The middle land between life and death: Venice in James' the wings of the dove

Abstract

The theoretical frame of the essay is E. Grosz' concept of the relation between body and city as "a two-way linkage that could be defined as an interface". The thesis of the paper is that Venice in The Wings of the Dove is neither a mere frame nor just an expression of Milly Theale's destiny, but a character of its own. For Milly Theale, her Venetian Palazzo is a perfect shell within which she feels she might almost resolve the life and death opposition, whereas for James himself Venice is like a demanding lover.