Merton.
Kate and Merton both meet the American heiress Milly Theale, separately under different circumstances, but eventually they all become fast friends. Milly, after all, is in need of friends. ”She was alone, she was stricken, she was rich, and in particular was strange.”
Milly is rather strange in the sense that she has no pretensions. She is who she is all the time, in contrast to her British friends who were raised in a society of so many rules governing their actions that they are often contorted into distorted versions of themselves. ”In The Wings of the Dove James was to return to an earlier interest--the clash between the American and British attitudes--which put ‘crudely and briefly,’ might be described as the conflict between innocence and experience.”
Henry James loves to spend a lot of time pulling apart everything anyone says or thinks to find the nuggets of meaning. His writing reflects this obsession, and at times his speculative archaeological digging into the various emotions and thoughts surrounding a conversation can be mind numbing to a reader. Ponderous is a word that comes to mind. I keep thinking of him writing a scene like a Picasso cubist portrait, showing all sides at once and in the process revealing the true nature of the speaker or the listener.
His writing, despite the ponderous tendencies, is superb. I would read this book every morning before venturing into my office to write. I don’t write in a style even close to James, but his style elevated my awareness of my own writing. He is a grand master of the English language.
Milly is diagnosed with an illness that will certainly shorten her life. Kate can see a way that this misfortune could eliminate the stumbling blocks between Kate and Merton’s future happiness. He simply has to marry Milly and inherit her fortune. Merton is appalled at the thought, but his gentlemanly morality is hampered by his love for Kate. ”There were moments again--we know that from the first they had been numerous--when he felt with a strange mixed passion the mastery of her mere way of putting things. There was something in it that bent him at once to conviction and to reaction.”
We’ve all known persuasive people like Kate. They are people so convinced that they are right that their certainty overcomes our objections. I am always beset with doubts as to the right decision. I can weigh and argue any side of an argument. There is generally more than one right solution to life’s trials and tribulations. The answer is A & B, or maybe it is D, all the above, but for people like Kate, it is emphatically C.
Merton and Kate both adore Milly, but that British upper class practicality lends a bit of callousness to how Kate perceives the situation. Milly has a crush on Merton so the acorn with which a tree can grow has been sown. Milly has no heirs, so why shouldn’t she marry Merton? She would make him a man of means. It would just be a matter of time before Kate and Merton can be together.
”She must die, my dear, in her own extraordinary way.”
Of course, there is a delicious twist at the end.
This is considered the first of his final three masterpieces, followed by The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). My plans are, when I next feel that niggling desire to read James, that I will be proceeding to The Ambassadors. The Portrait of a Lady still remains my favorite James, so we will see if one of these other masterpieces can displace Isabel Archer in my heart.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
‘Upon my word I’ve a subscription.’”
There is a 1997 movie starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, and Alison Elliott.
Merton Densher is in love with Kate Croy. Their circumstances, though seemingly impossible, are not unusual in a class bound society like Edwardian England. Kate’s future is held hostage by her Aunt Maude, who is attempting to save her from the ruinous circumstances of her father. ”’If you hear anything against her father--anything I mean except that he’s odious and vile--remember it’s perfectly false.’” Doesn’t he sound like an interesting chap? Kate does feel compelled by her father and his circumstances. To accept her father and his way of life would allow her to escape the life her Aunt is so determined to thrust upon her.
She will be ruined of course, but a certain level of freedom does come with being socially wrecked.
Does she love Merton Densher?
That is a good question, and if you ask me that question at different times in the book, I might give you a different answer. He is a journalist, wonderfully knowledgeable about a great number of things. He is pleasant and charming and would make any woman a wonderful companion, but he is lacking one very important thing that nullifies all of his best traits…money.
Kate could ruin herself with Densher as easily as she could with her father, but she hesitates to do so. The longer she takes to accept one of the gold rings her aunt has arranged, the more time she gains for circumstances to change. She is, in other words, more practical about their relationship than Merton.
Kate and Merton both meet the American heiress Milly Theale, separately under different circumstances, but eventually they all become fast friends. Milly, after all, is in need of friends. ”She was alone, she was stricken, she was rich, and in particular was strange.”
Milly is rather strange in the sense that she has no pretensions. She is who she is all the time, in contrast to her British friends who were raised in a society of so many rules governing their actions that they are often contorted into distorted versions of themselves. ”In The Wings of the Dove James was to return to an earlier interest--the clash between the American and British attitudes--which put ‘crudely and briefly,’ might be described as the conflict between innocence and experience.”
Henry James loves to spend a lot of time pulling apart everything anyone says or thinks to find the nuggets of meaning. His writing reflects this obsession, and at times his speculative archaeological digging into the various emotions and thoughts surrounding a conversation can be mind numbing to a reader. Ponderous is a word that comes to mind. I keep thinking of him writing a scene like a Picasso cubist portrait, showing all sides at once and in the process revealing the true nature of the speaker or the listener.
His writing, despite the ponderous tendencies, is superb. I would read this book every morning before venturing into my office to write. I don’t write in a style even close to James, but his style elevated my awareness of my own writing. He is a grand master of the English language.
Milly is diagnosed with an illness that will certainly shorten her life. Kate can see a way that this misfortune could eliminate the stumbling blocks between Kate and Merton’s future happiness. He simply has to marry Milly and inherit her fortune. Merton is appalled at the thought, but his gentlemanly morality is hampered by his love for Kate. ”There were moments again--we know that from the first they had been numerous--when he felt with a strange mixed passion the mastery of her mere way of putting things. There was something in it that bent him at once to conviction and to reaction.”
We’ve all known persuasive people like Kate. They are people so convinced that they are right that their certainty overcomes our objections. I am always beset with doubts as to the right decision. I can weigh and argue any side of an argument. There is generally more than one right solution to life’s trials and tribulations. The answer is A & B, or maybe it is D, all the above, but for people like Kate, it is emphatically C.
Merton and Kate both adore Milly, but that British upper class practicality lends a bit of callousness to how Kate perceives the situation. Milly has a crush on Merton so the acorn with which a tree can grow has been sown. Milly has no heirs, so why shouldn’t she marry Merton? She would make him a man of means. It would just be a matter of time before Kate and Merton can be together.
”She must die, my dear, in her own extraordinary way.”
Of course, there is a delicious twist at the end.
This is considered the first of his final three masterpieces, followed by The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). My plans are, when I next feel that niggling desire to read James, that I will be proceeding to The Ambassadors. The Portrait of a Lady still remains my favorite James, so we will see if one of these other masterpieces can displace Isabel Archer in my heart.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
July 24, 2008
Soooo you guys, I think missed that day in English Lit 101 when we talked about Henry James, because to me he’s always been one of those authors you merely know OF, and who is important in some vague way but you couldn’t possibly say how, who is not really relevant in our 3G world except for the fact that Merchant Ivory makes mad bank off of this lace-petticoat-and-social-graces kind of thing. But for serious you guys, why did no one never tell me that Henry James is a GENIUS?! I mean, why is this not more widely discussed? Like how after reading him you can never look at a conversation in the same way because he is absolutely devastating in creating and describing and codifying how a mood can shift from sentence to sentence, how he who actually walks you from glance to glance? Like how the plot of this book, so languid to start, coils you into a tighter and tighter spring up until the very last sentence? Like how he doesn’t so much describe things themselves as describe the light that falls on them, how it's not just what his characters say but what they don't, and how he’s totally bitchin’ at telling you about the silences? I mean, really:
“Her welcome, her frankness, sweetness, sadness, brightness, her disconcerting poetry, as he made shift at moments to call it, helped as it was by the beauty of her whole setting and by the perception at the same time, on the observer’s part, that this element gained from her, in a manner, for effect and harmony, as much as it gave – her whole attitude had, to his imagination, meanings that hung about it, waiting upon her, hovering, dropping and quavering forth again, like vague faint snatches, mere ghosts of sound, of old-fashioned melancholy music.”
This is just one of many, many passages that I wanted to rip out and rub all over my body. It is also one of many, many passages that took me about three readings to understand. This is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read – I am depleted; I feel like I’ve been lobotomized circa 1906. I can’t even begin to quantify the absolutely brick-like character of this text – though homeboy loves commas and sub-sub-clauses like nobody’s business – but I have also never read a “difficult” book or a “classic” that is so sentence-for-sentence rewarding as this one. I want to write a check to the estate of this man. I can't even ridicule the really pretentious critical edition with douchbaggery essays titled like “Henry James: Art and Thought” because dear god, I give - I GET it. Henry James is a genius.
“Her welcome, her frankness, sweetness, sadness, brightness, her disconcerting poetry, as he made shift at moments to call it, helped as it was by the beauty of her whole setting and by the perception at the same time, on the observer’s part, that this element gained from her, in a manner, for effect and harmony, as much as it gave – her whole attitude had, to his imagination, meanings that hung about it, waiting upon her, hovering, dropping and quavering forth again, like vague faint snatches, mere ghosts of sound, of old-fashioned melancholy music.”
This is just one of many, many passages that I wanted to rip out and rub all over my body. It is also one of many, many passages that took me about three readings to understand. This is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read – I am depleted; I feel like I’ve been lobotomized circa 1906. I can’t even begin to quantify the absolutely brick-like character of this text – though homeboy loves commas and sub-sub-clauses like nobody’s business – but I have also never read a “difficult” book or a “classic” that is so sentence-for-sentence rewarding as this one. I want to write a check to the estate of this man. I can't even ridicule the really pretentious critical edition with douchbaggery essays titled like “Henry James: Art and Thought” because dear god, I give - I GET it. Henry James is a genius.
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September 10, 2024Conversation continued from the updates…so maybe read those first?
Well hello again! So you work in reviews too?
Yes, sometimes I get assigned to reviews - but with 20000 characters to count down in the review boxes as opposed to 420 in the status update boxes, I avoid this posting whenever possible.
You'll not have much counting down to do today - I rarely use even half the characters available for reviews. I wish I could use the rest in the status updates though...
We've been through all that already. 420 characters is the maximum available for status update boxes. There is nothing more to be done. But there is one thing you can do: set your star rating for this book before you begin your review. It's an important part of the reviewing process.
But I never use the star rating system..
Don't tell me you're one of those people who don't stick to review rules.
Are there review rules?
Well, not quite rules as such, more like tried and trusty conventions: a straight-forward description of a book's story line, some analysis, and a star rating that indicates clearly where the book stands in relation to other books the reviewer has read. Such an approach simplifies life for everyone concerned, and especially for the review reader. He clicks on a book title, familiar or unfamiliar. He reads about the book, which he knows something of already or he doesn't. He notes the star rating while mentally agreeing or not depending on his level of familiarity with the book or on what he's picked up from the content of the review. Everybody knows where everybody stands and confusion is unlikely. They all pass on to write/read more of the same, certain as to the firmness of the ground they're treading.
Tried and trusty? Sounds more like tired and rusty to me...
Then show me the justification for interfering with something that works. Show me the rationale for introducing vaguenesses where there should only be certainties and convolutions where none are needed? Where is the value in withholding star ratings, and obliging readers to second guess, as if the reviewer's opinion were some great and significant puzzle? We're only talking about books here after all, not the meaning of life or the riddle of mankind.
But some books can be microcosms of a larger world and their contents can comprehend the riddles of existence in unique and creative ways. That larger significance, and the unique creativity used to frame it, is partly why it seems impossible for me to rate books in relation to other books. Literary works are just too different one from another to be equated in any way. It would almost be like rating my friends….
I presume Henry James is about to be called on to back up your claims? Incomparable artist, stand-alone figure, etc, etc...
Well, this 'review' is under the banner of a Henry James novel after all - and you've read 'The Wings of the Dove' yourself, you've seen what he can do in terms of constructing microcosms of the world.
Ah! But I wouldn't dream of writing a review of it.
That's precisely why I can't write a conventional review of it either! But I can write about why I can't.
Ok, I'm waiting...16830...
Well, I think plot isn't the most important aspect of his stories so even if I was inclined to outline the plot in my reviews (which I rarely do), I'd never do so in the case of a Henry James novel.
So you're not going to tell the readers what the book is about?
That's right.
So maybe a little analysis? A few stabs at the meanings behind the themes and symbols?
In the case of a Henry James novel, that's not at all obvious.
You can't do it, in other words.
I can do it, and quite easily, but they would indeed be another's words.
Cryptic! You’ve clearly been reading too much Henry James..
The thing is, Henry James has two voices.
Explain, please.
There's an omniscient narrator in each of the three James novels I've read recently, and the narrator sometimes switches to being a third person limited narrator, presenting things just from one particular character's point of view and allowing other characters to keep their thoughts secret.
Is that what you mean about the two voices? What's new or original about that?
Hold on. It's what he does when he's being omniscient that's interesting. He comments on the narrative as he's telling it, and sometimes analyses the characters and their motivations as well. And then from time to time, he slips into first person narration, he drops in an 'I' voice that adds another later of analysis to the story being told. It's as if James is being the critic of his own story - and in fact he becomes an actual critic at the end of this book. There’s an appendix at the end of my edition explaining how he constructed the book, what he wanted to demonstrate, how well he succeeded, what he could have done better, in short, he becomes his own best/worst critic.
Hmm, I didn't know about the appendix. So you're saying there's no need to review him in the usual way because he himself has anticipated everything that can be said about his story.
Yes, more or less.
But what about style? You’re not going to tell us he comments on his own style, I suppose?
Funny you should mention his style because something you said earlier reminded me very much of his unique way of writing. You spoke of 'vaguenesses where there should only be certainties and convolutions where none are needed'. If ever there was a writer who indulged in vaguenesses and convolutions, Henry James is the one! He seems to revel in creating long sentences, and as many of them as possible, and he will always choose an elaborate way to explain something rather than a simple one. If a metaphor will bear expanding, he will push it to the limit, when a circle can be drawn wide, he will draw it very wide indeed. In short, he uses 50 words where 5 might do.
Did he know he was doing that?
Oh yes, I think his elaborate style was very intentional. And once again, he addresses this issue in the appendix. He speaks of the ‘dodges’ or strategies he uses in telling his stories and for which he always has reasons, why for example he approaches the character of Millie Theale only and ever circuitously, 'All of which proceeds, obviously, from her painter’s tenderness of imagination about her, which reduces him to watching her, as it were, through the successive windows of other people’s interest in her.' (And how glad I was to read his confirmation of this intention as I’d already picked up this approach in his treatment of the main character in Washington Square, an approach I’d found myself noting also here as I read ‘around’ and ‘about’ Milly). But to get back to his elaborate style, in the appendix he also stresses the notion of ‘attention of perusal’, that is, the attention he requires from the reader. He has a theory about enjoyment of works of art being greatest when they demand more of our attention, and there is no doubt that when reading a Henry James novel, we have to read with full attention. He designs his sentences so that we can’t skim read. We have to read every word, but when we do, what treats we get as rewards!
That may be your experience but I see a lot of negative feedback on his style generally.
You could argue that I’m a particularly patient reader and that’s why his style works for me. But I think there’s a lot more than that involved. I talked about the rewards when we read every word. Sometimes they arrive in a particularly efficient piece of phrasing that sums up all the foregoing narrative, as in the following excerpt, for example. Milly Theale has been wandering around the various rooms or ‘schools’ of the National Gallery looking at painting after painting, and has just sat down on a chair to rest: 'Milly indeed at present fixed her eyes more than elsewhere on the appearance, first that she couldn’t quite, after all, have accounted to an examiner for the order of her various ‘schools’, and then on that of her being more tired than she had meant, in spite of her having been so much less intelligent.'
Hmm. I can anticipate people not understanding what you’re saying here.
How to explain better! I couldn't have noticed the perfection of that final paradox unless I'd paid attention to everything leading up to it. That’s what I mean. Take this excerpt: 'They had accepted their acquaintance as too short for an engagement, but they had treated it as long enough for almost anything else, and marriage was somehow before them like a temple without an avenue. They belonged to the temple, and they met in the grounds; they were in the stage at which grounds in general offered much scattered refreshment.' That’s so efficient in spite of James having exploited the temple image to its fullest. And there’s a tongue in cheek element too. The grounds were shady - and secluded! Those two sentences just work perfectly on so many levels.
I think you’ll have to come up with more examples than that to convince the doubters.
One more then, and again it's an example of elaborate efficiency: 'She balanced an instant during which Densher might have just wondered if pure historic truth were to suffer a slight strain. But she dropped on the right side.'
Good one indeed, but I’m afraid it won’t convince. In fact I’m tempted to drop in a quote myself about the same Densher: 'Densher had for this, as he listened, a smile of the largest response. ‘Ah my dear child, if you can explain I of course needn’t not “understand”. I’m condemned to that,' he on his side presently explained, ‘only when understanding fails'..' It’s that sort of construction that puts people off.
Such a well chosen quote for what we’re talking about! You must have been underlining your edition too!
Have you come across the sentence full of negatives in The Golden Bowl yet?
Ah - you're reading it too! Do you mean this one: 'Mr Verver, it may further be mentioned, had taken at no moment sufficient alarm to have kept in detail the record of his reassurance; but he would none the less not have been unable, not really have been indisposed, to impart in confidence to the right person his notion of the history of the matter.'
That’s the one!
I admit I had to read that one twice. But it works in the context, and tells us so much about Mr Verver! And since we’ve dragged 'The Golden Bowl' into our conversation, I’ve been noticing the ‘I’ narrator even more in that book, little asides that comment on the story and the telling of it. For example "The unspoken had come up, and there was a crisis - neither could have said how long it lasted - during which they were reduced, for all interchange, to looking at each other on quite an inordinate scale. They might at this moment, in their positively portenous stillness, have been keeping it up for a wager, sitting for their photograph or even enacting a ‘tableau vivant’" About this scene, the narrator later says: "The little crisis was of shorter duration than our account of it; duration would naturally have forced him to take up his hat."(and leave, therefore changing the outcome, is implied). I love the layers of construction that are revealed.
You speak of novels as if they were buildings. That’s not the way many readers approach literature.
It’s true that I love architecture, the architecture of everything. Even of a review. But in every construction there has to be a moment when we say ‘enough is enough’. I think we’ve reached that point here, don’t you?
I agree completely. And I think there are many who will be grateful that you’re not following Gaudi's approach to architecture - I'm thinking of his never completed cathedral - because then this review would have accumulated so many additions and citations that it would have been an even bigger mess than it is already. And there wouldn't have been 7807 characters left in this review box either!
Well, at least my shift is over so I'm off home. Bon Dimanche everyone!
Bon Dimanche to you too. Ah, I've just realised, this is a Sunday review. No wonder I've had trouble with it...I'll edit it tomorrow...
Well hello again! So you work in reviews too?
Yes, sometimes I get assigned to reviews - but with 20000 characters to count down in the review boxes as opposed to 420 in the status update boxes, I avoid this posting whenever possible.
You'll not have much counting down to do today - I rarely use even half the characters available for reviews. I wish I could use the rest in the status updates though...
We've been through all that already. 420 characters is the maximum available for status update boxes. There is nothing more to be done. But there is one thing you can do: set your star rating for this book before you begin your review. It's an important part of the reviewing process.
But I never use the star rating system..
Don't tell me you're one of those people who don't stick to review rules.
Are there review rules?
Well, not quite rules as such, more like tried and trusty conventions: a straight-forward description of a book's story line, some analysis, and a star rating that indicates clearly where the book stands in relation to other books the reviewer has read. Such an approach simplifies life for everyone concerned, and especially for the review reader. He clicks on a book title, familiar or unfamiliar. He reads about the book, which he knows something of already or he doesn't. He notes the star rating while mentally agreeing or not depending on his level of familiarity with the book or on what he's picked up from the content of the review. Everybody knows where everybody stands and confusion is unlikely. They all pass on to write/read more of the same, certain as to the firmness of the ground they're treading.
Tried and trusty? Sounds more like tired and rusty to me...
Then show me the justification for interfering with something that works. Show me the rationale for introducing vaguenesses where there should only be certainties and convolutions where none are needed? Where is the value in withholding star ratings, and obliging readers to second guess, as if the reviewer's opinion were some great and significant puzzle? We're only talking about books here after all, not the meaning of life or the riddle of mankind.
But some books can be microcosms of a larger world and their contents can comprehend the riddles of existence in unique and creative ways. That larger significance, and the unique creativity used to frame it, is partly why it seems impossible for me to rate books in relation to other books. Literary works are just too different one from another to be equated in any way. It would almost be like rating my friends….
I presume Henry James is about to be called on to back up your claims? Incomparable artist, stand-alone figure, etc, etc...
Well, this 'review' is under the banner of a Henry James novel after all - and you've read 'The Wings of the Dove' yourself, you've seen what he can do in terms of constructing microcosms of the world.
Ah! But I wouldn't dream of writing a review of it.
That's precisely why I can't write a conventional review of it either! But I can write about why I can't.
Ok, I'm waiting...16830...
Well, I think plot isn't the most important aspect of his stories so even if I was inclined to outline the plot in my reviews (which I rarely do), I'd never do so in the case of a Henry James novel.
So you're not going to tell the readers what the book is about?
That's right.
So maybe a little analysis? A few stabs at the meanings behind the themes and symbols?
In the case of a Henry James novel, that's not at all obvious.
You can't do it, in other words.
I can do it, and quite easily, but they would indeed be another's words.
Cryptic! You’ve clearly been reading too much Henry James..
The thing is, Henry James has two voices.
Explain, please.
There's an omniscient narrator in each of the three James novels I've read recently, and the narrator sometimes switches to being a third person limited narrator, presenting things just from one particular character's point of view and allowing other characters to keep their thoughts secret.
Is that what you mean about the two voices? What's new or original about that?
Hold on. It's what he does when he's being omniscient that's interesting. He comments on the narrative as he's telling it, and sometimes analyses the characters and their motivations as well. And then from time to time, he slips into first person narration, he drops in an 'I' voice that adds another later of analysis to the story being told. It's as if James is being the critic of his own story - and in fact he becomes an actual critic at the end of this book. There’s an appendix at the end of my edition explaining how he constructed the book, what he wanted to demonstrate, how well he succeeded, what he could have done better, in short, he becomes his own best/worst critic.
Hmm, I didn't know about the appendix. So you're saying there's no need to review him in the usual way because he himself has anticipated everything that can be said about his story.
Yes, more or less.
But what about style? You’re not going to tell us he comments on his own style, I suppose?
Funny you should mention his style because something you said earlier reminded me very much of his unique way of writing. You spoke of 'vaguenesses where there should only be certainties and convolutions where none are needed'. If ever there was a writer who indulged in vaguenesses and convolutions, Henry James is the one! He seems to revel in creating long sentences, and as many of them as possible, and he will always choose an elaborate way to explain something rather than a simple one. If a metaphor will bear expanding, he will push it to the limit, when a circle can be drawn wide, he will draw it very wide indeed. In short, he uses 50 words where 5 might do.
Did he know he was doing that?
Oh yes, I think his elaborate style was very intentional. And once again, he addresses this issue in the appendix. He speaks of the ‘dodges’ or strategies he uses in telling his stories and for which he always has reasons, why for example he approaches the character of Millie Theale only and ever circuitously, 'All of which proceeds, obviously, from her painter’s tenderness of imagination about her, which reduces him to watching her, as it were, through the successive windows of other people’s interest in her.' (And how glad I was to read his confirmation of this intention as I’d already picked up this approach in his treatment of the main character in Washington Square, an approach I’d found myself noting also here as I read ‘around’ and ‘about’ Milly). But to get back to his elaborate style, in the appendix he also stresses the notion of ‘attention of perusal’, that is, the attention he requires from the reader. He has a theory about enjoyment of works of art being greatest when they demand more of our attention, and there is no doubt that when reading a Henry James novel, we have to read with full attention. He designs his sentences so that we can’t skim read. We have to read every word, but when we do, what treats we get as rewards!
That may be your experience but I see a lot of negative feedback on his style generally.
You could argue that I’m a particularly patient reader and that’s why his style works for me. But I think there’s a lot more than that involved. I talked about the rewards when we read every word. Sometimes they arrive in a particularly efficient piece of phrasing that sums up all the foregoing narrative, as in the following excerpt, for example. Milly Theale has been wandering around the various rooms or ‘schools’ of the National Gallery looking at painting after painting, and has just sat down on a chair to rest: 'Milly indeed at present fixed her eyes more than elsewhere on the appearance, first that she couldn’t quite, after all, have accounted to an examiner for the order of her various ‘schools’, and then on that of her being more tired than she had meant, in spite of her having been so much less intelligent.'
Hmm. I can anticipate people not understanding what you’re saying here.
How to explain better! I couldn't have noticed the perfection of that final paradox unless I'd paid attention to everything leading up to it. That’s what I mean. Take this excerpt: 'They had accepted their acquaintance as too short for an engagement, but they had treated it as long enough for almost anything else, and marriage was somehow before them like a temple without an avenue. They belonged to the temple, and they met in the grounds; they were in the stage at which grounds in general offered much scattered refreshment.' That’s so efficient in spite of James having exploited the temple image to its fullest. And there’s a tongue in cheek element too. The grounds were shady - and secluded! Those two sentences just work perfectly on so many levels.
I think you’ll have to come up with more examples than that to convince the doubters.
One more then, and again it's an example of elaborate efficiency: 'She balanced an instant during which Densher might have just wondered if pure historic truth were to suffer a slight strain. But she dropped on the right side.'
Good one indeed, but I’m afraid it won’t convince. In fact I’m tempted to drop in a quote myself about the same Densher: 'Densher had for this, as he listened, a smile of the largest response. ‘Ah my dear child, if you can explain I of course needn’t not “understand”. I’m condemned to that,' he on his side presently explained, ‘only when understanding fails'..' It’s that sort of construction that puts people off.
Such a well chosen quote for what we’re talking about! You must have been underlining your edition too!
Have you come across the sentence full of negatives in The Golden Bowl yet?
Ah - you're reading it too! Do you mean this one: 'Mr Verver, it may further be mentioned, had taken at no moment sufficient alarm to have kept in detail the record of his reassurance; but he would none the less not have been unable, not really have been indisposed, to impart in confidence to the right person his notion of the history of the matter.'
That’s the one!
I admit I had to read that one twice. But it works in the context, and tells us so much about Mr Verver! And since we’ve dragged 'The Golden Bowl' into our conversation, I’ve been noticing the ‘I’ narrator even more in that book, little asides that comment on the story and the telling of it. For example "The unspoken had come up, and there was a crisis - neither could have said how long it lasted - during which they were reduced, for all interchange, to looking at each other on quite an inordinate scale. They might at this moment, in their positively portenous stillness, have been keeping it up for a wager, sitting for their photograph or even enacting a ‘tableau vivant’" About this scene, the narrator later says: "The little crisis was of shorter duration than our account of it; duration would naturally have forced him to take up his hat."(and leave, therefore changing the outcome, is implied). I love the layers of construction that are revealed.
You speak of novels as if they were buildings. That’s not the way many readers approach literature.
It’s true that I love architecture, the architecture of everything. Even of a review. But in every construction there has to be a moment when we say ‘enough is enough’. I think we’ve reached that point here, don’t you?
I agree completely. And I think there are many who will be grateful that you’re not following Gaudi's approach to architecture - I'm thinking of his never completed cathedral - because then this review would have accumulated so many additions and citations that it would have been an even bigger mess than it is already. And there wouldn't have been 7807 characters left in this review box either!
Well, at least my shift is over so I'm off home. Bon Dimanche everyone!
Bon Dimanche to you too. Ah, I've just realised, this is a Sunday review. No wonder I've had trouble with it...I'll edit it tomorrow...
June 5, 2024
My third Henry James, but only the second I managed to complete. He didn't set the world on fire for me with this either, more like a quivering flame. I was hoping for great things, somewhere along the lines of Edith Wharton's brilliant 'The Age of Innocence'. As classic fiction generally goes, it was written impeccably well, but my problems were with the characters, who seemed to drift in and out of my consciousness all too often. Well over one hundred pages in, wasn't doing anything for me. Slowly, this changed for the better, and how he handled the cultural clash between naive Americans and the sophisticated, often decadent Europeans of the time was done with much enthusiasm, but Henry James, ultimately, may be a writer that's just not for me.
Do I give him another chance? It's 50/50.
The story takes place in London and Venice (two great settings), Kate Croy is a Londoner who encourages her secret fiancé, Merton Densher, to woo and marry the wealthy young American Milly Theale, who is dying of a mysterious malady. Thus, Kate reasons, although Milly will likely die soon, she will at least be happily in love, Merton will pocket her fortune,, and Kate and Merton can marry and be filthy rich. But Milly learns of Merton’s and Kate’s wicked motives, leaving a guilt ridden Merton a legacy that he is struggles with. The greedy Kate on the other hand is playing hard ball leading to their relationship hitting the rocks. The novel looks closely at consequences and differences between characters, than it does on the events that carry the story.
Most books these days are ninety percent plot heavy, so is it any surprise that for some, we have trouble understanding an author who isn't bothered by any of that. 'The Wings of the Dove' is told almost entirely without events. it’s almost all character interiority, not that I had a problem with this approach, I just found the main characters more like echoes, rather than a feeling of riding up front along side them. The second half of the novel definitely left more of an impact than the first, and had I read this in 1-2 hour sittings to get accustomed with it's pace, rather than thirty minutes here and there, then things may have been more positive.
I will now ponder on reading 'The Portrait of a Lady' (which was my first choice anyway), but that's now probably fallen back in the queue. This was very well written, but for me, maybe just read in the wrong way.
June 27, 2021
It was interesting to learn in the introduction that Henry James suffered with acute constipation his entire life. If ever a physical ailment was psychologically eloquent of its sufferer here it is. This entire novel with its cryptic dovetailing prose is wilfully constipated. At one point a character accuses another of being cryptic. It's one of Henry James' little jokes because the comment in question is no more cryptic than just about every other labyrinthine obfuscating sentence in this novel. The surface is there to mask the interior. Every character participates in this act of collusion. No one in this novel has a bad word to say about each other despite how often they are at inimical loggerheads. Only furniture provides (implied) criticism of the owner.
In essence it shares an identical plot with the more enjoyable but less subtle Portrait of a Lady. The plot is very simple. Densher is in love with Kate; Kate is in love with Densher but Densher is poor and Kate's aunt has much grander ambitions for her niece. They are compelled to keep their relationship secret. Then arrives an American heiress stricken with a fatal illness. Kate persuades Densher to woo her for her money. Everything in this novel, including emotion, has a price tag, a market value. James though avoids moral judgement. He's a master of avoidance. Conversations are often like some elaborate costumed dance of avoiding the point. Characters make a point of not saying what we want to know. James loves conjuring up that ghost world of the things that remain unsaid. He loves hiding ugliness beneath a veneer of glittering refractions. (Nabokov was to do this more knowingly and artfully in Lolita.) We all deploy deliberately misleading language to hide the things we do we aren't proud of. We all posit virtue as the ultimate motive for an act of perfidy. Usually we think none the less of ourselves for doing so. James seems to thinks no less of Kate and especially Densher for doing so. He was generous in how little he made them pay for their mercantile behaviour. In a novel where everything has a price tag I couldn't help feeling Kate and Densher should have been made to pay more. Which is another way of saying the conclusion was on the lame side.
The Venice setting with all its possibilities of glittering refractions was disappointing. It was like he had run out of interesting things to say about the city and he never brought it to life the way he did London.
In essence it shares an identical plot with the more enjoyable but less subtle Portrait of a Lady. The plot is very simple. Densher is in love with Kate; Kate is in love with Densher but Densher is poor and Kate's aunt has much grander ambitions for her niece. They are compelled to keep their relationship secret. Then arrives an American heiress stricken with a fatal illness. Kate persuades Densher to woo her for her money. Everything in this novel, including emotion, has a price tag, a market value. James though avoids moral judgement. He's a master of avoidance. Conversations are often like some elaborate costumed dance of avoiding the point. Characters make a point of not saying what we want to know. James loves conjuring up that ghost world of the things that remain unsaid. He loves hiding ugliness beneath a veneer of glittering refractions. (Nabokov was to do this more knowingly and artfully in Lolita.) We all deploy deliberately misleading language to hide the things we do we aren't proud of. We all posit virtue as the ultimate motive for an act of perfidy. Usually we think none the less of ourselves for doing so. James seems to thinks no less of Kate and especially Densher for doing so. He was generous in how little he made them pay for their mercantile behaviour. In a novel where everything has a price tag I couldn't help feeling Kate and Densher should have been made to pay more. Which is another way of saying the conclusion was on the lame side.
The Venice setting with all its possibilities of glittering refractions was disappointing. It was like he had run out of interesting things to say about the city and he never brought it to life the way he did London.
November 7, 2021
The Wings of the Dove is the longest book I have ever read. No, not the most pages, just the most unending. This is considered a masterpiece and makes dozens of touted “must read” lists, so it is with a bit of chagrin that I say it was a painful experience for me. I pushed myself through it, and that alone keeps it off the favorites page. I strongly felt that every sentence, with the exception of James’ dialogue, could have been edited to half its length and been vastly improved.
The sad thing is, this book does explore significant themes and is built upon an interesting plot idea, but James loves innuendo, so none of his characters ever says what they are thinking and James tells you and tells you and tells you, while showing you little. I found the true meaning of "to beat a dead horse”...in this novel, Henry James has perfected that!
I wanted to like this. I wanted to find at least one character that I could care about in even the slightest way. James is so brilliant in some ways. He is eloquent and luminous and has moments in which you know why he is so admired. So, it feels presumptuous to criticize him, and yet I cannot pretend to love this, because in the end I kind of whispered to myself and for Milly, “thank God that is over!”
The sad thing is, this book does explore significant themes and is built upon an interesting plot idea, but James loves innuendo, so none of his characters ever says what they are thinking and James tells you and tells you and tells you, while showing you little. I found the true meaning of "to beat a dead horse”...in this novel, Henry James has perfected that!
I wanted to like this. I wanted to find at least one character that I could care about in even the slightest way. James is so brilliant in some ways. He is eloquent and luminous and has moments in which you know why he is so admired. So, it feels presumptuous to criticize him, and yet I cannot pretend to love this, because in the end I kind of whispered to myself and for Milly, “thank God that is over!”
March 30, 2014
Nope, sorry.
I read a really enticing review of this, got all excited, drove across three suburbs and two villages to get to the library where it was mouldering on the shelf, got it home, opened the first page, and then I remembered.
Friends don't let friends read Henry James.
If you're thinking about reading this, then be warned. The sentences are constructed like algebraic equations, with nested parenthesis within nested parenthesis within nested parenthesis. It gets to the point you feel that, like the constipated mathematician, you have to work it out with a pencil.
First sentence She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale with the irritation that had brought her to the point of going away without sight of him.
Life is too short to read books that are built like a set of babushka dolls.
I'm actually going to set up a new shelf: flung-across-room. This is the first book on that shelf.
I read a really enticing review of this, got all excited, drove across three suburbs and two villages to get to the library where it was mouldering on the shelf, got it home, opened the first page, and then I remembered.
Friends don't let friends read Henry James.
If you're thinking about reading this, then be warned. The sentences are constructed like algebraic equations, with nested parenthesis within nested parenthesis within nested parenthesis. It gets to the point you feel that, like the constipated mathematician, you have to work it out with a pencil.
First sentence She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale with the irritation that had brought her to the point of going away without sight of him.
Life is too short to read books that are built like a set of babushka dolls.
I'm actually going to set up a new shelf: flung-across-room. This is the first book on that shelf.
September 9, 2009
Well, I finished it and I didn't even skim one passage, though there were countless sentences that, no matter how many times I read them at whatever angle and no matter how sincere my desire to understand, had absolutely no meaning to them whatsoever. Often this was caused not by subtlety or for suspense, but but because of simple misuse of pronouns. (Who's thinking this of whom? Ah, never mind. I must have an inferior intellect to care for such details.)
Others are merely clotted arteries of metalanguage, suggesting, it was as though, somehow, upon reflection, one could surmise the undeniable but fleeting truth of what she had guessed and know it was how she had been meant to understand it all along.
Other passages, however lofty their intention, remind you that James is writing of an experience he himself has never had but has only considered from every possible theoretical guise. So as not to spoil anything, I won't mention what it is (and who in this book ever mentions anything directly, except at parties where anyone can overhear?), but suffice it to say, much of his ability to keep so much on a pedestal results from his having lived so pinched a life.
The rest of the novel is characterized by constant evasion, unceasing fogs, and unverifiable rumors. If this were a Harlan Coben novel, it would be titled Don't Tell Her. This is most aggravating in Milly's visit to the great doctor, where nothing as tawdry as a medical exam takes place, or in book 8 chapter 1 where Aunt Maud and Susan Stringham discuss Susan's own meeting with the great doctor, with discretion best suited for those in a witness protection program.
And may I ask, if James is such a master at characterization, why must he clobber the reader by introducing characters as representing something larger than themselves (Merton as the embodiment of intellect, Kate of life, and Susan of culture) and then fail to support such claims with the characters' own decisions and behaviors? In fact, how can the greatest literary critics not be bothered by how every James character speaks with the same voice and possesses the same ever-comprehending and analytical mind that considers all nuances of each sentence in mere seconds (over the course of several pages) before coming up with precisely the right thing to say?
Yet, despite the repeated reminders of what is so exceptional about the lead characters, why can I not understand why Merton is so alluring to Kate and Milly or why Kate if she is so beautiful and brilliant, is courted by only two men in London? What did Isabel Archer (of Portrait of a Lady) have that Kate lacked? It's one thing if it were made a point that others were interested but were kept away by Aunt maud, who had decided for Kate that she should only consider Lord Mark. But even if this is the case, Kate has the freedom the roam about the city and meet whomever she likes (as she did Merton), so the Rapunzel theory doesn't quite fit.
I just don't know what to make of this book. It frustrated me so intensely and its supposedly brilliant ending was so out of character--for Merton because he'd do anything for Isabel, for Isabel because she was never the jealous type--yet the shocking last line was also so ploddingly built up to for hundreds of pages that it was hardly a dramatic slap, that all I can feel right now is that the movie was much more satisfying and fixed many of the problems in the book. There, I said it.
P.S. I do respect James for having admitted disappointment in this book and thinking it didn't live up to what he had wanted it to be in terms of characterization and plot, so some credit must be given to him for that.
****************************************************************
I wrote to a friend, "I don't think I'll ever be one of those James fans who think his writing genius and are blind to his impossible evasions and taking ten pages to convey what can be expressed in one, but I do find myself now able to get through the dull passages so I can appreciate the moments when things click together. And there is a mental challenge (worthy or not) in figuring out what the heck he's trying to say. So I enjoy putting up with him--for now. That said, I do need frequent breaks from him and alternate a chapter of his with several from a book with sparse and clean writing. Reading him is akin to going antiquing: you can find very valuable pieces among lots of junk hidden beneath decades of dust. And I may want to bring a piece home, but I'm not inspired to cramp my home with these purchases or stop dusting so as to romanticize my apartment. How's that for praise?"
Others are merely clotted arteries of metalanguage, suggesting, it was as though, somehow, upon reflection, one could surmise the undeniable but fleeting truth of what she had guessed and know it was how she had been meant to understand it all along.
Other passages, however lofty their intention, remind you that James is writing of an experience he himself has never had but has only considered from every possible theoretical guise. So as not to spoil anything, I won't mention what it is (and who in this book ever mentions anything directly, except at parties where anyone can overhear?), but suffice it to say, much of his ability to keep so much on a pedestal results from his having lived so pinched a life.
The rest of the novel is characterized by constant evasion, unceasing fogs, and unverifiable rumors. If this were a Harlan Coben novel, it would be titled Don't Tell Her. This is most aggravating in Milly's visit to the great doctor, where nothing as tawdry as a medical exam takes place, or in book 8 chapter 1 where Aunt Maud and Susan Stringham discuss Susan's own meeting with the great doctor, with discretion best suited for those in a witness protection program.
And may I ask, if James is such a master at characterization, why must he clobber the reader by introducing characters as representing something larger than themselves (Merton as the embodiment of intellect, Kate of life, and Susan of culture) and then fail to support such claims with the characters' own decisions and behaviors? In fact, how can the greatest literary critics not be bothered by how every James character speaks with the same voice and possesses the same ever-comprehending and analytical mind that considers all nuances of each sentence in mere seconds (over the course of several pages) before coming up with precisely the right thing to say?
Yet, despite the repeated reminders of what is so exceptional about the lead characters, why can I not understand why Merton is so alluring to Kate and Milly or why Kate if she is so beautiful and brilliant, is courted by only two men in London? What did Isabel Archer (of Portrait of a Lady) have that Kate lacked? It's one thing if it were made a point that others were interested but were kept away by Aunt maud, who had decided for Kate that she should only consider Lord Mark. But even if this is the case, Kate has the freedom the roam about the city and meet whomever she likes (as she did Merton), so the Rapunzel theory doesn't quite fit.
I just don't know what to make of this book. It frustrated me so intensely and its supposedly brilliant ending was so out of character--for Merton because he'd do anything for Isabel, for Isabel because she was never the jealous type--yet the shocking last line was also so ploddingly built up to for hundreds of pages that it was hardly a dramatic slap, that all I can feel right now is that the movie was much more satisfying and fixed many of the problems in the book. There, I said it.
P.S. I do respect James for having admitted disappointment in this book and thinking it didn't live up to what he had wanted it to be in terms of characterization and plot, so some credit must be given to him for that.
****************************************************************
I wrote to a friend, "I don't think I'll ever be one of those James fans who think his writing genius and are blind to his impossible evasions and taking ten pages to convey what can be expressed in one, but I do find myself now able to get through the dull passages so I can appreciate the moments when things click together. And there is a mental challenge (worthy or not) in figuring out what the heck he's trying to say. So I enjoy putting up with him--for now. That said, I do need frequent breaks from him and alternate a chapter of his with several from a book with sparse and clean writing. Reading him is akin to going antiquing: you can find very valuable pieces among lots of junk hidden beneath decades of dust. And I may want to bring a piece home, but I'm not inspired to cramp my home with these purchases or stop dusting so as to romanticize my apartment. How's that for praise?"
October 20, 2017
دوستانِ گرانقدر، این داستان س��ن از دوگانگی انسانهاست.. انسانهایی که خوی نیک دارند و انسانهایی که خوی زشت و انگل وار دارند و میخواهند دیگران را پلهٔ پیشرفتِ خود سازند و همچون انگل از میزبان خود بهره ببرند
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دختری زیبا به نامِ <کیت> در خانهٔ عمهٔ ثروتمندش خانمِ <مود لاودر> در شهر لندن، زندگی میکند... کیت عاشقِ روزنامه نگاری به نامِ <مرتُن دنشر> میشود و عمه خانم که بسیار سختگیر است، مخالف ازدواج آنهاست. چراکه معتقد است که مرتُن شوهری مناسب برایِ کیت نیست و هیچ آیندهٔ درخشانی ندارد.... داستان از آنجایی رنگ و بو میگیرد که زنی مهربان و انسان دوست، به نامِ <میلی تیل> واردِ زندگیِ آنها میشود... میلی تیل، پدر و مادرش را از دست داده است، امّا آنها ثروت زیادی را برای این دخترِ مهربان، به ارث گذاشته اند... تنها موضوع غم انگیز این است که میلی تیل به بیماری مرگباری دچار شده است و چیزی تا پایانِ زندگی او باقی نمانده است... او تلاش دارد تا از روزهای باقی مانده بهترین استفاده را کرده و دیگران را یاری رساند... از این بخش داستان، انگل صفت ها وارد میشوند یا به قولِ نویسنده، بازها به سراغِ کبوتر میروند که به نظرم اگر بگوییم کرکس ها به سراغِ کبوتر میروند، بهتر است... کیت، دختر فریبکار، به دوست پسرِ خویش مِرتُن پیشنهاد میدهد که وارد زندگی میلی تیل شده و با او ازدواج کند، تا زمانی که میلی تیل از دنیا رفت، او صاحبِ ثروت و میراثِ میلی تیل شده و سپس عمه خانم با ازدواج آنها موافقت کند.... مرتُن پس از اصرارِ فراوان از سویِ کیت، سرانجام میپذیرد... خلاصه آنکه مرتن در زندگی میلی تیل مهربان گام مینهد و میلی تل با او ازدواج میکند.... روز به روز مرتُن بیشتر به وجودِ پاک و مهربانِ میلی تیل پی برده و شیفتهٔ او میشود... ولی سرانجام میلی تل، بر اثر همان بیماری جان میدهد...... عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را بخوانید و از سرانجامِ آن آگاه شوید.... آیا مِرتُن حاضر میشود تا خواستهٔ غیرانسانی و کثیفِ دوست دخترش را انجام دهد؟ آیا ثروتِ میلی تیلِ مهربان و نیک سرشت را در اختیارِ کیت میگذارد؟؟ با خواندنِ داستان، به پاسخ این پرسشها میرسید
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امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ شناختِ این کتاب، مفید بوده باشه
<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
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دختری زیبا به نامِ <کیت> در خانهٔ عمهٔ ثروتمندش خانمِ <مود لاودر> در شهر لندن، زندگی میکند... کیت عاشقِ روزنامه نگاری به نامِ <مرتُن دنشر> میشود و عمه خانم که بسیار سختگیر است، مخالف ازدواج آنهاست. چراکه معتقد است که مرتُن شوهری مناسب برایِ کیت نیست و هیچ آیندهٔ درخشانی ندارد.... داستان از آنجایی رنگ و بو میگیرد که زنی مهربان و انسان دوست، به نامِ <میلی تیل> واردِ زندگیِ آنها میشود... میلی تیل، پدر و مادرش را از دست داده است، امّا آنها ثروت زیادی را برای این دخترِ مهربان، به ارث گذاشته اند... تنها موضوع غم انگیز این است که میلی تیل به بیماری مرگباری دچار شده است و چیزی تا پایانِ زندگی او باقی نمانده است... او تلاش دارد تا از روزهای باقی مانده بهترین استفاده را کرده و دیگران را یاری رساند... از این بخش داستان، انگل صفت ها وارد میشوند یا به قولِ نویسنده، بازها به سراغِ کبوتر میروند که به نظرم اگر بگوییم کرکس ها به سراغِ کبوتر میروند، بهتر است... کیت، دختر فریبکار، به دوست پسرِ خویش مِرتُن پیشنهاد میدهد که وارد زندگی میلی تیل شده و با او ازدواج کند، تا زمانی که میلی تیل از دنیا رفت، او صاحبِ ثروت و میراثِ میلی تیل شده و سپس عمه خانم با ازدواج آنها موافقت کند.... مرتُن پس از اصرارِ فراوان از سویِ کیت، سرانجام میپذیرد... خلاصه آنکه مرتن در زندگی میلی تیل مهربان گام مینهد و میلی تل با او ازدواج میکند.... روز به روز مرتُن بیشتر به وجودِ پاک و مهربانِ میلی تیل پی برده و شیفتهٔ او میشود... ولی سرانجام میلی تل، بر اثر همان بیماری جان میدهد...... عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را بخوانید و از سرانجامِ آن آگاه شوید.... آیا مِرتُن حاضر میشود تا خواستهٔ غیرانسانی و کثیفِ دوست دخترش را انجام دهد؟ آیا ثروتِ میلی تیلِ مهربان و نیک سرشت را در اختیارِ کیت میگذارد؟؟ با خواندنِ داستان، به پاسخ این پرسشها میرسید
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امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ شناختِ این کتاب، مفید بوده باشه
<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
July 26, 2013
In Henry James, we rarely if ever have a villain - a real, horrible blackguard character for whom we feel morally adequate enough to pass severe judgment. There are characters with evil intentions, who do evil thing: who lie and undermine the hero or heroine, Mme. Merle and Gilbert Osmond, of The Portrait of a Lady, may be among the most "evil" duos in the James canon, if only for the tenderness we feel toward the passionate Isabel, who they snare. What is perplexing in James, which frustrates us, is that we are nearly always on the precipice of love and hate for non-protagonist characters, there is an ambiguous moral haze which pervades James's works, and steals away our ability to classify, to count the troops of good and evil. Moral ambiguity may be at its consummate peak in The Wings of the Dove, a book populated by characters which elicit, in turnstile fashion, our censure and sympathy, which are condemned only to be redeemed, and condemned again. With the exception of the fatally ill, angelic, Milly Theale, (and perhaps her duena Susan Shepherd), whom we may only hold her naivete against, no character remains unmarred by human foible - and that is the transcendent beauty of The Wings of the Dove.
Set in the mannered and deeply class-divided Victorian England, the story follows Kate Croy and her lover, Merton Densher: separated by class but passionately in love and still heatedly in lust. Despite Densher's willingness to break with convention and marry the higher-class, though essentially orphaned, Kate, if he did so she would be disinherited by her wealthy aunt-dowager, Maud. When an enigmatic young American woman, Milly, arrives on the scene, connected to Maud through her travel companion Susan, it is discovered that she is the "wealthiest orphan in America" - and also that she is fatally sick. These dual revelations begin the moral descent of many of the money-lusty characters including Lord Mark, a fading noble, and our own Kate Croy. Kate's quick-witted devices which she places upon Milly's money are startling, and reveal her perniciously creative mind. Her gift of morbid certitude is almost reminiscent of Lady Macbeth (and at times, Macbeth himself) in its terrible improvisational tact, and malignant boldness which surpasses conventional expectations of her 'weaker sex'. She devises a plan which sets her secret fiancé to fool the invalid into loving him, and then leaving him her money when she soon passes. Kate's Janus-faced friendship with Milly is chilling, and veiled. While she seems to hold some genuine affection for Milly at the onset of their friendship, it cools to a remote admiration for her unnatural goodness, and is corrupted by Milly's money to a hauntingly composed opportunism - as Kate waits for Milly to die.
Perhap's the book's greatest strength is the transition of perspectives between the three main characters: Kate, Milly, and Merton. In addition to a masterful play of dramatic ironies, in which there is ever the floating question-mark of "who knows what? who knows what who else knows?" - an infinitely recursive self-questioning and hyper-sensitivity to the awareness of others, it also deepens our understandings of all the characters, and confronts our prejudices against them. Merton Densher remains for me one of the most intriguing and frustrating characters in the Jamesian universe. Like his counterpart, Kate, he too hearkens us to Shakespeare's Macbeth in his initial moral reticence, rash complicity, and ultimately trapped feeling of remorse for his transgressions against the innocent and doting Milly. Unlike Macbeth (though undeserving of a comparison to Hamlet), his great flaw is not haste but hesitation:
Set in the mannered and deeply class-divided Victorian England, the story follows Kate Croy and her lover, Merton Densher: separated by class but passionately in love and still heatedly in lust. Despite Densher's willingness to break with convention and marry the higher-class, though essentially orphaned, Kate, if he did so she would be disinherited by her wealthy aunt-dowager, Maud. When an enigmatic young American woman, Milly, arrives on the scene, connected to Maud through her travel companion Susan, it is discovered that she is the "wealthiest orphan in America" - and also that she is fatally sick. These dual revelations begin the moral descent of many of the money-lusty characters including Lord Mark, a fading noble, and our own Kate Croy. Kate's quick-witted devices which she places upon Milly's money are startling, and reveal her perniciously creative mind. Her gift of morbid certitude is almost reminiscent of Lady Macbeth (and at times, Macbeth himself) in its terrible improvisational tact, and malignant boldness which surpasses conventional expectations of her 'weaker sex'. She devises a plan which sets her secret fiancé to fool the invalid into loving him, and then leaving him her money when she soon passes. Kate's Janus-faced friendship with Milly is chilling, and veiled. While she seems to hold some genuine affection for Milly at the onset of their friendship, it cools to a remote admiration for her unnatural goodness, and is corrupted by Milly's money to a hauntingly composed opportunism - as Kate waits for Milly to die.
Perhap's the book's greatest strength is the transition of perspectives between the three main characters: Kate, Milly, and Merton. In addition to a masterful play of dramatic ironies, in which there is ever the floating question-mark of "who knows what? who knows what who else knows?" - an infinitely recursive self-questioning and hyper-sensitivity to the awareness of others, it also deepens our understandings of all the characters, and confronts our prejudices against them. Merton Densher remains for me one of the most intriguing and frustrating characters in the Jamesian universe. Like his counterpart, Kate, he too hearkens us to Shakespeare's Macbeth in his initial moral reticence, rash complicity, and ultimately trapped feeling of remorse for his transgressions against the innocent and doting Milly. Unlike Macbeth (though undeserving of a comparison to Hamlet), his great flaw is not haste but hesitation:
He had thought, no doubt, from the day he was born, much more than he had acted; except indeed that he remembered thoughts--a few of them--which at the moment of their coming to him had thrilled him almost like adventures. But anything like his actual state he had not, as to the prohibition of impulse, accident, range--the prohibition in other words of freedom--hitherto known.What Densher lacks is Macbeth's horrible boldness to follow through, he only half commits and so is at one time less of a villain than Macbeth, but as morally outrageous and self-emasculating. In a book which is overwhelmingly about the illusion of gender, Merton is the only significant male figure, while significantly lacking in conventional masculinity - a trait which is made up for in his stronger half, Kate. The almost epicene quality of Densher is perhaps partially a result of his consort, which is described as a "circle of petticoats." His seeming preference for female company, even platonically, appears to parallel his creator, and may perhaps indicate the ambiguity of a repressed sexual preference. Merton's over-reliance on consideration, and his moral hesitations bring in to question his love for Kate. Does he love her, or does he simply envy her stirring temerity? Left alone with Milly, he is drawn to her subtle bravery and unnatural kindness and generosity - something which he lacks in his life with Kate, but perhaps he is also drawn to her fragility. Milly is the only character who despite her moving strength in character, is reliant on the physical aid of others. Merton's perverted views of love leave the reader unsure of him. He seems to us hopelessly lost. Milly's death brings upon Merton a Jamesian epiphany: an epiphany which shakes his self-understanding and causes him to question his choices, but ultimately is insufficient to change his weak convictions. He is aware of the spoiled happiness he may look forward to married to Kate, he is left aware, not of what he has to gain through Kate, but what he has lost in losing Milly. The moral descent of Kate coincides with the moral ascension of Merton: though he passes up the full potential of his rise. The ending is perhaps one of the most moving I have read, with such a poignancy and fullness of emotion it is shocking:
"Your word of honour that you're not in love with her memory."We are left with the specter of uncertainty - do they get married? We hope not, but we are not left with the knowing petit mort which we feel at the close of The Portrait of a Lady, the conclusion is not forgone, there is time to redeem what one has left of life. The novel what actually written after The Ambassadors, though publishing circumstances delayed the later book's publication, and the ending is reflective of the solemnity of "the life unlived" of Lambert Strether. It is the openness of the ending which sets it apart from some of James's other works. We are saddened to see the dissolution of love, but we question whether what Densher and Kate felt for each other was truly love at all. Kate's love for her father, which seems to transcend situation, is starkly juxtaposed to her love for Merton which seems so dependent on his situation. While Kate descends in our moral estimation of her, it seems that by the end of the novel she reaches her own epiphany, it seems she has learned love from Milly, a thing which before had eluded her. So we are left reservedly heartbroken at the end, for Kate, but also reservedly happy. The friendship of Milly ameliorates both Kate and Densher: she changes them irrevocably for the better. But she changes them completely: they are no longer the compatible couple they once were, the passions are realigned and their love for each other is a mnemenic shadow of their adoration of Milly's goodness - a goodness which they can never reach.
"Oh--her memory!"
"Ah"--she made a high gesture--"don't speak of it as if you couldn't be. I could in your place; and you're one for whom it will do. Her memory's your love. You want no other."
He heard her out in stillness, watching her face but not moving. Then he only said: "I'll marry you, mind you, in an hour."
"As we were?"
"As we were."
But she turned to the door, and her headshake was now the end. "We shall never be again as we were!"
Read
October 14, 2020Oh Henry James! It is the first book which i cannot possibly assign with any stars as it would not reflect my reading experience. It was probably the most hard book to read this year. And it took me ages. It was at the same time frustrating, but addictive experience. It was not the first Henry James I've read. In fact, I've started reading him this year and I loved my experience without reservation until this one. I think the master works for me better in a smaller doses. I absolutely loved his shorter fiction. "Aspern papers", "The Finger in the Carpet", "Private life" or "The Wheel of Time" were fantastic, enigmatic and suspenseful. The Ambassadors was great as well. I thought I got his humour, enjoyed his characters and his attitude towards them. And I did not mind the sentences too much. In fact i enjoyed treating each sentence as a puzzle when i had to.
Here, it got a bit too much. Maybe it is just the time of the year, but I needed to re-read almost every single sentence at least twice. So it took me at least twice to read the book. It would take me around half an hour to settle down in to the reading session. Then, after another half an hour i would find my mind inevitably drifting far away. I would catch myself thinking about anything starting from my school years (very long gone) to what to make for dinner this evening. So i guess i need to be grateful to James that dinner varied more than usual in our household. Anything apart from the book. The beginning was better, and then, when the action or the lack thereof has moved to Venice, in has become more bearable. But the middle was a muddle for me.
However, I've finished a few days ago and I keep thinking about how the novel is constructed, why James was interested in the triangle of the main characters; the role of the supportive cast. Also how he described Venice and London tube for example somehow stuck in my mind. So i cannot say I did not appreciate the novel after all. And I certainly would read more James. It is just i think for me he works better when it is less pages to turn. Especially I know he would leave a lot of stuff out for us to think about anyway and I appreciate it.
I've just found this except from a letter in an old New Yorker's article:
“but one thing of him I know: our language has no artist more serious or austere at this moment. I explain to myself his bewildering style thus: he is attempting the impossible with it—a certain very particular form of the impossible; namely, to produce upon the reader, as a painting produces upon the gazer, a number of superimposed, simultaneous impressions. He would like to put several sentences on top of each other so that you could read them all at once, and get all at once the various shadings and complexities, instead of getting them consecutively as the mechanical nature of his medium compels. This I am sure is the secret of his involved parentheses, his strangely injected adverbs, the whole structure, in short, of his twisted syntax. One grows used to it by persisting. I read ‘The Ambassadors’ twice, and like it amazingly as a prodigy of skill. One other thing of signal importance is a key to his later books. He does not undertake to tell a story but to deal with a situation, a single situation. Beginning (in his scheme) at the center of this situation, he works outward, intricately and exhaustively, spinning his web around every part of the situation, every little necessary part no matter how slight, until he gradually presents to you the organic whole, worked out. You don’t get the organic whole until he wishes you to and that is at the very end. But he never lets the situation go, never digresses for a single instant; and no matter how slow or long his pages may seem as you first read them, when you have at the end grasped the total thing, if you then look back you find that the voluminous texture is woven closely and that every touch bears upon the main issue. I don’t say that if I could I would work like this, or that the situations he chooses to weave into such verbal labyrinth are such as I should care to deal with so minutely and laboriously, even if I had the art to do so; but I do say that judged as only any works of art can ever be judged; viz., by themselves, by what they undertake to do and how thoroughly they do it, Henry James’ later books are the work of a master. . . .”
And, I think it has fully reflected my experience, but in a wonderfully articulate way.
Here, it got a bit too much. Maybe it is just the time of the year, but I needed to re-read almost every single sentence at least twice. So it took me at least twice to read the book. It would take me around half an hour to settle down in to the reading session. Then, after another half an hour i would find my mind inevitably drifting far away. I would catch myself thinking about anything starting from my school years (very long gone) to what to make for dinner this evening. So i guess i need to be grateful to James that dinner varied more than usual in our household. Anything apart from the book. The beginning was better, and then, when the action or the lack thereof has moved to Venice, in has become more bearable. But the middle was a muddle for me.
However, I've finished a few days ago and I keep thinking about how the novel is constructed, why James was interested in the triangle of the main characters; the role of the supportive cast. Also how he described Venice and London tube for example somehow stuck in my mind. So i cannot say I did not appreciate the novel after all. And I certainly would read more James. It is just i think for me he works better when it is less pages to turn. Especially I know he would leave a lot of stuff out for us to think about anyway and I appreciate it.
I've just found this except from a letter in an old New Yorker's article:
“but one thing of him I know: our language has no artist more serious or austere at this moment. I explain to myself his bewildering style thus: he is attempting the impossible with it—a certain very particular form of the impossible; namely, to produce upon the reader, as a painting produces upon the gazer, a number of superimposed, simultaneous impressions. He would like to put several sentences on top of each other so that you could read them all at once, and get all at once the various shadings and complexities, instead of getting them consecutively as the mechanical nature of his medium compels. This I am sure is the secret of his involved parentheses, his strangely injected adverbs, the whole structure, in short, of his twisted syntax. One grows used to it by persisting. I read ‘The Ambassadors’ twice, and like it amazingly as a prodigy of skill. One other thing of signal importance is a key to his later books. He does not undertake to tell a story but to deal with a situation, a single situation. Beginning (in his scheme) at the center of this situation, he works outward, intricately and exhaustively, spinning his web around every part of the situation, every little necessary part no matter how slight, until he gradually presents to you the organic whole, worked out. You don’t get the organic whole until he wishes you to and that is at the very end. But he never lets the situation go, never digresses for a single instant; and no matter how slow or long his pages may seem as you first read them, when you have at the end grasped the total thing, if you then look back you find that the voluminous texture is woven closely and that every touch bears upon the main issue. I don’t say that if I could I would work like this, or that the situations he chooses to weave into such verbal labyrinth are such as I should care to deal with so minutely and laboriously, even if I had the art to do so; but I do say that judged as only any works of art can ever be judged; viz., by themselves, by what they undertake to do and how thoroughly they do it, Henry James’ later books are the work of a master. . . .”
And, I think it has fully reflected my experience, but in a wonderfully articulate way.
Shelved as 'dropped'
July 27, 2021The extent to which one might absorb the vaunted aestheticism of this novel, and the extent to which one might, when lazing long on a chaise longue in the privacy of consistency of constancy, scrabble up every cumulatively confused sentence; in fact, the extent to which one properly limns a sentence, and tolerates the sentence art of the sentence involving words replaced wrongs in orders; the extent within one to manoeuvre around semicolonised thickets of tangent approaching barely anything nearwards lucency; the extent to which the reader wishes to receive microscopic spirals of every character’s every utterance or action, allowing them the merest flicker to express themselves in dialogue; the extent to which one’s tolerance for utterly infuriatingly unending and increasingly impossible to parse sentences of bone-shudderingly irritating and beyond pompous longer-than-long-winded windbaggery, is the extent to which one’s calmly tolerance in the expectant face of this novel’s densest matter tolerated can be, and will only be by inverse proportion to the reader’s delusional arrogance, for the sake of really having said one’s aesthetic appreciation of the sheer unparalleled artistry of the Late James is among the finest examples of prose the English language has; to offer. [Read up to p.190]
March 26, 2009
Henry James is infuriating. His evasiveness is infuriating. His endless digressions, clause upon clause, are infuriating. Deciphering the text requires so much concentration, you'll ultimately feel that, rather than experiencing the story, you're floating along above it. He reinforces that impression in often forsaking description for reflective analysis. In effect, even that which isn't "spoken" somehow feels spoken. -- But don't let any of that dissuade you.
This is a work of genius. Henry James creates in this novel captivating characters, beauty, symmetry, and a dramatic series of events that is yet masterfully character driven. He loves the written word and that radiates from every page.
But, oh bother! Never mind about all that either. This book is personal to me.
This is a work of genius. Henry James creates in this novel captivating characters, beauty, symmetry, and a dramatic series of events that is yet masterfully character driven. He loves the written word and that radiates from every page.
But, oh bother! Never mind about all that either. This book is personal to me.
January 20, 2024
Modern Library 100 Best Novels
(26/100)
4.5 stars
One of my biggest fears in life is to be deceived by a friend. A person who is supposed to be true and honest, but, on the contrary, who lies to you in order to get something from you. In The Wings of the Dove, Milly Theale—a young, rich American woman visiting Europe—is alone in the world (no family, and no friends except(?) for Mrs. Stringham), and sadly has the misfortune of meeting selfish, vain people who are only worried about themselves. So, having received bad and sad news, our protagonist* will have to choose carefully her friends, if she can, and survive in a society which is not necessarily sincere or loyal.
With a superb narrative, long paragraphs—whose length, by the way, might be considered a negative aspect for some readers—that are delightful to read, very well developed characters and a story which explores the psychology of each of them (Henry James introduces us in the mind of each character so that we can know what they are feeling, thinking, perceiving, and so on and so forth), we have a masterpiece here. A novel which is difficult to read due to its writing style, yet I highly recommend**, and whose story I would describe as a combination of early Modernism with hints of Victorian literature.
——
* The more I read, the more I realized that Milly was probably not the protagonist of her own story. Once I finished the book, I was not and I am still not sure about it.
** If you have never read any Henry James before, please don’t start with this book. It is tedious, quite dense and confusing, even though I enjoyed it quite a bit. In that case, I'd recommend Washington Square as your first attempt, my favorite James novel so far, and the easiest, yet most enjoyable to read in my opinion.
Favorite quotes:
"Yes, get me an hour alone; take them off—I don't care where; absorb, amuse, detain them; drown them, kill them if you will: so that I may just a little, all by myself, see where I am." (This is my favorite quote over the other ones since it describes perfectly and accurately the essence of this book)
"It was wonderful to her, while she took her random course, that these quantities felt so equal: she had been treated—hadn't she?—as if it were in her power to live; and yet one wasn't treated so—was one?—unless it came up, quite as much, that one might die."
"Strange were the turns of life and the moods of weakness; strange the flickers of fancy and the cheats of hope; yet lawful, all the same—weren't they?—those experiments tried with the truth that consisted, at the worst, but in practising on one's self."
"Milly was indeed a dove; this was the figure, though it most applied to her spirit."
4.5 stars
One of my biggest fears in life is to be deceived by a friend. A person who is supposed to be true and honest, but, on the contrary, who lies to you in order to get something from you. In The Wings of the Dove, Milly Theale—a young, rich American woman visiting Europe—is alone in the world (no family, and no friends except(?) for Mrs. Stringham), and sadly has the misfortune of meeting selfish, vain people who are only worried about themselves. So, having received bad and sad news, our protagonist* will have to choose carefully her friends, if she can, and survive in a society which is not necessarily sincere or loyal.
With a superb narrative, long paragraphs—whose length, by the way, might be considered a negative aspect for some readers—that are delightful to read, very well developed characters and a story which explores the psychology of each of them (Henry James introduces us in the mind of each character so that we can know what they are feeling, thinking, perceiving, and so on and so forth), we have a masterpiece here. A novel which is difficult to read due to its writing style, yet I highly recommend**, and whose story I would describe as a combination of early Modernism with hints of Victorian literature.
——
* The more I read, the more I realized that Milly was probably not the protagonist of her own story. Once I finished the book, I was not and I am still not sure about it.
** If you have never read any Henry James before, please don’t start with this book. It is tedious, quite dense and confusing, even though I enjoyed it quite a bit. In that case, I'd recommend Washington Square as your first attempt, my favorite James novel so far, and the easiest, yet most enjoyable to read in my opinion.
Favorite quotes:
"Yes, get me an hour alone; take them off—I don't care where; absorb, amuse, detain them; drown them, kill them if you will: so that I may just a little, all by myself, see where I am." (This is my favorite quote over the other ones since it describes perfectly and accurately the essence of this book)
"It was wonderful to her, while she took her random course, that these quantities felt so equal: she had been treated—hadn't she?—as if it were in her power to live; and yet one wasn't treated so—was one?—unless it came up, quite as much, that one might die."
"Strange were the turns of life and the moods of weakness; strange the flickers of fancy and the cheats of hope; yet lawful, all the same—weren't they?—those experiments tried with the truth that consisted, at the worst, but in practising on one's self."
"Milly was indeed a dove; this was the figure, though it most applied to her spirit."
December 30, 2015
Henry James has beautiful people inside of his head, if only his verbal diarrhea didn't get in the way. Dear Jesus, I wish he knew how to write a short sentence.
May 24, 2015
This is an extermely rewarding book, though James makes the reader work for it, to be sure. There is the general opacity of his writing (-- though never nearly so difficult as report tells of it --); the often maddening (but, no doubt, deliberate) ambiguity of his pronouns; the artificiality of much of the dialogue AND of the behavior and sentiments of the coddled rich -- especially the central plateau of the book, some 200+ pages in the center, where nothing seems to be happening -- the dead zone... - before the shift to Venice....
But allowing for all that, this is nonetheless a masterpiece, a character AND plot-driven story that touches on the tautest of emotional nerves.
It is moving..., it is harrowing..., it is deep.
In other words, James repays the reader for his efforts in multiples.
But allowing for all that, this is nonetheless a masterpiece, a character AND plot-driven story that touches on the tautest of emotional nerves.
It is moving..., it is harrowing..., it is deep.
In other words, James repays the reader for his efforts in multiples.
November 30, 2023
Poate ca este bizar sau de necrezut faptul ca poti sa te regasesti si sa te indragostesti de scrierile unui autor care a trait acum mai bine de 150 de ani. Mi-ar fi placut ca valorile sale sa fi fost valabile si in vremurile noastre iar societatea de azi sa fie ca cea de atunci.
"Aripile porumbitei" reprezinta o lectura dificila, aici mai pregnant decat in oricare opera de-a sa, se regaseste 'fraza Jamesiana', alambicata, incarcata, complexa. Romanul necesita foarte multa atentie si concentrare din partea cititorului, acesta trebuind sa se lupte cu propozitiile, cu intelesul lor, cu incarcatura pe care o propun si sa nu se dea batut. Desigur ca este mai usor sa renunti, sa dai o stea si sa folosesti "al 5-lea Amendament al lumii moderne: e parerea mea". Eu as zice in acest caz ca "e pierderea mea".
Ca intriga, avem un trio curios alcatuit din Kate Croy si Merton Densher, doi iubiti saraci care o intalnesc pe "porumbita" Milly, o bogata mostenitoare insa foarte grav bolnava. Kate decide sa renunte la logodnicul sau in favoarea lui Milly pentru ca aceasta sa aiba un motiv de a trai, de a lupta pentru viata ei si pentru barbatul pe care-l iubeste. Pe de alta parte, gestul poate fi interpretat si ca fiind izvorat din interesul pentru bani.
Pe langa subiectele complexe cum ar fi diferite fatete ale moralitatii, ale binelui si raului si ce e cinstit si onorabil sau cum sa ai un mod de viata demn, am regasit si una dintre cele mai frumoase declaratii de dragoste rostite de Kate lui Merton: "Si iti incredintez - Domnul mi-e martor! - fiecare scanteie a sperantei mele; iti daruiesc fiecare strop al vietii mele."
Am selectat mai multe citate pentru ca un asemenea text, de o asemenea frumusete si genialitate trebuie lasat sa vorbeasca de la sine si orice as spune eu ar fi mult prea putin:
"Incerca sa fie trista pentru ca sa nu fie manioasa; dar se manie fiindca nu putea fi trista."
"Inconvenientul [...] nu era ca o indispunea tot ceea ce era fals, ci ca ii scapa ceea ce era adevarat."
"El daduse intotdeauna impresia [...] ca umbla in varful picioarelor, cu voiosie parca, in prezenta jignirii."
"Daca e atat de usor sa ne maritam cu barbati care nu vor decat sa le cheltuim banii, ma mir ca mai stam pe ganduri."
"Nu sunt plamadit din acel romantism care se poarta, se spala, care supravietuieste uzurii si rezista familiaritatii."
"Cand Milly zambea era un eveniment public - cand nu zambea, era un capitol de istorie."
"Dar ea e o idealista, [...] iar idealistii pana la urma, dupa parerea mea, nu simt ca pierd."
"Sunteti blase, dar nu si luminat. Totul va este cunoscut, dar in fond nu sunteti sensibil la nimic. Vreau sa spun ca nu aveti imaginatie."
"Femeile pe care le intalnesc - ce altceva sunt ele decat carti pe care le-am citit deja? Tu esti o intreaga biblioteca a necunoscutului, a filelor netaiate."
"Aripile porumbitei" reprezinta o lectura dificila, aici mai pregnant decat in oricare opera de-a sa, se regaseste 'fraza Jamesiana', alambicata, incarcata, complexa. Romanul necesita foarte multa atentie si concentrare din partea cititorului, acesta trebuind sa se lupte cu propozitiile, cu intelesul lor, cu incarcatura pe care o propun si sa nu se dea batut. Desigur ca este mai usor sa renunti, sa dai o stea si sa folosesti "al 5-lea Amendament al lumii moderne: e parerea mea". Eu as zice in acest caz ca "e pierderea mea".
Ca intriga, avem un trio curios alcatuit din Kate Croy si Merton Densher, doi iubiti saraci care o intalnesc pe "porumbita" Milly, o bogata mostenitoare insa foarte grav bolnava. Kate decide sa renunte la logodnicul sau in favoarea lui Milly pentru ca aceasta sa aiba un motiv de a trai, de a lupta pentru viata ei si pentru barbatul pe care-l iubeste. Pe de alta parte, gestul poate fi interpretat si ca fiind izvorat din interesul pentru bani.
Pe langa subiectele complexe cum ar fi diferite fatete ale moralitatii, ale binelui si raului si ce e cinstit si onorabil sau cum sa ai un mod de viata demn, am regasit si una dintre cele mai frumoase declaratii de dragoste rostite de Kate lui Merton: "Si iti incredintez - Domnul mi-e martor! - fiecare scanteie a sperantei mele; iti daruiesc fiecare strop al vietii mele."
Am selectat mai multe citate pentru ca un asemenea text, de o asemenea frumusete si genialitate trebuie lasat sa vorbeasca de la sine si orice as spune eu ar fi mult prea putin:
"Incerca sa fie trista pentru ca sa nu fie manioasa; dar se manie fiindca nu putea fi trista."
"Inconvenientul [...] nu era ca o indispunea tot ceea ce era fals, ci ca ii scapa ceea ce era adevarat."
"El daduse intotdeauna impresia [...] ca umbla in varful picioarelor, cu voiosie parca, in prezenta jignirii."
"Daca e atat de usor sa ne maritam cu barbati care nu vor decat sa le cheltuim banii, ma mir ca mai stam pe ganduri."
"Nu sunt plamadit din acel romantism care se poarta, se spala, care supravietuieste uzurii si rezista familiaritatii."
"Cand Milly zambea era un eveniment public - cand nu zambea, era un capitol de istorie."
"Dar ea e o idealista, [...] iar idealistii pana la urma, dupa parerea mea, nu simt ca pierd."
"Sunteti blase, dar nu si luminat. Totul va este cunoscut, dar in fond nu sunteti sensibil la nimic. Vreau sa spun ca nu aveti imaginatie."
"Femeile pe care le intalnesc - ce altceva sunt ele decat carti pe care le-am citit deja? Tu esti o intreaga biblioteca a necunoscutului, a filelor netaiate."
April 13, 2021
Quasi Proust prima di Proust
Capolavoro della piena maturità di H. James, "Le ali della colomba" (1902) ha quella freschezza e levità evocate dal titolo stesso : "le colombe possiedono ali e voli meravigliosi (...). Ali siffatte in determinati casi potevano (...) aprirsi a protezione" .
Un romanzo che si dispiega come una sinfonia; una scrittura che scorre lenta con l'intensa leggerezza della musica.
Protagonista è Milly Theale, nome che evoca quello dell'amata cugina dell'autore, Minny Temple, fonte d'ispirazione di questo personaggio come già per l'Isabel di "Ritratto di signora".
Milly è una giovane ereditiera americana in viaggio per l'Europa.
"Era sontuoso, romantico, abissale possedere (...) migliaia di dollari di rendita, Possedere giovinezza e intelligenza e, se non la bellezza, almeno, in egual misura, un'intensa, oscura, affascinante ambigua originalità (che era anche meglio) e (...) godere di una libertà illimitata, la libertà del vento nel deserto" .
La ragazza ha la leggiadria di altre giovani figure femminili delineate dall'autore. Ma qui Milly emana un fascino particolare cui nessuno pare sottrarsi. Una brezza primaverile sembra sospingerla, da farne una novecentesca botticelliana Allegoria della Primavera.
Lasciarsi cullare dall'elegante scrittura -un preludio a Proust- con la sensazione di essere al cospetto della Bellezza, m'è parso un privilegio di cui essere grati.
E c'è Londra coi suoi parchi e musei.
Poi Venezia nei bagliori autunnali, fra luci e ombre, luminosità dorate e gondole nere.
Capolavoro della piena maturità di H. James, "Le ali della colomba" (1902) ha quella freschezza e levità evocate dal titolo stesso : "le colombe possiedono ali e voli meravigliosi (...). Ali siffatte in determinati casi potevano (...) aprirsi a protezione" .
Un romanzo che si dispiega come una sinfonia; una scrittura che scorre lenta con l'intensa leggerezza della musica.
Protagonista è Milly Theale, nome che evoca quello dell'amata cugina dell'autore, Minny Temple, fonte d'ispirazione di questo personaggio come già per l'Isabel di "Ritratto di signora".
Milly è una giovane ereditiera americana in viaggio per l'Europa.
"Era sontuoso, romantico, abissale possedere (...) migliaia di dollari di rendita, Possedere giovinezza e intelligenza e, se non la bellezza, almeno, in egual misura, un'intensa, oscura, affascinante ambigua originalità (che era anche meglio) e (...) godere di una libertà illimitata, la libertà del vento nel deserto" .
La ragazza ha la leggiadria di altre giovani figure femminili delineate dall'autore. Ma qui Milly emana un fascino particolare cui nessuno pare sottrarsi. Una brezza primaverile sembra sospingerla, da farne una novecentesca botticelliana Allegoria della Primavera.
Lasciarsi cullare dall'elegante scrittura -un preludio a Proust- con la sensazione di essere al cospetto della Bellezza, m'è parso un privilegio di cui essere grati.
E c'è Londra coi suoi parchi e musei.
Poi Venezia nei bagliori autunnali, fra luci e ombre, luminosità dorate e gondole nere.
November 7, 2021
“… by a singular law their tone--he scarce knew what to call it--had never been so bland.”
Now I know why so many people hate Henry James. How sad if the only book of his you’ve read is this one! It’s … awful.
Far be it from me to argue with Henry James. I’ve enjoyed many of his other works. But really, Henry, did you need the first 300 pages of this one? They were painful, Henry. With little lustrous glimpses of beauty, but for the most part p-a-i-n-f-u-l. That’s me, getting right to the point, something you could have maybe considered?
I have never read anything that so evaded any sort of point. And, what made it worse--so much worse--was that page after page after page James tells and tells and tells and tells. Every once in a while he shows something, and it can be beautiful because he is so talented. But whatever made him think people could sit and read page after page of his musing about these characters? We want them, not you, Henry. And the characters in this story were missing in action for most of the book.
I realize I haven’t said a thing yet about the story. All you need to know is, from the first page to the last, it’s a story of deception, hidden by verbosity, told through innuendo, resulting in ambiguity. If you like that sort of thing, have at it.
I worked hard at this one. Much harder than maybe I ever work at reading a book. My past experience with James gave me the hope that it would be worth it. It wasn’t.
Two positive thoughts I’ll end with. One, I bet the film is an improvement, and look forward to checking it out. Two, I read this with GR friends who tried as hard as I did, and though I didn’t get much from the author, I appreciate the insights I gained from them.
Now I know why so many people hate Henry James. How sad if the only book of his you’ve read is this one! It’s … awful.
Far be it from me to argue with Henry James. I’ve enjoyed many of his other works. But really, Henry, did you need the first 300 pages of this one? They were painful, Henry. With little lustrous glimpses of beauty, but for the most part p-a-i-n-f-u-l. That’s me, getting right to the point, something you could have maybe considered?
I have never read anything that so evaded any sort of point. And, what made it worse--so much worse--was that page after page after page James tells and tells and tells and tells. Every once in a while he shows something, and it can be beautiful because he is so talented. But whatever made him think people could sit and read page after page of his musing about these characters? We want them, not you, Henry. And the characters in this story were missing in action for most of the book.
I realize I haven’t said a thing yet about the story. All you need to know is, from the first page to the last, it’s a story of deception, hidden by verbosity, told through innuendo, resulting in ambiguity. If you like that sort of thing, have at it.
I worked hard at this one. Much harder than maybe I ever work at reading a book. My past experience with James gave me the hope that it would be worth it. It wasn’t.
Two positive thoughts I’ll end with. One, I bet the film is an improvement, and look forward to checking it out. Two, I read this with GR friends who tried as hard as I did, and though I didn’t get much from the author, I appreciate the insights I gained from them.
September 19, 2017
4.5 stars
'How do you know,' she asked in reply to this, 'what I'm capable of?'
One of James' most notoriously 'difficult' novels, this is a tour de force of intrigue, deception, lies, conscience, love and money. In many ways, it's a return to the eroticised economic triangle of The Portrait of a Lady, but this time it's the European lovers with whom we're most aligned, complicating our responses to, and negotiation through, the book.
In lots of ways there's more 'action' than in many of James' novels, but the real dynamic is that between characters, and within the conscience of individuals especially, perhaps, Merton Densher, the man around whom so many women circulate, albeit for different reasons. Passionately in love with the magnificent Kate Croy (surely one of the great modernist heroines/anti-heroines?), Densher allows himself to be beguiled into a relationship with the young, fabulously-wealthy, and ailing Millie Theale, the 'dove' of the title. Like Isabel Archer before her, Milly has an American innocence that clashes with the guile of her European friends, and her desire to live becomes the quest around which so much of the book revolves.
Make no mistake, James' prose is at its most labyrinthine and Latinate in this book, occasionally tipping over into obscurity - it forces us to read slowly both for syntactical reasons but also to unweave the complex, sometimes contradictory, psychological impulses and nuances of the characters and their conversations. The dialogue, particularly, is tremendous, and the 'big' scenes, especially those between Kate and Merton, are exemplary of James' deep interest in the inner workings of personal psychology.
This is also (and I'm aware of the oddness of associating this word with James) a deeply erotic novel, but a kind of underground, dark, secret form of eroticism that helps to mark this as a modernist work rather than a Victorian hangover.
I've docked half a star because there are places where it's nigh on impossible to make sense of what James is getting at - but overall a stunningly complex, thrilling, breathtaking drama that refuses closure but remains satisfying.
'How do you know,' she asked in reply to this, 'what I'm capable of?'
One of James' most notoriously 'difficult' novels, this is a tour de force of intrigue, deception, lies, conscience, love and money. In many ways, it's a return to the eroticised economic triangle of The Portrait of a Lady, but this time it's the European lovers with whom we're most aligned, complicating our responses to, and negotiation through, the book.
In lots of ways there's more 'action' than in many of James' novels, but the real dynamic is that between characters, and within the conscience of individuals especially, perhaps, Merton Densher, the man around whom so many women circulate, albeit for different reasons. Passionately in love with the magnificent Kate Croy (surely one of the great modernist heroines/anti-heroines?), Densher allows himself to be beguiled into a relationship with the young, fabulously-wealthy, and ailing Millie Theale, the 'dove' of the title. Like Isabel Archer before her, Milly has an American innocence that clashes with the guile of her European friends, and her desire to live becomes the quest around which so much of the book revolves.
Make no mistake, James' prose is at its most labyrinthine and Latinate in this book, occasionally tipping over into obscurity - it forces us to read slowly both for syntactical reasons but also to unweave the complex, sometimes contradictory, psychological impulses and nuances of the characters and their conversations. The dialogue, particularly, is tremendous, and the 'big' scenes, especially those between Kate and Merton, are exemplary of James' deep interest in the inner workings of personal psychology.
This is also (and I'm aware of the oddness of associating this word with James) a deeply erotic novel, but a kind of underground, dark, secret form of eroticism that helps to mark this as a modernist work rather than a Victorian hangover.
I've docked half a star because there are places where it's nigh on impossible to make sense of what James is getting at - but overall a stunningly complex, thrilling, breathtaking drama that refuses closure but remains satisfying.
February 11, 2008
I swear I will read Henry James before I die. It might take that long for me to finish this book, considering I have to read each sentence at least 3 times.
2/9/08 Just picked it back up from the library. Renewed twice and still only got to page 308.
2/10/08 Could he be any more verbose?
2/11/08 On page 375, and finally something is starting to happen. The man is a master of motive and character study, once you can figure out what he's actually saying.
2/18/08 I'm down with the system, and this book is no longer so difficult to read. The pattern seems to be a few pages of character's developing thought, reasoning, and analysis of events, then finally arriving at the character's perspective. Then several pages of dialog to back it up.
Once you get it, it's fascinating. It's the Victorian Age, and the characters are as repressed as it gets, which explains why everything is almost painfully understated. In one sense, the book reads like pages of Victorian gossip. In lesser hands, the plot would read like a bad soap opera. I find myself racing to the end to find out how it all turns out. This book has been well worth the perseverance.
2/24/08 Finished the book. It's juicy to the last sentence.
2/9/08 Just picked it back up from the library. Renewed twice and still only got to page 308.
2/10/08 Could he be any more verbose?
2/11/08 On page 375, and finally something is starting to happen. The man is a master of motive and character study, once you can figure out what he's actually saying.
2/18/08 I'm down with the system, and this book is no longer so difficult to read. The pattern seems to be a few pages of character's developing thought, reasoning, and analysis of events, then finally arriving at the character's perspective. Then several pages of dialog to back it up.
Once you get it, it's fascinating. It's the Victorian Age, and the characters are as repressed as it gets, which explains why everything is almost painfully understated. In one sense, the book reads like pages of Victorian gossip. In lesser hands, the plot would read like a bad soap opera. I find myself racing to the end to find out how it all turns out. This book has been well worth the perseverance.
2/24/08 Finished the book. It's juicy to the last sentence.
June 11, 2024
I am writing this review in 2023, recalling myself as a high school student who savored this Henry James masterpiece.
I fell in love with the 1997 film, directed by Iain Softley and starring Helena Bonham Carter in a career-best and Academy Award nominated performance as Kate. I had a huge crush on the brooding and sexy Linus Roache as Merton. I loved and wanted to hang out with Milly played with empathy by Alison Elliott. Then there was the supporting cast of Michael Gambon as Mr. Croy, and Charlotte Rampling as the cold, conniving Aunt Maude.
Plus with gorgeous costumes designed by Sandy Powell, and one of the most haunting soundtracks ever composed by Edward Shearmur, I inhaled this novel. It was also during my period piece phase of my young gay life- and anything that revolved around women in gorgeous dresses, parties, and romantic intrigue- I was a sucker for all of it.
Helena Bonham Carter was the Queen of the period piece at this moment in her career, and it wasn't just starring in Merchant/Ivory films.
I still think her performance is one of the most nuanced and complicated portrayals I have ever seen. She should've won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1997.
The book, from what I remember is set in 1902 versus the film's 1910 date. Kate was a villainous, coldly pragmatic woman who manipulates both Milly and Merton; and the choices they all make lead to chilling tragedy.
What I remember was feeling a lot of empathy for all the characters, probably influenced by the movie- although I've read that Ms. Bonham Carter's portrayal was more shaded and sympathetic than her literary counterpart. Nevertheless, I am willing to give this one a go once more- after chipping away at so many more books in the canon that I have yet to even begin reading.
There's The Bostonians, The Golden Bowl, and The Turn of the Screw that are waiting to be read.
I fell in love with the 1997 film, directed by Iain Softley and starring Helena Bonham Carter in a career-best and Academy Award nominated performance as Kate. I had a huge crush on the brooding and sexy Linus Roache as Merton. I loved and wanted to hang out with Milly played with empathy by Alison Elliott. Then there was the supporting cast of Michael Gambon as Mr. Croy, and Charlotte Rampling as the cold, conniving Aunt Maude.
Plus with gorgeous costumes designed by Sandy Powell, and one of the most haunting soundtracks ever composed by Edward Shearmur, I inhaled this novel. It was also during my period piece phase of my young gay life- and anything that revolved around women in gorgeous dresses, parties, and romantic intrigue- I was a sucker for all of it.
Helena Bonham Carter was the Queen of the period piece at this moment in her career, and it wasn't just starring in Merchant/Ivory films.
I still think her performance is one of the most nuanced and complicated portrayals I have ever seen. She should've won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1997.
The book, from what I remember is set in 1902 versus the film's 1910 date. Kate was a villainous, coldly pragmatic woman who manipulates both Milly and Merton; and the choices they all make lead to chilling tragedy.
What I remember was feeling a lot of empathy for all the characters, probably influenced by the movie- although I've read that Ms. Bonham Carter's portrayal was more shaded and sympathetic than her literary counterpart. Nevertheless, I am willing to give this one a go once more- after chipping away at so many more books in the canon that I have yet to even begin reading.
There's The Bostonians, The Golden Bowl, and The Turn of the Screw that are waiting to be read.
January 14, 2024
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2023...
"-¿No estará pensando en marcharse?
- ¿Es no moverse lo mismo que marcharse?"
Me llamó mucho la atención este momento en uno de los pocos diálogos de esta novela porque a mi entender define tan bien la acción en las novelas de Henry James, y concretamente en ésta donde la trama es nimia y aparentemente no pasa nada y sin embargo, Henry James monta una novela de más de 500 páginas en la que prácticamente toda ella está basada en juegos mentales entre tres personajes. No hay una trama visible a simple vista, pero si hay tiempos de espera, plazos, y mucho silencios que quizás expresen más que cualquier conversación de varias páginas, unos silencios donde campa a sus anchas la conciencia de cada uno de sus personajes principales. En este No Moverse que es como un Haberse Marchado del personaje de Merton Densher, que puede describir una pasividad externa, Densher está esperando algo que se va a producir (los mecanismos ya se han puesto en marcha según nos ha contado Henry James) pero mientras espera, es como si no existiera y se hubiera marchado ya, porque resulta totalmente invisible si no hay movimiento ¿es ese no moverse una ausencia de acción en la trama? Es un dato engañoso, el lector sabe que hay acción (psicológica) pero que está hilada muy sutilmente por Henry James a través de los diferentes puntos de vista. La salsa en las novelas de James no está tanto en la historia general (que puede espantar por lo sosa) sino en los pequeños acontecimientos que se producen en la mente de sus personajes y que activan un mecanismo de relojería perfectamente engranado que consigue sobre todo que el lector se implique sobre todo en la conciencia de cada uno de los personaje más que en el acontecimiento más general porque Henry James no revela nada: es a través de este bucear en las conciencias de sus personajes, dónde el lector se identificará porque son planteamientos universales, morales, éticos, emocionales que siguen siendo dilemas eternos de la esencia del ser humano.
"Desde muy pronto les había quedado muy claro que, aunque tuviesen vedada cualquier otra vía directa, al menos se abría ante ellos el dominio del pensamiento.
El efecto era que lo que decían cuando no estaban juntos les parecía insípido y nada contribuía más a aislarlos..."
Pongamos un ejemplo, Kate Croy y Merton Densher están enamorados, pero no tienen dinero, o por lo menos, en la mentalidad de Kate le resulta imposible casarse con un muerto de hambre por mucho que lo adorara, por lo que se ven en secreto, se comprometen en secreto, en un intento por calmar la presión social familiar de Kate a la que quieren casar con un hombre de posición. Poco después ambos conocen a la americana y forradísima Milly Theale, que a pesar de su perfección, tiene una enfermedad a la que no le queda mucho de vida. Kate Croy decide montar una conspiración en torno a una idea que se ha formado en su cabeza: Merton seducirá y se casará con Milly porque en un futuro no muy lejano se hará con la fortuna de Milly, y ella Kate, ya podrá liberarse de esta pobreza y al mismo tiempo casarse con el hombre que ama. Es cierto que en un principio puede parecer un culebrón (aunque no decimonónico porque fue publicada en 1902), pero nada más lejos de las apariencias porque es una novela de Henry James, que es un autor que ya en aquella época estaba sentando las bases del modernismo, aunque igual no fuera esa su intención. Experimentando con el lenguaje y con los puntos de vista, novelas como ésta en particular, se convierten en análisis no solo psicológicos de la sociedad del momento, sino de unos temas que le interesaban especialmente: el dinero, Estados Unidos frente a Europa, lo nuevo frente a lo viejo, y esa moralina tan enquistada y que a través de sus personajes se ocupará de desenmascarar.
"Hubo un momento en el que, aunque sus ojos siguieron pendientes del espejo, se quedó visiblemente ensimismada, pensando en el modo en que podría haber cambiado las cosas de haber nacido hombre."
Kate Croy manipula y controla a Merton Densher con la excusa del amor y de una felicidad futura firmemente asentada en el dinero y a priori y leyendo esto la podríamos considerar una perfecta femme fatale que usa y abusa tanto de Milly como de Merton para su beneficio, pero vuelvo a decir que no todo es tan fácil en una novela de Henry James. Divide la novela en varias partes, cada una de ellas variando el punto de vista de sus personajes, y lo empieza con el punto de vista de Kate contando la historia de su vida a través de ella misma, de su conciencia. Sus dificultades financieras, y de por qué necesita ascender socialmente para ayudar a una familia con problemas económicos: “Estoy, en eso tienes razon, sobre el mostrador, cuando no en el escaparate; y me expone comercialmente según su conveniencia: es la esencia de mi situación y el precio de la protección de mi tía.” . De sopetón cuando comienza la novela la conoceremos desde su conciencia más íntima, así que cuando más adelante en la novela, se plantea esta conspiración, Kate no será simplemente una mujer mala y controladora, sino que Henry James la ha imbuido de matices, los matices de la vida. Kate será un personaje lleno de recovecos “Las mujeres que conoce uno ¿qué son sino libros que ya ha leído? Tú eres una biblioteca de libros intensos y desconocidos.”, y tal como piensa, el no haber nacido hombre, la hará tener que inventar estrategias para la supervivencia. En este aspecto, me tiene fascinada la generosidad de un autor como Henry James a la hora de dar espacio a un personaje femenino como el de Kate Croy, la presión por asegurarse una posición, la enfrenta a decidir tomar las riendas de su vida, con lo cual convierte toda la historia en toda una conspiración para conseguir un fin.
"- Está usted harto, pero no es sabio. Está familiarizado con todo, pero en realidad no es consciente de nada. Le falta imaginación."
En esta novela no es únicamente la perspectiva de Kate Croy la que prima, la gran antiheroína, sino que tendremos la perspectiva de Milly Thread, que está justo en las antipodas en cuanto a mentalidad de Kate: “Podía decirse que Milly era lanzada, pero no avanzada, mientras que Kate era tímida, incluso en comparación, para ser inglesa, y no obstante, muy avanzada.”, y Henry James construye entre ambas mujeres toda una gama de matices sobre todo en torno a la manipulación, la amistad y el dinero. El dinero es al fin y al cabo la base en la que se concentra esta manipulación, el fin, y Milly lo tiene de sobra. Henry James está exponiendo continuamente este conflicto en torno al dinero: era un horror hablar de dinero, y casi un horror tener que trabajar para adquirirlo, y sin embargo, era absolutamente necesario tenerlo para tener una asegurada posición social. El objetivo de Kate es este dinero y para ello usará a esta sociedad para conseguirlo, incluyendo a Merton.:
“Pero ¡qué explicita había que ser con los hombres! Kate podría haber hablado largo y tendido sobre eso.”
Aparentemente en estas páginas en las que no pasa nada, en las que parece que no hay acción, lo que estamos es conociendo a unos personajes y sus hábitos mentales, su forma de pensar y estos recovecos estilisticos de Henry James son imprescindibles para llegar a la esencia. El lector comprenderá y entenderá perfectamente las decisiones que se verán obligados a tomar a medida que la situación vaya cambiando y que se irá viendo sobre todo en el personaje de Merton Densher, quizás el más pasivo debido a que seguira ciegamente las instrucciones de Kate en aras de su amor "- Pero nunca hablé de ella con nadie....Y ¿no demuestra a menudo el silencio en esos casos lo profundo de la impresión?” , y sin embargo, también es fascinante comprobar como Merton va cambiando y va tomando decisiones. Ese No Moverse, del que hablaba al principio de esta reseña, es pura acción psicológica porque es un momento en el que Merton Densher se lo estaba cuestionando todo.
"Qué raras eran las vueltas de la vida y los caprichos de la debilidad; qué raras las vacilaciones de la fantasía y los engaños de la esperanza; pero, a pesar de todo, esos experimentos con la verdad que consistían, en el peor de los casos, en engañarse a una misma eran legitimos...¿no?"
“Las Alas de la paloma” era una novela que no iba a reseñar porque es tanto lo que Henry James expone aquí sobre nosotros mismos, sobre las decisiones vitales, sobre la vida misma y sus infinitos matices, que me veía incapaz. Pero luego pensé que era imposible no hacer aunque fuera un breve comentario sobre una novela que me ha impactado por lo que supone de revolución personal y de cambio de sus personajes, por ejemplo, la revolución interior que sufre Merton Densher al final de la novela: "Si Densher era interesante era porque era infeliz; y si era infeliz era porque su pasión por Kate se consumía en vano”. Le comentaba a una amiga mientras leía la novela en broma, que todos estos personajes jamesianos eternamente ociosos, viviendo de las rentas sin la necesidad levantarse a las seis de la mañana para ir a trabajar y ganarse el pan, tenían todo el tiempo del mundo para idear, conspirar y repensar sin moverse del salón de su casa. Me contestó que era el mundo de Henry James y que la vida no había cambiado tanto porque seguimos analizando y cuestionando aunque igual mucho más superficialmente. Y es totalmente cierto, el mundo no ha cambiado tanto, salvo que ahora quizás no hay tanto tiempo para profundizar como en la época de Henry James. En definitiva, una novela colosal, lenta, pausada y llena de recovecos donde la visión irónica que tenía Henry James de la vida nos hace ser más conscientes que nunca de que el mundo ideal que podriamos haber construido en nuestra mente se da de bruces con la realidad.
“Densher recordó lo que se había dicho en casa de la señora Lowder sobre las etapas y fases en la vida de las personas que se pierde uno por la ausencia, y en la frecuente sensación derivada de encontrarlas cambiadas. “
♫♫♫ "Me Voy"- Cat Power ♫♫♫
Trilogía Final (Acción y silencios)
#1 Los Embajadores
#2 Las alas de la paloma
#3 La copa dorada
"-¿No estará pensando en marcharse?
- ¿Es no moverse lo mismo que marcharse?"
Me llamó mucho la atención este momento en uno de los pocos diálogos de esta novela porque a mi entender define tan bien la acción en las novelas de Henry James, y concretamente en ésta donde la trama es nimia y aparentemente no pasa nada y sin embargo, Henry James monta una novela de más de 500 páginas en la que prácticamente toda ella está basada en juegos mentales entre tres personajes. No hay una trama visible a simple vista, pero si hay tiempos de espera, plazos, y mucho silencios que quizás expresen más que cualquier conversación de varias páginas, unos silencios donde campa a sus anchas la conciencia de cada uno de sus personajes principales. En este No Moverse que es como un Haberse Marchado del personaje de Merton Densher, que puede describir una pasividad externa, Densher está esperando algo que se va a producir (los mecanismos ya se han puesto en marcha según nos ha contado Henry James) pero mientras espera, es como si no existiera y se hubiera marchado ya, porque resulta totalmente invisible si no hay movimiento ¿es ese no moverse una ausencia de acción en la trama? Es un dato engañoso, el lector sabe que hay acción (psicológica) pero que está hilada muy sutilmente por Henry James a través de los diferentes puntos de vista. La salsa en las novelas de James no está tanto en la historia general (que puede espantar por lo sosa) sino en los pequeños acontecimientos que se producen en la mente de sus personajes y que activan un mecanismo de relojería perfectamente engranado que consigue sobre todo que el lector se implique sobre todo en la conciencia de cada uno de los personaje más que en el acontecimiento más general porque Henry James no revela nada: es a través de este bucear en las conciencias de sus personajes, dónde el lector se identificará porque son planteamientos universales, morales, éticos, emocionales que siguen siendo dilemas eternos de la esencia del ser humano.
"Desde muy pronto les había quedado muy claro que, aunque tuviesen vedada cualquier otra vía directa, al menos se abría ante ellos el dominio del pensamiento.
El efecto era que lo que decían cuando no estaban juntos les parecía insípido y nada contribuía más a aislarlos..."
Pongamos un ejemplo, Kate Croy y Merton Densher están enamorados, pero no tienen dinero, o por lo menos, en la mentalidad de Kate le resulta imposible casarse con un muerto de hambre por mucho que lo adorara, por lo que se ven en secreto, se comprometen en secreto, en un intento por calmar la presión social familiar de Kate a la que quieren casar con un hombre de posición. Poco después ambos conocen a la americana y forradísima Milly Theale, que a pesar de su perfección, tiene una enfermedad a la que no le queda mucho de vida. Kate Croy decide montar una conspiración en torno a una idea que se ha formado en su cabeza: Merton seducirá y se casará con Milly porque en un futuro no muy lejano se hará con la fortuna de Milly, y ella Kate, ya podrá liberarse de esta pobreza y al mismo tiempo casarse con el hombre que ama. Es cierto que en un principio puede parecer un culebrón (aunque no decimonónico porque fue publicada en 1902), pero nada más lejos de las apariencias porque es una novela de Henry James, que es un autor que ya en aquella época estaba sentando las bases del modernismo, aunque igual no fuera esa su intención. Experimentando con el lenguaje y con los puntos de vista, novelas como ésta en particular, se convierten en análisis no solo psicológicos de la sociedad del momento, sino de unos temas que le interesaban especialmente: el dinero, Estados Unidos frente a Europa, lo nuevo frente a lo viejo, y esa moralina tan enquistada y que a través de sus personajes se ocupará de desenmascarar.
"Hubo un momento en el que, aunque sus ojos siguieron pendientes del espejo, se quedó visiblemente ensimismada, pensando en el modo en que podría haber cambiado las cosas de haber nacido hombre."
Kate Croy manipula y controla a Merton Densher con la excusa del amor y de una felicidad futura firmemente asentada en el dinero y a priori y leyendo esto la podríamos considerar una perfecta femme fatale que usa y abusa tanto de Milly como de Merton para su beneficio, pero vuelvo a decir que no todo es tan fácil en una novela de Henry James. Divide la novela en varias partes, cada una de ellas variando el punto de vista de sus personajes, y lo empieza con el punto de vista de Kate contando la historia de su vida a través de ella misma, de su conciencia. Sus dificultades financieras, y de por qué necesita ascender socialmente para ayudar a una familia con problemas económicos: “Estoy, en eso tienes razon, sobre el mostrador, cuando no en el escaparate; y me expone comercialmente según su conveniencia: es la esencia de mi situación y el precio de la protección de mi tía.” . De sopetón cuando comienza la novela la conoceremos desde su conciencia más íntima, así que cuando más adelante en la novela, se plantea esta conspiración, Kate no será simplemente una mujer mala y controladora, sino que Henry James la ha imbuido de matices, los matices de la vida. Kate será un personaje lleno de recovecos “Las mujeres que conoce uno ¿qué son sino libros que ya ha leído? Tú eres una biblioteca de libros intensos y desconocidos.”, y tal como piensa, el no haber nacido hombre, la hará tener que inventar estrategias para la supervivencia. En este aspecto, me tiene fascinada la generosidad de un autor como Henry James a la hora de dar espacio a un personaje femenino como el de Kate Croy, la presión por asegurarse una posición, la enfrenta a decidir tomar las riendas de su vida, con lo cual convierte toda la historia en toda una conspiración para conseguir un fin.
"- Está usted harto, pero no es sabio. Está familiarizado con todo, pero en realidad no es consciente de nada. Le falta imaginación."
En esta novela no es únicamente la perspectiva de Kate Croy la que prima, la gran antiheroína, sino que tendremos la perspectiva de Milly Thread, que está justo en las antipodas en cuanto a mentalidad de Kate: “Podía decirse que Milly era lanzada, pero no avanzada, mientras que Kate era tímida, incluso en comparación, para ser inglesa, y no obstante, muy avanzada.”, y Henry James construye entre ambas mujeres toda una gama de matices sobre todo en torno a la manipulación, la amistad y el dinero. El dinero es al fin y al cabo la base en la que se concentra esta manipulación, el fin, y Milly lo tiene de sobra. Henry James está exponiendo continuamente este conflicto en torno al dinero: era un horror hablar de dinero, y casi un horror tener que trabajar para adquirirlo, y sin embargo, era absolutamente necesario tenerlo para tener una asegurada posición social. El objetivo de Kate es este dinero y para ello usará a esta sociedad para conseguirlo, incluyendo a Merton.:
“Pero ¡qué explicita había que ser con los hombres! Kate podría haber hablado largo y tendido sobre eso.”
Aparentemente en estas páginas en las que no pasa nada, en las que parece que no hay acción, lo que estamos es conociendo a unos personajes y sus hábitos mentales, su forma de pensar y estos recovecos estilisticos de Henry James son imprescindibles para llegar a la esencia. El lector comprenderá y entenderá perfectamente las decisiones que se verán obligados a tomar a medida que la situación vaya cambiando y que se irá viendo sobre todo en el personaje de Merton Densher, quizás el más pasivo debido a que seguira ciegamente las instrucciones de Kate en aras de su amor "- Pero nunca hablé de ella con nadie....Y ¿no demuestra a menudo el silencio en esos casos lo profundo de la impresión?” , y sin embargo, también es fascinante comprobar como Merton va cambiando y va tomando decisiones. Ese No Moverse, del que hablaba al principio de esta reseña, es pura acción psicológica porque es un momento en el que Merton Densher se lo estaba cuestionando todo.
"Qué raras eran las vueltas de la vida y los caprichos de la debilidad; qué raras las vacilaciones de la fantasía y los engaños de la esperanza; pero, a pesar de todo, esos experimentos con la verdad que consistían, en el peor de los casos, en engañarse a una misma eran legitimos...¿no?"
“Las Alas de la paloma” era una novela que no iba a reseñar porque es tanto lo que Henry James expone aquí sobre nosotros mismos, sobre las decisiones vitales, sobre la vida misma y sus infinitos matices, que me veía incapaz. Pero luego pensé que era imposible no hacer aunque fuera un breve comentario sobre una novela que me ha impactado por lo que supone de revolución personal y de cambio de sus personajes, por ejemplo, la revolución interior que sufre Merton Densher al final de la novela: "Si Densher era interesante era porque era infeliz; y si era infeliz era porque su pasión por Kate se consumía en vano”. Le comentaba a una amiga mientras leía la novela en broma, que todos estos personajes jamesianos eternamente ociosos, viviendo de las rentas sin la necesidad levantarse a las seis de la mañana para ir a trabajar y ganarse el pan, tenían todo el tiempo del mundo para idear, conspirar y repensar sin moverse del salón de su casa. Me contestó que era el mundo de Henry James y que la vida no había cambiado tanto porque seguimos analizando y cuestionando aunque igual mucho más superficialmente. Y es totalmente cierto, el mundo no ha cambiado tanto, salvo que ahora quizás no hay tanto tiempo para profundizar como en la época de Henry James. En definitiva, una novela colosal, lenta, pausada y llena de recovecos donde la visión irónica que tenía Henry James de la vida nos hace ser más conscientes que nunca de que el mundo ideal que podriamos haber construido en nuestra mente se da de bruces con la realidad.
“Densher recordó lo que se había dicho en casa de la señora Lowder sobre las etapas y fases en la vida de las personas que se pierde uno por la ausencia, y en la frecuente sensación derivada de encontrarlas cambiadas. “
♫♫♫ "Me Voy"- Cat Power ♫♫♫
Trilogía Final (Acción y silencios)
#1 Los Embajadores
#2 Las alas de la paloma
#3 La copa dorada
January 10, 2024
La historia nos presenta a Kate una joven que vive con su tía rica Maud,, tiene una relación secreta con Densher, posteriormente conocemos a Milly una joven estadounidense millonaria que viaja por el mundo con su amiga-protectora Susan, aunque existen más personajes y cada uno tiene un lugar bien justificado, estos 5 personajes son los que acaparan la mayoría de las páginas y los que se encuentran inmersos en este baile largo, cadencioso e improvisado que es, esta novela.
Personajes:
Maud: Una mujer acercándose a la vejez, viuda y sin hijos, siente preferencia por su sobrina Kate, siempre y cuando haga las cosas de manera correcta, es decir obedezca a su tía.
Kate: una joven inglesa, inteligente, racional, viene de una familia caída en desgracia, debido a un padre del que heredó la belleza, pero que es un rufián de innombrables delitos, expulsado de la buena sociedad por ellos. Esta enamorada de Densher, y tienen una relación escondida, debido a que el es pobre y con un trabajo mediocre, por lo que si se hace pública la relación, su tía le retirará su apoyo, se casará con Densher y con la pobreza.
Milly: es jove estadounidense, inteligente, sensible, su familia ha desaparecido poco a poco, sólo queda ella y su fortuna, conoce a la señora Susan y la invita a viajar con ella por el mundo, acepta y así comienza un recorrido que tiene un punto de inflexión en Inglaterra. Es de apariencia delicada, vestida siempre de negro, un poco solitaria, y llena de inquietudes acerca de su salud.
Susan Shepherds: viuda, de escasos medios, conoce a Milly y vuelca toda su atención en ella, volviéndola casi un objeto de adoración.
Densher: periodista con un trabajo modesto, intelectual, sensato, guapo, sin grandes metas, enamorado de Kate y por ella se siente capaz de todo por hacerla feliz.
Como es característico del estilo de Henry James, en la primera parte hace un análisis extenso de las personalidades de cada personaje, sabe que estará sentando las bases que le permitan al lector entender las decisiones de cada uno, conforme vayan ocurriendo, también ayuda a que veamos cómo cada personaje va evolucionando y cambiando para bien o para mal de acuerdo a los hechos que se van ocurriendo.
Pareciera que los personajes cuando hablan entre ellos siempre están en guardia y cuidando cada palabra e inclusive la entonación de las mismas, todo esto es realmente fascinante, y al mismo tiempo nos obliga a buscar significados que subyacen más allá de lo dicho.
Hay un momento que parece que todo se reduce a estos 5 personajes, están en Venecia y parece que los canales, la plaza y un gran castillo donde habita Milly es todo de ellos, inclusive Densher piensa:
“Estas percepciones le dieron ocasión, en fin, de preguntarse si no sería mejor consentir generosamente en ser el asno que querían todas. Intentar no serlo y seguir implicado era la más asnal de las dos posibilidades. Se alegró de que no hubiese testigos masculinos: era un círculo de enaguas, no le habría gustado que le viese un hombre. ”
Hay mucha delicadeza en lo que se cuenta, pero a veces uno duda si esa delicadeza encierra la mayor bondad o la peor maldad y cada lector elegirá.
Me queda claro que este libro ejemplifica un poco el dicho, de buenas intenciones está empedrado el camino del infierno.
Me mantuvo atenta de principio a fin, queriendo saber más y analizando las decisiones tomadas, cada personaje tiene un lado ciego que nos encandila por la oscuridad o la luz que refleja en ciertos momentos.
Personajes:
Maud: Una mujer acercándose a la vejez, viuda y sin hijos, siente preferencia por su sobrina Kate, siempre y cuando haga las cosas de manera correcta, es decir obedezca a su tía.
Kate: una joven inglesa, inteligente, racional, viene de una familia caída en desgracia, debido a un padre del que heredó la belleza, pero que es un rufián de innombrables delitos, expulsado de la buena sociedad por ellos. Esta enamorada de Densher, y tienen una relación escondida, debido a que el es pobre y con un trabajo mediocre, por lo que si se hace pública la relación, su tía le retirará su apoyo, se casará con Densher y con la pobreza.
Milly: es jove estadounidense, inteligente, sensible, su familia ha desaparecido poco a poco, sólo queda ella y su fortuna, conoce a la señora Susan y la invita a viajar con ella por el mundo, acepta y así comienza un recorrido que tiene un punto de inflexión en Inglaterra. Es de apariencia delicada, vestida siempre de negro, un poco solitaria, y llena de inquietudes acerca de su salud.
Susan Shepherds: viuda, de escasos medios, conoce a Milly y vuelca toda su atención en ella, volviéndola casi un objeto de adoración.
Densher: periodista con un trabajo modesto, intelectual, sensato, guapo, sin grandes metas, enamorado de Kate y por ella se siente capaz de todo por hacerla feliz.
Como es característico del estilo de Henry James, en la primera parte hace un análisis extenso de las personalidades de cada personaje, sabe que estará sentando las bases que le permitan al lector entender las decisiones de cada uno, conforme vayan ocurriendo, también ayuda a que veamos cómo cada personaje va evolucionando y cambiando para bien o para mal de acuerdo a los hechos que se van ocurriendo.
Pareciera que los personajes cuando hablan entre ellos siempre están en guardia y cuidando cada palabra e inclusive la entonación de las mismas, todo esto es realmente fascinante, y al mismo tiempo nos obliga a buscar significados que subyacen más allá de lo dicho.
Hay un momento que parece que todo se reduce a estos 5 personajes, están en Venecia y parece que los canales, la plaza y un gran castillo donde habita Milly es todo de ellos, inclusive Densher piensa:
“Estas percepciones le dieron ocasión, en fin, de preguntarse si no sería mejor consentir generosamente en ser el asno que querían todas. Intentar no serlo y seguir implicado era la más asnal de las dos posibilidades. Se alegró de que no hubiese testigos masculinos: era un círculo de enaguas, no le habría gustado que le viese un hombre. ”
Hay mucha delicadeza en lo que se cuenta, pero a veces uno duda si esa delicadeza encierra la mayor bondad o la peor maldad y cada lector elegirá.
Me queda claro que este libro ejemplifica un poco el dicho, de buenas intenciones está empedrado el camino del infierno.
Me mantuvo atenta de principio a fin, queriendo saber más y analizando las decisiones tomadas, cada personaje tiene un lado ciego que nos encandila por la oscuridad o la luz que refleja en ciertos momentos.
October 17, 2007
Unknown page:
"Did she know?"
"I think you know what she knew."
"I knew something, but not what you knew of what she knew. I still don't know."
"I know."
"So she knew something."
"Yes. We all knew something."
OK. We’ve established that everyone knows. But what do they know? James uses a very oblique writing style. This style seems to say so much without saying anything at all. Very little is crystal clear in this book, to the extent that when Kate actually directs Densher in her plot, the directness of her words seem crass. But not to worry, because this is charity work. It’s what Milly wants, and so we would be doing her a great service, don’t you know. The writing, while lengthy, is quite beautiful. I’d like to read more James.
"Did she know?"
"I think you know what she knew."
"I knew something, but not what you knew of what she knew. I still don't know."
"I know."
"So she knew something."
"Yes. We all knew something."
OK. We’ve established that everyone knows. But what do they know? James uses a very oblique writing style. This style seems to say so much without saying anything at all. Very little is crystal clear in this book, to the extent that when Kate actually directs Densher in her plot, the directness of her words seem crass. But not to worry, because this is charity work. It’s what Milly wants, and so we would be doing her a great service, don’t you know. The writing, while lengthy, is quite beautiful. I’d like to read more James.
November 25, 2012
The Wings of the Dove Henry James (1902) #26
June 8, 2007
This has to be the worst book that I have ever read. Well, maybe not ever, but definitely the worst one yet on this list (and there have been some that have sucked mightily). How this book made the list, I have no idea, but it has rattled my already shaky faith in the validity of this list. I suspect that it has something to do with one Mr. Gore Vidal, who, judging from the little blurb on the back of the dust jacket of the copy that I have, thinks that Henry James is the be-all to end-all of modern literature. If I ever see Mr. Vidal (and I don’t even know if he is even still with us), I will be bound by honor to kick his ass for making me read this book. There are two more books of Mr. James’ on this list, and I hope that they are significantly shorter than this one. I own a handsome copy of The Ambassadors, and was quite proud of obtaining it before reading this book. Now I think that I might use it to soak up some oil stains in my driveway. At least it’s only just over 300 pages long.
To the book – James spends a huge amount of time being so descriptive about pointless things that the reader is left without a clue as to what is happening in the book, or who anyone is, or what he or she is even dong there. When I first discovered that I didn’t know what was happening in the story (and that I couldn’t relate with any of the characters), I thought that maybe I was too unlearned to understand James’ writing. After 40 or 50 more pages, I realized that the problem didn’t lie with me (or my lack of understanding, cognition, intelligence, ect..), it was just that the writing sucked. And sucked it did. For 700+ pages that dragged on and on.
I am happy to report that I only paid a dollar for my copy of this book, which was withdrawn from the Conroe, Texas library, possibly in fear that it might, by some strange literary osmosis, make all the other books on the shelf suck as well. It had only been read once, by some unfortunate soul who was a sloppy reader and had spilled soup or something on the pages and had only made it to page 100 or so before either personally returning it to the library, or having it returned to the library by some friend or family member after prying it from the dead, cold hands of a reader that had eaten poison to relieve the painful existence that their life had become after reading part of this book. I digress…
It only took 540 pages of agony for this book to get in the least bit interesting. Kate Croy appeals to Merton Densher (yes, Merton), her lover (of a Nineteenth Century sort), to marry her dying rich friend Milly so that when Milly dies, Merton will inherit her money and can then be “eligible” to marry Kate. Densher acquiesces to Kate’s proposal only if she will sleep with him that night, which she apparently does.
There was a time in this novel, around page 585, which I briefly took interest in both the books plot and it’s characters, but I quickly lost interest again. I had, after all, just figured out that Mrs. Stringham was Susan Shepherd, and that led me to assume that Mrs. Lowder, i.e. Aunt Maud, was Maud Maningham, a fact that should have been made clear at the onset of the book. Suspense in writing should not come from figuring out to whom the author is referring to unless they are some kind of spy, double agent, or in some alternate reality. Thanks for the clarity, Henry.
Looking back, I should have known that a book whose main character (or one of them) is named “Merton” would spell trouble. What the hell kind of name is Merton, anyway? Austrian? Dutch? I do know that Merton Densher comes close to sharing with Dick Diver the most unfortunate name in literature. Come to think of it, I want my dollar back.
0.7
A (although referred to off-handedly), T, N
June 8, 2007
This has to be the worst book that I have ever read. Well, maybe not ever, but definitely the worst one yet on this list (and there have been some that have sucked mightily). How this book made the list, I have no idea, but it has rattled my already shaky faith in the validity of this list. I suspect that it has something to do with one Mr. Gore Vidal, who, judging from the little blurb on the back of the dust jacket of the copy that I have, thinks that Henry James is the be-all to end-all of modern literature. If I ever see Mr. Vidal (and I don’t even know if he is even still with us), I will be bound by honor to kick his ass for making me read this book. There are two more books of Mr. James’ on this list, and I hope that they are significantly shorter than this one. I own a handsome copy of The Ambassadors, and was quite proud of obtaining it before reading this book. Now I think that I might use it to soak up some oil stains in my driveway. At least it’s only just over 300 pages long.
To the book – James spends a huge amount of time being so descriptive about pointless things that the reader is left without a clue as to what is happening in the book, or who anyone is, or what he or she is even dong there. When I first discovered that I didn’t know what was happening in the story (and that I couldn’t relate with any of the characters), I thought that maybe I was too unlearned to understand James’ writing. After 40 or 50 more pages, I realized that the problem didn’t lie with me (or my lack of understanding, cognition, intelligence, ect..), it was just that the writing sucked. And sucked it did. For 700+ pages that dragged on and on.
I am happy to report that I only paid a dollar for my copy of this book, which was withdrawn from the Conroe, Texas library, possibly in fear that it might, by some strange literary osmosis, make all the other books on the shelf suck as well. It had only been read once, by some unfortunate soul who was a sloppy reader and had spilled soup or something on the pages and had only made it to page 100 or so before either personally returning it to the library, or having it returned to the library by some friend or family member after prying it from the dead, cold hands of a reader that had eaten poison to relieve the painful existence that their life had become after reading part of this book. I digress…
It only took 540 pages of agony for this book to get in the least bit interesting. Kate Croy appeals to Merton Densher (yes, Merton), her lover (of a Nineteenth Century sort), to marry her dying rich friend Milly so that when Milly dies, Merton will inherit her money and can then be “eligible” to marry Kate. Densher acquiesces to Kate’s proposal only if she will sleep with him that night, which she apparently does.
There was a time in this novel, around page 585, which I briefly took interest in both the books plot and it’s characters, but I quickly lost interest again. I had, after all, just figured out that Mrs. Stringham was Susan Shepherd, and that led me to assume that Mrs. Lowder, i.e. Aunt Maud, was Maud Maningham, a fact that should have been made clear at the onset of the book. Suspense in writing should not come from figuring out to whom the author is referring to unless they are some kind of spy, double agent, or in some alternate reality. Thanks for the clarity, Henry.
Looking back, I should have known that a book whose main character (or one of them) is named “Merton” would spell trouble. What the hell kind of name is Merton, anyway? Austrian? Dutch? I do know that Merton Densher comes close to sharing with Dick Diver the most unfortunate name in literature. Come to think of it, I want my dollar back.
0.7
A (although referred to off-handedly), T, N
April 7, 2024
Trama lineare, semplice e stringata ma narrazione complessa, lenta e particolareggiata, Celati dice mai nessuno così lento neppure Proust. Una prosa dipinta, frasi ampie e ariose, articolatissime e studiate (onde maestose che si ripiegano su se stesse come ebbe a dire Virginia Woolf) e grondanti simbolismo.
Un romanzo da 'sentire' (parola che James usa sovente con il significato di percepire, ascoltare con la mente e con il corpo tutto, entrare in connessione, profondamente comprendere).
Un romanzo da 'sentire' (parola che James usa sovente con il significato di percepire, ascoltare con la mente e con il corpo tutto, entrare in connessione, profondamente comprendere).
January 31, 2019
I didn’t love this novel as I had hoped. So many others have praised Henry James that I expected to be overjoyed while reading “The Wings of the Dove,” but that didn’t happen.
I liked it enough, but I wasn’t blown away by the prose or breathlessly underlining quotes as I had anticipated. The story is one of greed, jealousy, heartbreak and grief. There is also love, but it is corrupted.
Maybe I didn’t like this novel much because the female protagonist, Kate Croy, is painted as cruel and calculating by James. The dying girl, Milly, is frequently described as being magnificent and spectacular, but she shows no outstanding qualities of character other than being wealthy, young and that she’ll be dead soon. And then there’s Merton, the poor man caught in the love triangle and manipulated by Kate.
After finishing the novel I watched the 1997 film version, and I have to admit I liked the movie better than the book. Mostly because the Kate character in the movie is at least shown with a broken heart and being genuinely conflicted. The screenplay made Kate more likeable.
I haven’t completely given up on Henry James. I still need to read “The Portrait of a Lady.” Maybe I’ll like that one more.
I liked it enough, but I wasn’t blown away by the prose or breathlessly underlining quotes as I had anticipated. The story is one of greed, jealousy, heartbreak and grief. There is also love, but it is corrupted.
Maybe I didn’t like this novel much because the female protagonist, Kate Croy, is painted as cruel and calculating by James. The dying girl, Milly, is frequently described as being magnificent and spectacular, but she shows no outstanding qualities of character other than being wealthy, young and that she’ll be dead soon. And then there’s Merton, the poor man caught in the love triangle and manipulated by Kate.
After finishing the novel I watched the 1997 film version, and I have to admit I liked the movie better than the book. Mostly because the Kate character in the movie is at least shown with a broken heart and being genuinely conflicted. The screenplay made Kate more likeable.
I haven’t completely given up on Henry James. I still need to read “The Portrait of a Lady.” Maybe I’ll like that one more.
November 6, 2021
Henry James is a great writer. As much as I disliked this throughout, I thought I'd still give it 3 stars out of respect for his talent. But I can't. I know that this is considered his masterpiece, but I don't agree. It was a clunky overly long novel that didn't bother with much character development. Most of what we thought about anyone was to be decided from what others thought of them and even that didn't give a full picture.
There was part of the ending that was beautiful, could have been amazingly beautiful, but other parts were so ugly that it drowned the beautiful part out for me. It's all I can do to give this 2 stars instead of 1.
There was part of the ending that was beautiful, could have been amazingly beautiful, but other parts were so ugly that it drowned the beautiful part out for me. It's all I can do to give this 2 stars instead of 1.
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