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The Wings of the Dove

Henry James,

Amy Bloom (Introduction),

Pierre A. Walker (Notes)

3.81 · Rating details · 16,032 ratings · 605 reviews

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

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, a ...more

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Paperback, The Modern Library Classics , 741 pages

Published April 8th 2003 by The Modern Library/Random House, Inc. (first published 1902)

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Oct 12, 2014 Kalliope rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american, italy, fiction-english

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 ...more

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Jul 21, 2008 Ann rated it it was amazing

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 th 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.
...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: edwardian

”’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 ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: henry-james, 2017, review-may-contain-comic-content

Conversation continued from the updates…

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 th ...more

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Mar 26, 2018 Steven Godin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-fiction, america-canada

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. Sl 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. ...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Yulia rated it liked it

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 met 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?"
...more

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Mar 20, 2014 Ron rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: no-one

Shelves: flung-across-room

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, ...more

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May 09, 2012 David rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

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 u 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:
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."
"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!"
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. ...more

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Nov 09, 2008 Sarah rated it it was amazing

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 Jame ...more

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Oct 14, 2020 Katia N added it · review of another edition

Oh 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 Oh 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.

...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Ashley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900s-1950s, classics

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. ...more

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May 01, 2015 AC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels-english, henry-james, modernism

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 zo ...more

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Dec 23, 2007 Michele rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: People with a lot of time and a dictionary

Shelves: proud-i-slogged-through-it

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 bo ...more

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Jun 10, 2016 Roman Clodia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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' no 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. ...more

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Oct 16, 2007 Mary Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

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 ...more

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Jan 23, 2019 Diane rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, audiobooks

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 calculat ...more

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Nov 25, 2012 David rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

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 h 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
...more

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Jan 06, 2009 David rated it it was amazing

Gives new meaning to the expression "adventures in reading." The famous style of the late novels--the monster sentences with multiple subordinate elements that snake their way through paragraphs extending for page after page after page--will try your patience and reward your attentions--and yet frequently frustrate your best attempts at comprehension. I found the experience altogether fascinating, both in its challenges and its rewards--and there were wonderful rewards, passages and situations t Gives new meaning to the expression "adventures in reading." The famous style of the late novels--the monster sentences with multiple subordinate elements that snake their way through paragraphs extending for page after page after page--will try your patience and reward your attentions--and yet frequently frustrate your best attempts at comprehension. I found the experience altogether fascinating, both in its challenges and its rewards--and there were wonderful rewards, passages and situations that moved me to tears and to laughter both. The problem of the style remains just that--a problem, and one that reading should not try to make disappear too quickly, whether in the negative mode of curt dismissal (which renders curiosity about the style pointless) or the positive mode of effusive admiration (which renders curiosity needless). (Cf. reviews other readers have posted on Goodreads.)

I found it interesting to observe the ghost of Hawthorne in the way James manages his narrative. As in The Scarlet Letter, the surfaces of conversation and social action are mere occasions that serve to confirm the slow deep movement of motive and feeling that James is at such pains to render in that so frequently maddening prose. There are episodes between Kate Croy and Densher that in many ways recreate those between Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale; and Jane Austen reappears in certain of James' situations and plot devices--the secret engagement between Kate Croy and Merton Densher replays, and in interesting ways revises, the secret engagement of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax in Austen's Emma. (The impecunious Kate Croy is as emphatically active and morally implicated as the equally impecunious Jane Fairfax is passive and morally blameless.)

I was struck how, like his brother William, Henry James is at bottom a depth psychologist of extraordinary orginality and penetration. Is part of the trouble this book gives us that so much of what it psychologically finds as it investigates the case of Kate Croy, Merton Densher, and Milly Theale does not conform to our assumptions, expectations, and understandings about how characters are supposed to think and feel and act, in novels or in life? At the end, there remain passages that elude me--James' perceptions remain beyond me at many points. Yet the book offers a multitude of satisfactions--it is, after all, a first-rate romantic thriller, full of suspenseful episodes and populated with a cast of fascinating characters whose intrigues are fascinatingly presented and developed. As so often in literature, the greatness of this work resides as much or more in its difficulties and strangenesses as in the sweets--and they are many--it serves up for our taste. ...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Rachel rated it really liked it

I have a thing for Henry James. When I read The Golden Bowl in grad school and loved it, my professor thought I was crazy. I suppose many students find him dense and confusing. But I love his style. I love the careful, layered characterizations, the detailed descriptions, and the way James' novels flow mostly from internal dialogue. His artistry is in telling the story through the consciousness of the characters. I simply love it!

p.s. I find it funny {and revealing} that his novels translated to ...more

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May 31, 2017 Elaine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 2017

This is probably not the best choice for an audio book - it is really quite intricate, and I struggled at times to find the referent in some of these Jamesian sentences, even as Juliet Stevenson did her usual remarkable job.

As with Portrait of the Lady, I managed to forget the exact contours of the plot since my first reading some 25 years ago or so. And as with Portrait of the Lady, I spent the early part of the book not really loving it. I found too little to get a grip on in the beginning. B ...more

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Jun 17, 2007 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: faves, classics

An utter fave novel and heroine. Love and betrayal with HJ motifs of victimised innocence and triumph without attainment. Gotta love the sex 'n' death symbiosis.

*likes 'em melodramatic*

HJ's liberality with commas does make the writing feel a bit like hyperventilation. But what's more romantic than being in love with a memory. ;)

*applauds etherealised gal's revenge*

...more

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Apr 06, 2010 Will Albers rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction

unbelievably tedious....Henry James apparently never met a clause or a comma that he didn't like. turgid, bloated, pompous prose...it's impossible to think that people might have talked or thought like this...even 100 years ago. James takes dozens of pages with no apparent advancement of plot. A good editor could have easily whacked this down from 700 pages to about 250 and it would have been an infinitely easier read. I have to admit I couldn't finish and gave up after 200 pages. Maybe it's jus ...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Laurel Hicks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, 0-kindle, books-read-in-2012

Amazing book. I kept thinking, Why can't he just come out and tell us straight what he is talking about? Then I realized that James is reflecting his characters, who live in an underground world of plunder and plot, innuendo and insinuation. The last few chapters suddenly break into lucid writing, a sign that at least one character is starting to think and act straight. I need to read this book again. This book needs to be experienced. ...more

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Apr 13, 2020 Simon Robs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

But she turned to the door, and her headshake was now the end. "We shall never be again as we were!”

A brutally cold send off if ever there were that brings it all 'round' (my how he [HJ] loved this word using it all around this novel along with 'everything') to 'everything.' ...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Gary Inbinder rated it it was amazing

Shelves: british-literature, victorian-literature

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (Second reading. Originally read in 2011)

Henry James’s late period masterpiece is a novel about conflicting human needs and desires, for love, both physical and spiritual, for financial security, and for fulfillment and self-respect. Kate Croy, the active protagonist in this drama, begins the story in a state of existential conflict from which she struggles and schemes to extricate herself as the intricate, character-driven plot unfolds.
Kate is a penniless young woman dependent upon the good wil (Second reading. Originally read in 2011)

Henry James’s late period masterpiece is a novel about conflicting human needs and desires, for love, both physical and spiritual, for financial security, and for fulfillment and self-respect. Kate Croy, the active protagonist in this drama, begins the story in a state of existential conflict from which she struggles and schemes to extricate herself as the intricate, character-driven plot unfolds.
Kate is a penniless young woman dependent upon the good will of her wealthy, social-climbing aunt. Kate is attractive and fashionable; her aunt has brought Kate out in London society with the goal of arranging an advantageous marriage for her niece. Moreover, Kate carries the burden of a needy, good-for-nothing father and a widowed sister living in borderline poverty with her children.
If Kate marries according to her aunt’s wishes, she and her family will be financially secure. However, Kate is in love with Merton Densher, a handsome, charming but poor journalist. What to do? Opportunity knocks in the form of Millie Theale, an immensely wealthy young American woman with no family of her own. And Millie has a secret: she’s dying of a mysterious disease. When Kate learns the secret, she devises a scheme that might solve all her problems. But then, to quote Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft a-gley; An’ lea’e us nought but grief and pain, for promised joy.”
Did James write an allegory? The title might refer to the familiar Christian iconographic symbol for the Holy Spirit, and Millie’s gift of her entire fortune to Merton, which comes at Christmas, might be interpreted as Divine Grace. In this allegorical context, Kate and Merton stand-in for a sinful Adam and Eve and the various relationships among the characters, the situations and settings can support such an interpretation. For example, the avaricious Lord Mark who pursues Kate for sex and gain, and when that doesn’t work out switches his attention to the dying Millie, makes a good Satan. However, most critics I’ve read have either avoided or rejected this interpretation for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, the allegory makes sense of the enigmatic ending.
Merton wants to marry Kate, without Millie’s money. Kate agrees, but only on condition that Merton give her his word of honor that he’s not in love with Millie’s memory. She adds this emphasis: “Her memory’s your love. You want no other.”
Instead of answering Kate, he says he’ll marry her “As we were.” However, the novel ends with Kate’s final words: “We shall never be again as we were!”
If you buy into the allegory, Kate/Eve has told Adam/Merton that he loves the memory of a dead God more than he loves her. He replies that he’ll marry her “as we were,” by implication before the fall. Kate/Eve has the last word: we can never be again as we were, in Eden. Without the allegory, you have a conflict between Kate’s self-regard and need for Merton’s unconditional love up against Merton’s bad conscience for playing his part in Kate’s scheme.
Should this novel be read as an allegory? Not necessarily, but I think it’s worth mentioning only because James insinuated it into his text. James was interested in the use of symbolism and allegory in art. And H.J. was certainly interested in his brother William’s investigation of religion from a psychological, sociological and philosophical standpoint: See William James’s The Will to Believe and The Varieties of Religious Experience.
The novel is a fine example of James’s late period style, especially his usage of a stream of consciousness. He had his own peculiar way of drawing the reader into a character’s head through a sequence of sense impressions, associations, actions and reactions, a subtle juxtaposition of epistemology and the art of narrative. That’s the upside. The downside is convoluted sentences that run as long as paragraphs and paragraphs that run more than a page. Nevertheless, if you have the time and patience, this novel’s definitely worth the effort.
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Mar 05, 2016 antiquarian reverie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: tragedy, book-made-to-movies-i-have-seen, american-writer, 1900, romance, henry-james

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had seen The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland years ago on TCM & loved it, Olivia was superb in this. Then years later I found out that it was based on Henry James' Washington Square which I then read & loved. So James was on my list of authors to read again & not reading this edition but a Delphi Kindle collection of his works, I choose at random "The Wings of the Dove". Interesting in this collection they mentioned two movies based on the novel, one was a French version & 1997 Indie version I had seen The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland years ago on TCM & loved it, Olivia was superb in this. Then years later I found out that it was based on Henry James' Washington Square which I then read & loved. So James was on my list of authors to read again & not reading this edition but a Delphi Kindle collection of his works, I choose at random "The Wings of the Dove". Interesting in this collection they mentioned two movies based on the novel, one was a French version & 1997 Indie version with Helena Bonham Carter. I liked her in many films in the past & it would be interesting seeing her as Kate Croy and if I run across it I might watch it. Henry James was an American born writer whose travels landed him in England were he lived. During World War 1 prior to America's involvement James renounced his American citizenship due to US neutrality policy from involvement in that war. I found that interesting because of the unnecessary loss of lives during that war but it is always easier to see the past with the eyes of future & harder to judge during those times. This book has nothing to do with the war but this author brings a special kind of perspective of being an American & British citizen which shows in his works. This was published in 1902. Now to my thoughts on "The Wings of the Dove" which is a book I had a tough time understanding at times because of the flow being hard due to his sentence construction & many thoughts into one sentence which made me have to read some multiple times to get the full meaning & numerous innuendoes. The way he had his characters in passages makes it confusing sometimes when he mentions she & it is unclear of who is the she until you read it several times & finally figure this out. I read that James was critical of this work yet critics find it is faultless and I think this 771 page book could have been done in 400 pages. I am glad I read this book but it took me awhile to get into the groove where it flowed nicely did not happen until about 3/4 into the story. The first chapter was the hardest for me because James uses metaphors & his attempts to make it more interesting had me lost many times. This chapter introduces Kate Croy & her family which are not main characters & rarely mentioned in the storyline later. There are many unanswered questions which were never clear to the reader but not important to the main story. The ending is perfect & was worth the effort to finish this, yet it has you guessing & wondering. During this story I kept trying to imagine where James would take his characters & see if they changed from their inherent personality but they stayed true to themselves. This is about a love triangle but more so two ends of the triangle then the other. Kate Croy (British), Milly Theale (wealthy American) & Merton Densher (British). Kate & Merton are poor and in love which is kept secret due to her Aunt Maud, who likes only Kate and does not care for Kate's family which include her widowed sister & scandalized father. Aunt Maud does not approve of Kate marrying unless approved by her & someone with money or position. Kate & Merton have an intense uncommon romance which is more cerebral. Americans Milly Theale & her traveling partner Susan Stringham, middle age friend whose more a mother to this orphaned young wealthy young lady, meet Aunt Maud & Kate in London. Milly is not certain if she is terminally ill & seeks a physician for answers. She meets Merton Densher who she first met in New York City. She is in love with Merton but her pride prevents her from proclaiming & wonders about Kate's feelings towards Merton. Kate sees Milly's feelings for him & encourages him to be nice to Milly. Duplicity becomes clear & her money is the desire for the pair but all Kate's plan and Merton following for the love of Kate. Is the grass greener on the other side? This questions with regards to being poor & thinking wealth is everything or being wealthy but wanting something you can't buy. Deceiving others & self interest is a common theme throughout and a perfect ending. ...more

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Jun 20, 2013 Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, author-henry-james, my-western-canon, historical-fiction, victorian-literature, everymans-library-editions, favorites, 2014-favorites, american-authors-translators, read-in-2014

July 2014--This is my second time reading The Wings of the Dove in less than a year. It is a truly stunning novel and is becoming a another one of James's novels that I think is near perfection, like that of The Portrait of a Lady. I am finding on this second careful and thoughtful re-read that I am actually experiencing the novel rather than simply reading it.

Kate Croy and Merton Densher are 'a pair to draw to' for sure. As much as I love Kate the woman--fiercely independent, stubborn, intelli July 2014--This is my second time reading The Wings of the Dove in less than a year. It is a truly stunning novel and is becoming a another one of James's novels that I think is near perfection, like that of The Portrait of a Lady. I am finding on this second careful and thoughtful re-read that I am actually experiencing the novel rather than simply reading it.

Kate Croy and Merton Densher are 'a pair to draw to' for sure. As much as I love Kate the woman--fiercely independent, stubborn, intelligent, and oh so clever--she's a top predator, a lioness stalking her prey, and there's almost a tinge of the sociopath to her. I dare not elaborate too much more for fear of giving away much of the plot, but suffice it to say that I think honor and integrity do not weigh as high in her values toolbox. Now, in defense of Kate Croy, I'll grant you that she has had a tough life; a mother who died early; a father who is completely spent and is considered a pariah by his social peers; a sister with children who is poor and reliant upon family for help; she lives with a domineering and opinionated aunt that endeavors to keep her on a tight leash; and, finally, she is in love with a man--Merton Densher--who has no money of his own. So, you do have to hand it to her that she is enterprising enough to take her own life (and Merton's as well) into her own hands. She is bound and determined to make a change--a change for the better.

Merton Densher--the poor journalist--is the counterweight on the other end of the see-saw. His immediate problem is that Kate Croy 'wears the pants' in this family. She spins him like a top on the table. Having said that though, we do see through the course of the novel that Merton Densher does develop a spine, and slowly, but surely, his honor and integrity between to glow and burn like a white heat.

The third leg of this 'stool' that is The Wings of the Dove is the incredibly rich--very, very rich--young American heiress, Miss Milly Theale. She met Merton while he was in the United States on assignment for his paper, and now she meets Kate Croy and Kate's aunt, Maud Lowder, and Merton again, of course, while in London on a European excursion. Well, Kate now sees an opportunity--maybe there is a way to obtain her family's consent to marry Merton, and just maybe that way is through Milly Theale. Oh, but a minor problem might exist--Milly is more than just a bit 'sweet' on Merton.

Okay, I have sketched out the barest of details associated with this plot, and now I commend Henry James's brilliant novel into your capable hands. This is a psychological tour de force that will at various and several times leave you reeling in horror, shedding tears of great sadness, or nodding your head sagely as the tale is told page after page. But this story grabs you--heart and soul--and doesn't let up until the last sentence is read and digested; and it may well be one of the finest last sentences of all of modern fiction.

The late Henry James may be viewed as impenetrable and too much work by some, but so is an artichoke or even a pomegranate, but what a reward and treat if you spend the time to carefully read and delve into the minds of his characters. If you're honest with yourself you'll realize that there are people you know and love right now that could step into (or out of) the pages of this novel. Reading The Wings of the Dove opens another incredibly unique window into what makes us singularly human. Sometimes it is ugly and sometimes it is beautiful, and Henry James has given us both in this splendid novel. ...more

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Aug 04, 2020 poncho rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, read-in-2020

As usual, when it comes to a James novel, this one is filled with introspection, questions with unclear answers, assumptions, impressions, etc. Being perhaps, personally, the densest James novel I've read so far. I don't think it's my favorite (that would be The Ambassadors or The Golden Bowl) but it's still a great novel and one of my favorite books overall as I loved its pre-modernist tone; the characters' construction and development which was anything but plain; the way James blows the drama ...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Kendall rated it did not like it

I could not finish this book - I wanted to finish it so badly but I found myself dreading reading it on the train. I figured my commute is rough enough, why make it miserable? I wanted to like Henry James so badly, but I guess he is not for me. Basically I needed a translator in order to understand any of the sentences despite the fact that they are written in English!!! Oh my goodness, reading a sentence over and over again still did not get me anywhere. The plot is great, but really I wish I c ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Leslie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, kindle, love, guardian-1000

3* for this audiobook edition; 2.5* for the book itself

I find Henry James a frustrating author - his topics and time period are those that I relish yet I don't like his books. This book, for example, had all the makings of a great story but it bored me when it didn't anger me. I thought up several possible ending for the story only to find that the actual conclusion was dull and predictable. I have heard James praised for his female characters but, to me, they were all objectionable in one way o ...more

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About Henry James

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Henry James, OM, son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author, one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the ...more

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