"She had come on from Boston for that purpose; had seen little of the girl--or rather had seen her but briefly, for Mrs. Stringham, when she saw anything at all, saw much, saw everything--before accepting her proposal; and had accordingly placed herself, by her act, in a boat that she more and more estimated as, humanly speaking, of the biggest, though likewise, no doubt, in many ways, by reason of its size, of the safest." (Wings of the Dove)
I take back what I said about Anthony Powell using too many commas. I'm so sorry Tony! I completely forgot what a horrible comma-abuser Henry James is. I must have unconsciously blocked out the TRAUMA that I suffered reading The Ambassadors last year. Let this serve as a warning for others: it has been, my experience, thus far, that, like The Ambassaors, Wings of the Dove is, "humanly speaking," "in many ways," almost, as bad. WHEN WILL THE INSANITY END?
P.S.
Yes, there is a Stringham in both Dance to the Music of Time and Wings of the Dove.
2 comments:
Haha - I just searched Google for "Henry James uses too many commas" because I, like you, read Wings of a Dove and could not, no matter how hard I tried, get through it, even though the story was good, because of his long sentences with too much punctuation. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!
Haha - I just searched Google for "Henry James uses too many commas" because I, like you, read Wings of a Dove and could not, no matter how hard I tried, get through it, even though the story was good, because of his long sentences with too much punctuation. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!
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