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Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize Winner is the story of Newland Archer, engaged & then married to May Welland, but in love with the disgraced Countess Ellen Olenska in 1870's New York City. I was shocked by how much I liked this book the first time I read it; Wharton writes with a wonderful sly sense of humor. Now I know that this must have been written as a sort of cautionary tale about how the rigid rules of upper crust society prevent Archer from pursuing his heart's desire and when Wharton wrote, it probably seemed to many that life would be better if we followed our hearts and not societal conventions. But looking back with the benefit of a century of hindsight, I found myself nostalgic for a time when Society was capable of Outrage, individuals were subject to Shame and societal morays actually served as a bulwark against scandalous behavior. (Reviewed:) Grade: (A) Tweet Websites:See also:Edith Wharton (3 books reviewed)General Literature Brothers Judd Top 100 of the 20th Century: Novels Library Journal: Top 150 of the Century Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century New York Public Library's Books of the Century Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) -WIKIPEDIA: Edith Wharton -SHORT STORY: “Miss Mary Pask” (Edith Wharton, library of America) -ESSAY: Confessions of a Novelist: “What I mean to try for is the observation of that strange moment when the vaguely adumbrated characters whose adventures one is preparing to record are suddenly there, themselves, in the flesh, in possession of one, and in command of one’s voice and hand.” (Edith Wharton, April 1923, The Atlantic) - -PODCAST: Does Edith Wharton Hate Us?: From The History of Literature Podcast with Jacke Wilson (History of Literature, January 17, 2023) - -ESSAY: Sofia Coppola in Praise of Edith Wharton’s Beloved Antiheroine, Undine Spragg: “We watch her like a car crash while at the same time we root for her.” (Sofia Coppola, November 15, 2022, LitHub) -ESSAY: Edith Wharton’s Ghosts: Known mainly as a realist, the writer used the gothic form to explore the horror of being confined by gender. (Jennifer R. Bernstein, Boston Review) -ESSAY: “Yoknapatawpha on the Hudson”?: On the Novelistic Universe of Edith Wharton Krithika Varagur Rereads The Old Maid (Krithika Varagur, May 12, 2022, LitHub) -PODCAST: Edith Wharton (Melvyn Bragg, BBC: In Ourt Times) -ESSAY: Edith Wharton on How to Write a Vivid First Line: "[It] should be something more than a trick." (Edith Wharton, March 11, 2022, LitHub) -ESSAY: The Age of Innocence is a masterclass in sexual tension: In Edith Wharton’s wonderful novel about New York high society, a simple tap of a fan or glance across a crowded room can feel intensely charged (Sam Jordison, 8 Sep 2020, The Guardian) -REVIEW: of Ghosts by Edith Wharton (Sheila Liming, Cleveland Review of Books) - - - - - - - - - Book-related and General Links: -The Edith Wharton Society Home Page -Edith Wharton Restoration -Edith Wharton's World (National Portrait Gallery) -Edith Wharton: an Overview with Biocritical Resources -Domestic Goddess: Edith Wharton -PAL: Edith Wharton (1862-1937)(PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide) -The San Antonio College LitWeb Edith Wharton Page -Edith Wharton (Kutztown) -Wharton, Edith: Ethan Frome (Medical Humanities) -Literary Research Guide: Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937) -ETEXTS: by Edith Wharton The House of Mirth (1905) Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton (1911) -ETEXTS: of Contemporary Reviews of Wharton's Works from the University of Virginia E-Text Center -TEACHING GUIDE: Edith Wharton (1862-1937) Contributing Editor: Elizabeth Ammons -ESSAY: Edith Wharton's World: Portraits of People and Places (Stephen May, The Bee) -ESSAY: The New York That Wharton Turned Into Art (MICHAEL FRANK, NY Times) -ESSAY: In Search of Edith Wharton (BARBARA SHOUP, NY Times) -ESSAY: Summers in an Age of Innocence: In France With Edith Wharton (Leon Edel, NY Times Book Review) -ESSAY: Streetscapes: Edith Wharton; In 'The Age of Innocence,' Fiction Was Not Truth (CHRISTOPHER GRAY, NY Times) -ESSAY: Wharton and the House of Scribner: The Novelist as a Pain in the Neck (Marc Aronson, NY Times) -ESSAY: Filming Edith Wharton's World: You Were How You Ate (JIM KOCH, NY Times) -REVIEW: Elizabeth Hardwick: Mrs. Wharton in New York, NY Review of Books WORKS BY AND ABOUT EDITH WHARTON DISCUSSED IN THIS ESSAY Edith Wharton: Novels (The House of Mirth, The Reef, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence) The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton Old New York: False Dawn (The 'Forties), The Old Maid (The 'Fifties), The Spark (The 'Sixties), New Year's Day (The 'Seventies) by Edith Wharton "Bunner Sisters" in Madame de Treymes and Others by Edith Wharton Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton Edith Wharton: A Biography by R.W.B. Lewis Portrait of Edith Wharton by Percy Lubbock -REVIEW: of THE HOUSE OF MIRTH THE REEF THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY THE AGE OF INNOCENCE By Edith Wharton (Janet Malcolm, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: Gabriele Annan: A Night at the Opera, NY Review of Books 'Fast and Loose' and 'The Buccaneers' by Edith Wharton The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton and completed by Marion Mainwaring The Age of Innocence directed by Martin Scorsese, screenplay by Jay Cocks, and Martin Scorsese The Age of Innocence: A Portrait of the Film Based on the Novel by Edith Wharton by Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and introduction by R.W.B. Lewis -REVIEW: of THE BUCCANEERS By Edith Wharton. Completed by Marion Mainwaring (Wendy Steiner, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: of A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton by Cynthia Griffin Wolff Edith Wharton's Secret (Karl Miller, NY Review of Books) -REVIEW: Irvin Ehrenpreis: The Rescue of Edith Wharton, NY Review of Books Edith Wharton: A Biography by R.W.B. Lewis -REVIEW: Eleanor Clark: "Angel of Devastation", NY Review of Books The Two Lives of Edith Wharton by Grace Kellogg Edith Wharton and Henry James: The Story of Their Friendship by Millicent Bell Edith Wharton 1862-1937 by Olivia Coolidge The Edith Wharton Reader selected with an Introduction by Louis Auchincloss The Reef by Edith Wharton and Introduction by Louis Auchincloss -REVIEW: Marius Bewley: Mrs. Wharton's Mask, NY Review of Books A Blackward Glance: The Autobiography of Edith Wharton Introduction by Louis Auchincloss Summer by Edith Wharton Old New York by Edith Wharton -REVIEW: of THE MOTHER'S RECOMPENSE. By Edith Wharton (MICHIKO KAKUTANI, NY Times) -REVIEW: of The Stories of Edith Wharton Selected and Introduced by Anita Brookner (Michiko Kakutani , NY Times) -REVIEW: of The Letters of Edith Wharton Edited by R. W. B. Lewis and Nancy Lewis (Michiko Kakutani , NY Times) -REVIEW: of NO GIFTS FROM CHANCE A Biography of Edith Wharton. By Shari Benstock (Greg Johnson, NY times Book Review) -REVIEW: of EDITH WHARTON An Extraordinary Life. By Eleanor Dwight (Angeline Goreau, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: of HENRY JAMES AND EDITH WHARTON Letters: 1900-1915. Edited by Lyall H. Powers (Maggie Paley, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: of HENRY JAMES AND EDITH WHARTON Letters: 1900-1915. Edited by Lyall H. Powers (Michiko Kakutani , NY Times) FILM:
GENERAL:
If you liked The Age of Innocence, try:
Tarkington, Booth
Comments:I am teaching The Age of Innocence at A level and my resources are somewhat stuffy. I want my students to do a feminist psychoanalytic reading of the text, focusing on May and Ellen and how Wharton portrays them. Your site is excellent with many useful resources. I intend to plunder it. Many thanks - Frances McNeill - Nov-23-2004, 13:57 ******************************************************* |
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