A Dove of the East by Mark Helprin
"A Dove of the East" by Mark Helprin is a poignant tale that explores themes of love, loss, and resilience against the backdrop of post-1967 Six-Day War Israel. The narrative follows Leon Orlovsky, a French Jew who has settled in the Golan Heights and works as a scout for a group of cowboys. Through his solitary rides in the stunning yet dangerous landscape, Leon grapples with the aftermath of his past, particularly his lost love, Ann, with whom he shared a deep bond that was shattered by the chaos of World War II. Their love story, marked by joy and tragedy, is brought to life through a series of flashbacks, revealing the profound impact of war on individual lives.
The story pivots around a critical moment when Leon encounters a wounded dove, which becomes a symbol of innocence and beauty marred by fate. As he cares for the bird, he faces internal conflict about his responsibilities and the unpredictability of life in a war-torn environment. The narrative concludes ambiguously, leaving the reader to ponder the fate of both the dove and Leon, while reflecting on the enduring themes of hope and courage amidst tragedy. Helprin's rich storytelling captures the complexities of human emotion against an unforgiving world, inviting readers to consider the interplay of love and loss in their own lives.
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Subject Terms
A Dove of the East by Mark Helprin
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1975 (collected in A Dove of the East, and Other Stories, 1975)
Type of work: Short story
The Work
The title story of Helprin’s first published collection, “A Dove of the East,” is a beautiful story of love and courage set in Israel some years after the 1967 Six-Day War. Leon Orlovsky is a French Jew who has settled in the occupied territory of the Golan Heights and become a scout for a crew of cowboys. His job is to ride ahead of the herd, finding a route to water and fresh forage. He enjoys his work, taking pleasure in the solitude and the harsh beauty of his surroundings despite the persistent threat of Syrian snipers and saboteurs.
One evening, Leon finishes his day with an outburst of wild riding and an unexplained outpouring of emotion ranging from exhilaration to violence to tears. In the morning, he finds a beautiful dove, critically wounded, apparently after having been trampled during Leon’s wild ride of the night before. He decides that he must stay with the bird, to keep it company as it heals or, more likely, dies. Leon wonders why, and how, he can do this for a simple bird, shirking his responsibility to his comrades and exposing himself to ridicule and danger.
A long flashback then tells the story of Leon’s relationship with Ann, with whom he fell in love at first sight (a common occurrence in Helprin’s stories) when both were quite young. They courted, married, and had started on what would seem to be a wonderful life together until the interruption of World War II. Here, as with the Syrian guerrillas in the earlier part of the story, the enemy is simply the war, an impersonal force like a hurricane that sweeps over individual humans.
As Leon and Ann were fleeing Paris to the south of France, the train on which they were riding suffered a brutal air attack. Leon was wounded; upon regaining consciousness, he found the train, and Ann, gone. In the chaos of war-torn Europe, he was never able to find Ann again or discover her fate. Crushed by the loss of her, he is able to survive only by harboring a hope that she will someday reappear.
At the end of the story, Leon hears riders approaching. The reader never learns whether they are his enemies or his comrades, nor is the ultimate fate of the dove revealed.
Though the story is rich in symbols, correspondences, and meanings, one possible interpretation is that the dove represents to Leon innocence and beauty destroyed by random, unfeeling fate, just as his perfect relationship with Ann was inexplicably ended. Courage and hope in the face of tragedy are among the glories that Helprin sees in the world of “a God whose savage beauty made sharp mountains of ice and rock rise suddenly out of soft green fields.”
Bibliography
Alexander, Paul. “Big Books, Tall Tales.” The New York Times Magazine 140 (April 28, 1991): 32.
Keneally, Thomas. “Of War and Memory.” Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The New York Times Book Review, May 5, 1991, 1.
Lambert, Craig. “Literary Warrior.” Harvard Magazine (May/June, 2005): 38-43.
Linville, James. “Mark Helprin: The Art of Fiction CXXXII.” The Paris Review 35 (Spring, 1993): 160-199.
“Mark Helprin’s Next Ten Years (and Next Six Books) with HBJ.” Publishers Weekly 236 (June 9, 1989): 33-34.
Max, D. T. “His Horses Used to Fly.” The New York Times Book Review, November 7, 2004, p. 24
Meroney, John. “’Live’ with TAE: Mark Helprin.” The American Enterprise (July/August. 2001): 17-20.
Rubins, Josh. “Small Expectations.” Review of Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin. The New York Review of Books 30 (November 24, 1983): 40-41.
Solotarfoff, Ed. “A Soldier’s Tale.” Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The Nation 252 (June 10, 1991): 776-781.