Edith Wharton, The Reef. Everyman’s Library, hardback, 1996. First published 1912 Anna Summers is a product of the convention-bound world of Old New York: In the well-regulated, well-fed Summers world the unusual was regarded as either immoral or ill-bred, and … Continue reading
Edith Wharton (1862-1937), Old New York. Virago Modern Classics, 2006. First published 1924. New Year’s Day (pp. 227-306). The 1870s Before I discuss this last of the four novellas in Old New York, here are some thoughts about the collection as … Continue reading
Edith Wharton (1862-1937), Old New York. Virago Modern Classics, 2006. First published 1924. The Spark (pp. 173-226) (1860s) This third in Edith Wharton’s collection of novellas, Old New York, each of which is largely set in successive decades of the mid-century, 40s-70s, … Continue reading
Edith Wharton (1862-1937), Old New York. Virago Modern Classics, 2006. First published 1924. The Old Maid (pp. 75-172) The 1850s Running through three of the four novellas comprising Edith Wharton’s Old New York is the fear and presence of disease, in … Continue reading
Edith Wharton (1862-1937), Old New York. Virago Modern Classics, 2006. First published 1924. False Dawn (pp. 3-74): The ‘Forties. I was intending a post on all four of the novellas in this collection together, but I decided it was worth … Continue reading
After succumbing to the mystery infection a few weeks ago, I’ve now had a problem with a torn retina, so have not been able to write or read much all week. So thanks to LibriVox I’m listening to an audio … Continue reading
Edith Wharton, Summer. First published 1917. Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 1993. There are only two major works of Edith Wharton’s that aren’t set in her own world – high society, affluent New York and Europe. Last time I wrote about … Continue reading
Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome (first published 1911; OUP paperback, with Summer, 1982, reprinted 1989) These two short novels are counterparts, Ethan Frome being set in a bleak, snowy New England winter (the story’s title is Hiver in the French translation), … Continue reading
‘The incurable simplicity of the corrupt’: Edith Wharton (1862-1937), The Children Edith Wharton’s nineteenth novel The Children, published in 1928, is less impressive than the others by her that I’ve posted about here recently: The House of Mirth and The … Continue reading
The names of the characters aren’t exactly subtle in this vitriolic portrait of upper-class New York City society in the 1870s (though the novel, Edith Wharton’s twelfth, was first published in 1920): the protagonist’s is the doubly Jamesian Newland Archer, … Continue reading