James’ Wings of the Dove is hard to read, but ultimately worth it

My first Henry James read, one of the greats. I have to say after reading The Wings of the Dove, James is obviously brilliant when it comes his grasp of the English language. I’ve never read a book that was both so hard to read, yet so rewarding for its substance. To say James is “wordy” is an understatement, with extremely long sentences that never quite become run-ons, paragraphs that go on for pages, and even his characters often repeat each other to lengthen it further (“You mean she did not wish to see you?” “Yes, she did not wish to see me.”). This novel demands your full attention, you cannot have the tv on in the background, or any distraction around you. Even so, I had to go back and re-read sections often, just because my mind would wander. But at no time did I feel frustrated or bored, James is just that good.

The novel follows a small group of characters in England. Kate Croy is a beautiful young woman, with unfortunately no family fortune to elevate her status, her dad having squandered their money on drugs. She is watched over by her Aunt Maud, who will only let her marry to further her station. However, Kate is secretly in love with Merton Densher, a poor writer, and so far has been rebuffing Aunt Maud’s pick for her, Lord Mark.

Densher goes away to the USA on a writing assignment, and there meets a lovely, young, very wealthy woman named Milly Theale, and her traveling partner Susan Stringham. Susan and Maud are old friends, and when they come to England, the whole group meets up. Here we learn that Milly is ill, in fact dying from some unknown illness, but she doesn’t let on. Somehow Kate suspects it though, and tells Densher to get close to Milly, to woo her even. Lord Mark tries to propose to Milly, but by then she has all ready started to fall for Densher and declines. The group travels on to Venice as a vacation, mostly because Milly wants to experience all of life before her death.

As Milly’s condition worsens, the others start to realize something is up. Kate and Maud return back to England, but before leaving, Kate tells Densher her whole plan. She wants Densher to marry Milly, who would then leave him her fortune upon her death. Densher is shocked, but agrees to go along with the plan despite his misgivings. It goes awry though when Lord Mark comes to visit Milly, and tells her that Kate and Densher have been secretly engaged this whole time. She is heartbroken, meeting Densher once more before he sets back off to England. She dies while he is en voyage.

When he gets back, he confronts Kate. He has received a letter from Milly, written on her deathbed and as yet unread by him, and he wants to know if Kate told Lord Mark of their engagement, as no one else had known. He asks her to confirm or deny, which she refuses, and instead tosses the letter into the fire before he can read it. Densher tells Kate that Milly has still left him a lot of money, but that he cannot accept it because of what he has done. He tells Kate that he will still marry her, if she too refuses the money, however, if she chooses, she can take the money and Densher will leave her. The ending is somewhat cryptic, but Kate does say something along the lines of their lives not turning out as planned, hinting that she will take the money and leave Densher. (Of course, it could also mean that she will marry him and be poor. The joys of interpretation!)

As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, even with it being one of the more challenging books to get through. I’ve quit books that weren’t this hard to read, but James keeps your attention through it all. If you can stick with it, it is a rewarding experience.