Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: D. Appleton and Company in 1919 in 176 pages; Subjects: National characteristics, French; History / Europe / France; Literary Criticism / American / General; Social Science / Customs & Traditions; Travel / Europe / France; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Looking at the French without starry eyes
Edith Wharton makes clear what being French means without a starry eyed view of Paris nights or glorification of sensuality. Wharton is first a social scientist and second an American writer living in France. This book is a description of various parts of French culture compared to her American perspective. Her candid discussion of the differences between French and American political culture makes clear how French history has shaped the distinctive Franco political and social cultures. I found the chapter on Taste to be particularly valuable. I had read "The Gospel According to Chanel" but did not really understand the French idea of taste. Unfortunately, Wharton's ideas on women are outdated, making only certain chapters of the book valuable for social science course reading. But, presented as a contrast to de Toqueville's French view on Americans and American democracy, the two volumes would offer interesting discussions about historical social science methodology.

Outraged, Disgusted, Disappointed
The product does not deserve to be called a book.

It is more like a pamphlet full of misprints.

This transaction was a very bad reflection on Amazon.

I have been a committed customer, but this is giving me second thoughts.

Good book, poor print quality
It's important to know that this edition (Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (April 10, 2007)) is a bound photocopy. That is, it has an ordinary softcover binding, but most of the pages are blurry photocopies of the original edition. (All of this is explained in a note at the start of the book, but is not mentioned in the ordering information.)

The background of the pages is dark, dotted gray and the print is not clear. Many of the pages also have underlining and notes (that is, the original pages that were photocopied have these marks). The dark gray background affects about three fourths of the pages; perhaps half the pages are marked with underlines or comments.

Needless to say, all of this affects the book's value. Most of the book is physically hard to read because of these problems, which are not (currently) mentioned in the book's description information.

My one star is for the physical problems with this particular edition, not the contents of the book itself. (Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have any way to differentiate between them.) The book is hard to find and people who are interested in it may well be willing to put up with the ugly physical presentation in order to get an affordable copy, but you should be informed before you buy it that for reading purposes this isn't any better than a bad fax or photocopy of a real book.

A good primer on French culture.
Edith Wharton was a very observant writer and a great novelist.Her observations on the French in most cases are right on target.However, people traveling to France for work or pleasure need to understand that she is writing about a France in the early part of the 20th centur before and during World War I. When a person writes about a culture there observations only pertain to that particular time and that particular place. Another, thing to rember she is also writes about upper-class french life, which is a problem I find with almost all books on the French.Other then those two critices this is a very entertaining and insightful book on the French.

On parting coment, remeber that when someone writes about a diffrent culture they are using generalizations that may be true of the culture but not everyone in it.

Fine introduction.
This delightful little volume is a compilation of articles written for American troops bound for France in World War One.While their effect on the average doughboy may be questionable, they give a powerful and invaluable insight into one of the most perceptive minds of the age.
Wharton, in her most engaging and always readable style, discussesFirst Impressions, and examines issues of Reverence, Taste, Intellectual Honesty,and Continuity, and, in her essay on the New Frenchwoman,reveals perhaps more about herself than her subjects.
Highly recommended as a fine introduction to the author.

(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable default setting within the format of the site.This reviewer does nor employ numerical ratings). ... Read more

Product Description
This an American writer."--The New York Times Book Review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A much needed reappraisal
Edith Wharton until recently has not received the interest and praise she deserved as one of the finest American authors -- was it because she was wealthy and female? Because people thought she was simply a protege of Henry James? Or because her books rarely had happy endings? Fortunately, a new generation is reappraising her work and finding much of value in it, from her critique of early 20th century American society and subtle assessment of man-woman relationships to her wonderfully textured and evocative style. RWB Lewis, who must be the foremost Wharton scholar today, brings Wharton to life in this book -- her tremendous intelligence, the terrific emotional hardships she endured, her great capacity for friendships and amazing zest for life.Wharton got started late as an author, not publishing her first book until nearly 40 -- because she had to overcome a tremendous hurdle -- being born into a society where women writers simply did not exist. Everything she accomplished thus was purely out of her own drive to communicate and create.If you haven't read much Wharton, I recommend also The Age of Innocence, The Custom of the Country, The House of Mirth, and any short stories you can lay your hands on.

Very interesting
I had to read this for a college class about 10 years ago and was reluctant at first. It turned out to be a very interesting, informative book. It's quite large, but enjoyable - the pictures were especially fascinating, especially of Edith's various homes throughout her lifetime. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (142)

deserves to be read
The Age of Innocence is a book that modern readers will perhaps find hard to appreciate. Not so much from the writing itself -- Edith Wharton is one of the masters of literary craft and this book won her the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921. Rather, modern readers, raised in an age of independence and the anti-hero, where cultural standards are routinely smacked down with a hammer, may just not understand or have patience for the conflicts and dilemmas raised in the book. In exquisite detail, Edith brings the cultural boundaries, customs, and mores of upper class New York in the 1870s to life, primarily through the relationships between Newland Archer, May Welland, and Ellen Olenska. The characters are conflicted by having to balance restrictions and customs of their class, and their feelings of duty and honor, against human emotions of love and passion. I think modern readers should really give this book a chance, as it offers a rare insight into a world long forgotten, and if only for that, it deserves to be read.

Audio book version is quite good
This is another in a series of classics I have been listening to on my commute.This is my first time through the novel, though I have seen several movie versions of the novel in the past.

My reaction to the audio book was fairly positive.The narrator, David Horowitch, generally did a very good job.His characterizations were fairly good, though not in the same league as a Jim Dale.I still had to pay attention to which character was speaking, though I could tell the two main characters apart.My biggest complaint was how he spoke too quietly where I couldn't understand him.It was appropriate at those points in the story, but it was too much.Since I am driving, the road noise is too great to handle such a dynamic range.

The novel itself is excellent and does a good job showing the social norms of the time and the struggles Newland had in dealing with them.It effectively showed the temptations that many people have dealt with, and one man's response to those temptations.

I recommend this audio book, but note that it is best to listen to with either ear phones or in a quiet room due to the extreme dynamic range of the speaker.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence is about Newland Archer, an indifferent lawyer who is engaged to the prim and proper May Welland but secretly develops the hots for her independent, fiery cousin Ellen Olenska. Their feelings intensify only in bits and pieces, for their stifling social world would never look well upon an engaged man having an affair with a woman of already questionable repute. As they grow closer they are driven further apart, both by custom and by human manipulation, all of which are far from innocent.

The Age of Innocence is many things- biting social satire, sharp-edged character study, and a sympathetic observation of one of the most constricted romances in the history of literature. It is also an incredibly entertaining book, with sentence after elegant sentence finely constructing this little world of turn-of-the-century upper-crust New York that is now far gone. It is also a complete work; at its end I felt completely satisfied because nothing was left out, no relevant nuance or character unexplored, its themes illuminated just enough and nothing feeling out of place. From the pomp and circumstance of the beginning, to the desire and betrayal of the middle, to the suitably haunting conclusion, this is simply a perfect book and I couldn't imagine American lit without it. Highly recommended for anyone.

Required Listening
My last experience with Edith Wharton was "Ethan Frome" in high school nearly 40 years ago, a book I've forgotten entirely.On a hunch and because of its modest price ($20), I recently bought the "Age of Innocence" to listen to during my morning commute.What a stunningly sublime accident my small purchase turned out to be:This is beautifully rendered reading of "Innocence" that will captivate, thrill and, yes, even elevate the most literate.From the opening paragraphs you're immediately drawn into a 19th century New York opera house and dazzled with Wharton's rich, adroit descriptions of the performance and, most keenly, members of the audience sitting in their private boxes many of whom will become the novel's leading characters.Wharton paints chapter after chapter wtih brilliantly nuanced scenes filled with sharply etched characters whose words stay with me throughout my work day.Wharton's lush lanuage and precise dialogue never flags.You'll hear words pronounced you may have read before but have never heard anyone speak until now.This is a marvelous audio book- the reader does all the voices with aplomb, male and female, including accents.I can't recommend it highly enough; I enjoy re-listening to favorite scenes each day before going on to new chapters.If you buy only one audio book this year, "The Age of Innocence" should be it.

Passion and the outsider
It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Thoughtful, Fascinating Travels Essays - Italy, 1901-1904
Italian Backgrounds is comprised of nine, loosely coupled travel essays written by Edith Wharton over a four year period (1901-1904).Few readers are likely to possess her remarkable knowledge of Italian paintings, murals, frescoes, sculpture, and architecture, and in the hands of a lesser writer, these essays might easily have become tedious and overly detailed.Wharton's essays achieve a singular balance between scholarly analysis and captivating memoir.

Italian Backgrounds begins not in Italy, but at a small alpine posting-inn in Switzerland close to the Italian border.She contrasts apicturesque "toy chalet, with its air of self-conscious neatness" with the untidiness ofnearby Italian villages.Despite this negative comparison, with little effort Wharton convinces us that we must take the dusty, windy road downward into that land where church steeples become campanili, liberated vines wrap themselves around mulberry trees, and far off across the hot plains domes and spires, painted walls, and sculptured alters await us.

Italian Backgrounds is not a conventional travel book.Edith Wharton's discursive essays are not arranged geographically, nor chronologically. The chapters could be read in any sequence with little loss of continuity. They might compare favorably with an extensive mural, one that draws your attention first here, then there, then elsewhere.

Despite the passage of 100 years, Italian Backgrounds should be mandatory reading to anyone planning to visit Italy, especially those with aspirations to write travel essays. Likewise, Italian Backgrounds would be ideal supplementary reading for a general art appreciation class, as well as targeted reading for art and history majors.

The chapters are titled An Alpine Posting-Inn, A Midsummer Week's Dream, The Sanctuaries of the Pennine Alps, What the Hermits Saw, A Tuscan Shrine, Sub Umbra Liliorum, March in Italy, Picturesque Milan, and Italian Backgrounds.

Ecco Travels specializes in re-publishing rare and hard-to-obtain travel writings by exceptional authors like Henry James, Charles Dickens, Andre Gide, Freya Stark, Augustus Hare, Aldous Huxley, V. S. Pritchett, Evelyn Waugh, and Edith Wharton.

She knows her Italy!
"Italian Backgrounds" by Edith Wharton is a somewhat charming travel book (a quick read) about her time in Italy as its veteran traveler. The piece is not written in a narrative, but is rather more thematically arranged. Wharton doesn't write about the Doges Palace or the Duomo, her milieu is the deeper background of the dedicated traveler.

The title comes from her theme derived from an analogy that traveling in Italy involves various areas of a painting. Italian paintings, she writes, have fore- middle- and backgrounds. The two-or three-day tourist in Venice spends all his or her time in the foreground, traipsing the well-established routes and keeping to the guidebooks. If one has more time, one can go farther into the "painting" by discovering more, and, of course, finally, as Wharton herself has done, one can dwell in the backgrounds, knowing the country well, understanding all its eras and its different brands of beauty.

Wharton is a harsh art critic, and much of the book deals with her assessments of lesser known (to me as the foreground tourist of Italy) artists and their works. My favorite chapter retold the story of her identifying some mislabeled statuary in Tuscany as belonging to a different artist and era altogether.

It was pleasant to read. For me, I am a fan of Wharton, so enjoyed this look into her experiences and the life of her mind. ... Read more

Product Description
A master of the American short story, in a two-volume collector's editionOver the course of a long and astonishingly productive literary career that stretched from the early 1890s to just before World War II, Edith Wharton published nearly a dozen story collections, leaving a body of work as various as it is enduring. With this two-volume set, The Library of America presents the finest of Wharton's achievement in short fiction: 67 stories drawn from the entire span of her writing life, including the novella-length works The Touchstone, Sanctuary, and Bunner Sisters, eight shorter pieces never collected by Wharton, and many stories long out-of-print.

Her range of setting and subject matter is dazzling, and her mastery of style consistently sure. Here are all the aspects of Wharton's art: her satire, sometimes gentle, sometimes dark and despairing, of upper-class manners; her unblinking recognition of the power of social convention and the limits of passion; her merciless exposure of commercial motivations; her candid exploration of relations between the sexes.

The stories range with cosmopolitan ease from her native New York to the salons and summer hotels of Newport, Paris, and the Italian lakes. The depth of her response to World War I is registered in such works as "The Marne." Of particular interest are the remarkable stories, which treat occult and supernatural themes rarely encountered in her novels, such as the classic ghost stories "The Eyes" and "Pomegranate Seed." ... Read more

Product Description
Collected here in one volume are six works that represent nearly a quarter century in the productive life of one of the most accomplished and admired of American writers. They explore the private worlds of our "Gilded Age." A once free-spirited American woman in Paris tries to extricate herself from her marriage to a French aristocrat in "Madame de Treymes." A divorced mother finds herself in a strange romantic triangle in "The Mother's Recompense." Repressed passions smolder in small town New England in the classic "Ethan Frome," a tale of unhappy marriage and desperate love which erupts in an act of shattering violence, and in "Summer," which Wharton called the "hot 'Ethan.'" Also included here are "Old New York," four linked novellas set in succeeding decades from the 1840s to the 1870s, Wharton's renowned autobiography "A Backward Glance," and "Life and I," a fascinating autobiographical fragment published here for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

a pleasure
It's been a pleasure reading this Edith Wharton's book. She involves us in an atmosphere of beauty and romance, that lead us to profound thinkingabout life.

Edith Wharton: Novellas, used book
I need this text to write my thesis, in American Literature. The text is hard to find outside the USA or the UK, and luckyly it arrived very soon ( 2 weeks) and in perfect condition, almost new. Italian buyers please keep in mind that you will be chargd of 10 more euros at the time of the delivery, because of some italian border fees and other stuff. The price is however very low, so I overall had not too much complaints.

Short novels of society
In a way, Edith Wharton was at her best in her novellas -- her stories are lean, taut and emotionally deep. And "Edith Wharton: Novellas and Other Writings" explores views on love, sex, marriage, the conventions of the 19th and early 20th century, and even her own life. They're not just fascinating, but beautifully written.

"Ethan Frome" is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.

"Summer" shocked the 1917 public, with its frank-for-its-time look at a young woman's sexual awakening. It takes place in the New England village of North Dormer, where the young librarian Charity lives. But when Charity falls in love with an upper-class young rake named Lucius, she finds herself pregnant and unmarried -- a destructive combination in the 1900s. There's only one respectable way out.

"The Mother's Recompense" explores the difficulties of Kate Clephane, who abandoned her husband and daughter, and now lives as an unhappy divorcee on the Riviera. She's unexpectedly invited back, to attend her daughter's wedding -- only to find that her daughter's fiancee is one of Kate's ex-lovers. Now Kate has to wrestle her own regrets and jealousies, to figure out whether to tell her daughter the truth.

"Madame De Treymes" is a sort of Henry Jamesian novella, taking place in early twentieth-century Paris. It follows the unhappy lives abroad of two Americans -- the miserable Fanny Frisbee is married to a nasty aristocrat, and living in Paris. As a knight on a white horse, her friend John is trying to convince her to divorce her hubby and marry him...

"Old New York" is a collection of four novellas, exploring different facets of, well, Old New York -- family strife, adultery, illegitimate children, and a young man's inner changes. And "A Backward Glance" is totally different -- Wharton's autobiography, describing not only her life, but her friendships with the artists of the day, and the inspirations for her rich fiction.

Edith Wharton gave unvarnished looks at social conventions throughout her career -- she doesn't judge, she just tells it how it was, whether she's talking about the Roaring 20s or the uptight Victorian era. Divorce was almost unthinkable, affairs scandalous if revealed, and women had the cards stacked against them in matters of love, marriage and sex.

So her works are even better when you set them in context, full of characters who were totally unlike her. Some were male, some timid and naive, some disgraced (she herself was divorced, though this didn't hurt her socially), and some completely broken by society's dictates. Few of her characters are much like Wharton, but she gets inside their heads and makes them entirely believable.

Wharton's formal, often poetic writing style makes these stories all the richer. They're rich with light, smells, sounds and the swirl of nature, even in a city. But it's offset by the starkness of her stories -- if she took a hard look at hypocrises and social conventions, she didn't flinch from showing what happened to those that transgressed. It's realistic, but a bit depressing.

Doomed love and personal reflection are what makes up a lot of "Edith Wharton: Novellas and Other Writings," a magnificent collection of her shorter books. Sad and beautiful, gripping and classic.

Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome is a man that has never been able to make decisions for himself. When he married his wife Zeena it the fact that she made a good companion for the situation with his mother. Their relationship was good at first but it slowly started to die when zeena became sickly. He always did what would be best for other people, but when zeena's cousin came to live with them he took time to see her because Mattie made him feel good about himself. Ethan has been in the same place all of his life and never found a true love. Then mattie came and for once ethan stopped looking at what would be best and started looking for that wonderful feeling.

quick to read but still has a twisted plot
I had to read this in under two hours for a literary project and I was very pleased to discover an author who managed to write such a constant yet emotional plot in less than 100 pages. It still hasn't dawned on me whetheror not Durham was sensible in his choice. I will be writing a full analysisthis week so if ever you need help, email me, and I'd be glad to be ofservice. Good read for the intellectually stimulating conversationalists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Age of the not-so-innocent
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century -- both social clashes, and ones between the sexes. This collection brings together four of her best books, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion, social-climbing and a woman's place in an unfriendly world. And each story is tinged with tragedy, satire or romance.

"Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But during his engagement, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, the still-legally-married Countess Olenska -- and after his marriage, his attraction to the mysterious Countess and her unconventional ways becomes even stronger. Will he become an outcast and leave with her, or stick with a life of conformity and safety with his young wife?

"The Custom of the Country" takes whatever is biting about "Age of Innocence" and magnifies it. Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, who wants the best of everything -- more than her family can afford, or ever will be able to. She begins by marrying a young scion of "old money", and leaving divorce, death and broken hearts in her wake. She does all this while hiding a then-shameful secret. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is.

But the mockery in "House of Mirth" is not meant to be funny, but saddening and eye-opening instead -- because an impoverished single woman's lot in the 1800s was a sad one. Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. But her schemes and plans start to collapse, as she rejects all her adoring suitors, and a nasty society matron decides to deflect attention from her adultery by accusing Lily falsely. Her life rapidly descends into a spiral of wretched unemployment and poverty, with only one way out.

"The Reef" is one of infidelity -- Charles Darrow has been reunited with his first love Anna, now a widow living in France. But as he prepares to propose, he receives a telegram telling him not to come. Angry and hurt, he decides to escort a feisty young companion named Sophy Viner around Paris, and the two fall into a brief affair. But when he reunites and reconciles with Anna, Charles discovers that not only is Sophy the governess of Anna's daughter, but is engaged to her stepson.

Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. These four books are, in fact, crammed with the societal clashes of the time: infidelity, divorce, the lenience towards men versus the strict standards given to women, the impact of "new money" in the territory of the old, and what it took for a person to break out of the bounds of society -- and the cost it had.

Her writing is striking even now -- it has the formal, detailed quality of nineteenth-century prose, but it isn't nearly as stuffy. Instead, her writing is lush, perfumed languid and shimmering with repressed emotion -- even "Custom of the Country," with its nasty shallow anti-heroine, has moments of pure lyrical beauty, although they usually come from someone other than Undine. And her descriptions of the tiny gestures and expressions that are used to communicate are exquisite.

And her characters come to life with startling reality. Wharton never resorts to sentimentality or cheap tricks to make us react to them -- stuffy "aristocrats" of the New World, beautiful middle-aged women who worry that they've missed out on passion, and bright bohemians. The more brilliant, appealing characters like the tragic Lily and the free-spirited Countess are easy to feel liking for, but Wharton even makes the less appealing characters -- like the wishy-washy Newland -- realistically complex.

"Edith Wharton Novels: The House of Mirth/The Reef/The Custom of the Country/The Age of Innocence" are among the best that Edith Wharton ever penned -- intricate looks at society and human nature, wrapped up in beautiful writing.

The age of the not-so-innocent
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. This collection brings together four of her best books, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion, social-climbing and a woman's place in an unfriendly world.

"Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating count husband. At first, the two are friends, but then they become something more.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and a safe, dull life?

"The Custom of the Country" takes whatever is biting about "Age of Innocence" and magnifies it. Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, whose parents made a small-scale fortune and have moved to the glitzy world of New York. Undine wants the best of everything, more than her family can afford, but she thinks it's all worth it -- so she marries a besotted son of "old New York," but it doesn't take long for him to realize how incompatible they are.

And he doesn't realize that Undine is hiding a (then) shameful secret -- she was once married and quickly divorced from a vulgar businessman. In the present, Undine continues her quest for a life of pleasure, moving on to a French nobleman and getting just as dissatisfied with him. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is.

But the mockery in "House of Mirth" is not meant to be funny, butsaddening and eye-opening. Like most not-so-rich women, Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. What's more, she has the rapid intellect to be able to navigate these treacherous waters.

But her schemes and plans start to collapse, as she rejects all her adoring suitors because they aren't rich enough, and a nasty society matron decides to deflect attention from her adultery by accusing Lily falsely. Her life rapidly descends into a spiral of wretched unemployment and poverty, until the tragic finale.

"The Reef" is far more romantic in nature, but Wharton still tackles the touchy, shades-of-grey nature of relationships and infidelity. George Darrow receives a telegram postponing a meeting with his might-be-fiancee, reserved widow Anna Leath. Hurt and angry, he chaperons a young American woman, Sophie Viner, around Paris... and then has a fling with her.

Several months later, he and Anna have patched up their relationship, and are on their way to the altar and a steady, rewarding life together, travelling the world. But Anna's stepson is also secretly engaged -- and to Darrow's horror, it's none other than Sophie, Anna's daughter's governess. Of course, they can't keep this secret.

Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. These four books are, in fact, crammed with the societal clashes of the time: infidelity, divorce, the impact of "new money," and what it took for a person to break out of the bounds of society -- and the cost it had.

Her writing is striking even now -- it has the formal, detailed quality of nineteenth-century prose, but it isn't nearly as stuffy.Instead, her writing is lush, perfumed languid and shimmering with repressed emotion -- even "Custom of the Country," with its nasty shallow anti-heroine, has moments of pure lyrical beauty, although they usually come from someone else.

These four novels are perhaps the best that Edith Wharton ever penned -- intricate looks at society and human nature, wrapped up in beautiful writing. Definitely a must read.

An essential collection for any library
Along with her good friend Henry James, Edith Wharton was an expert atstudying the stiff social fabric of New York in the 1800's. In thiscollection of some of her best work, the reader is invited into the livesof characters who struggle against the confines of society, for love and/ortheir own sanity. The House of Mirth is one of the best novels I've everread, with the thoroughly captivating character of Lily Bart taking centerstage. Wharton proved that she could see love and all of its tribulationsthrough the eyes of a man when she wrote The Age of Innocence. No matterwhat she wrote, she did so with unerring detail and an almost uncanny knackfor "the right phrase" for every situation. This collection is aninteresting study not only of "old New York" but of characterswho stay with you long after the last sentence is savored. ... Read more

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An immensely affordable collection of Edith Wharton's short stories
Edith Wharton was a credible social satirist, drawing on her own observances of the upper class society to which she belonged to paint compelling portraits of characters struggling against the strictures imposed upon them by that very same society. The characters' reactions are all too familiar, evoking in readers feelings of sympathy as in "The Muse's Tragedy" and "Souls Belated", revulsion in "The Dilettante" and "Xingu", and a mixture of both in the other short stories featured here, i.e. "The Pelican", "Expiation",and "The Other Two". The stories have familiar themes such as love, divorce, marriage, and of course the ever present theme of society. For the price, a discerning reader will get to enjoy seven insightful short stories by a master of the genre.

Seven potent shots of Wharton's genius
The Dover Thrift Edition of "Short Stories" by Edith Wharton is a great collection of some of this writer's work. There are two common themes that run through this collection of 7 stories: (1) the writer and his/her place in society, and (2) women living through the complications of their emotional and/or sexual lives in the context of larger societal pressures. These thematic threads give the collection as a whole a pleasing coherence. The stories included are as follows:

"Expiation": about a woman novelist, this story looks at an intersection point in the worlds of literature and religion. "The Dilettante": about a troublesome romantic triangle. "The Muse's Tragedy": about the problematic emotional legacy of a respected poet. "The Pelican": follows the career of a female lecturer. "Souls Belated": about the relationship between a male novelist and a divorced woman. "Xingu": a comic tale about a snobby ladies' club that is hosting a woman novelist. "The Other Two": the story of a man's relationships with the two ex-husbands of his twice-divorced wife.

Wharton is an excellent writer, and her skills are really on full display in this collection. Peppered throughout the stories are a number of memorable (sometimes even Wildean) lines. Example: "It is always a bad sign when loud people come to a quiet place" (from "Souls"). An ideal choice for literature or women's studies courses (as well as for private reading). Recommended as companion texts: the novel "Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing," by May Sarton, and the Dover Thrift Edition of "Short Stories" by Theodore Dreiser; both of these fine books share themes in common with this Wharton collection. ... Read more

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The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton's most famous novel, is a love story, written immediately after the end of the First World War.Its brilliant anatomization of the snobbery and hypocrisy of the wealthy elite of New York society in the 1870s made it an instant classic, and it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. Newland Archer, Wharton's protagonist, charming, tactful, enlightened, is a thorough product of this society; he accepts its standards and abides by its rules but he also recognizes its limitations. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska. Independent, free-thinking, scandalously separated from her husband, Ellen forces Archer to question the values and assumptions of his narrow world. As their love for each other grows, Archer has to decide where his ultimate loyalty lies.
Stephen Orgel's introduction and notes set the novel in the context of the period and discusses Wharton's skilfull weaving of characters and plot, her anthropological exactitude, and the novel's autobiographical overtones.
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Age of hypocrisy
It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty. ... Read more

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In EDITH WHARTON ABROAD, Sarah Bird Wright has carefully chosen selections from Edith Wharton's travel writing that convey the writer's control of her craft.Wharton disliked the generality of guidebooks and focused instead on the "parentheses of travel" - the undiscovered hidden corners of Europe, Morocco, and the Mediterranean.This collection spans a period of three decades and takes the reader with Wharton from France to Italy and to Greece.Included is anexcerpt from her unpublished memoir, THE CRUISE OF THE VANDIS, as well as front line depictions of Lorraine and the Vosges during World War I.Amazon.com Review
Edith Wharton was one who gave leisure and education a goodname. Writing lucidly, charmingly, and intelligently of cruising theGreek isles, staying in Italian villas, and visiting a sultan's palacein Morocco, she sets a civilized pace and tone. In Italian Backgrounds,Wharton asks, "Is it, in short, ever well to be elsewhere when onemight be in Italy?" To which I reply, is it ever well to be readingsomeone else when one might be reading Edith Wharton? ... Read more

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Sweet
Dude, this book is cool. its, like, really interesting and stuff and it makes me wanna go to italy. i bet italy is pretty cool from the descriptions. but thats just what i think, and i dont do it that often really. Hey, e-mail me if you have suggestions of good books or anything really. Bye!! ... Read more

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A classic work left unfinished by Edith Wharton has been brought to a successful completion using Wharton's own synopsis, as it chronicles the fortunes of five rich New York girls who travel to England in search of titled husbands. Reprint. NYT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Mainwaring shouldn't have done it!
I loved The Buccaneers until I ran into Mainwaring's contribution, the last 12 chapters.That was like hitting a brick wall going 60 mph!As E.A. Solinas says, "The problem is that Marion Mainwaring doesn't write like Wharton," and it is horribly evident when Mainwaring takes over.

Not only is the tone all wrong, but there are horrible gaffs such as when Mainwaring characterizes Mrs. Closson as "an obelisk on the banks of the Hudson." Obelisk!!!Really?Is Mrs. Closson really "a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal top"?Or is Mainwaring confused with "odalisque"?Don't believe me?Try the "Look Inside" function with the Penguin edition and search for 'obelisk' --there it is at the bottom of p. 327!!

This really was a shameless attempt to ride Scorsese's Age of Innocence coattails, wasn't it? Better to have left well enough alone, providing the reader with Wharton's synopsis of the remainder of the book.

brides
The Buccanners by Edith Wharton has been said to be based on the marriage of Consuela Vanderbilt to the Duke of Marlborogh.The only resemblence that I could see is that Consuelo married a duke and later divorced him, and the central figure in this book also married a duke.Nan St. George is the 18 year old American who marries the English duke.She is always in the shadow of her older beautiful sister and just drifts into a marriage and then drifts out of it.She is short and not too bright.Consuelo was tall, 5ft 8 inches, well educated, elegant and forceful.She was only 18 when she married the duke and made a tremendous effort to assume the duties of a duchess.Nan St. George prefered to remain child
like and drifted in to a romance with another man and wanted to go to the Greece of Byron and Rossetti.She lacked common sense and education. She was still clinging to her governess long after she was a wife and pregnant.The book constantly describes her as young and small.She had the brain and mind of a grammar school child.Edith Wharton lived in the social circles depicted in this book.

Delightful
I loved the language and the characterisation. The characters appear "real" from the moment they show up, and you can't help but cheer for these girls to find happinness. The book is a wonderful window to New York and London society at the time. Fascinating.

"You're a gang of buccaneers, you [Americans] are."
Unfinished at the time of Edith Wharton's death in 1937, The Buccaneers was later completed by Marian Mainwaring and published in 1993.Set in the late nineteenth century, it is a story in which newly rich American girls go to London for "the season" and to find husbands.Like the novels of Henry James, one of Wharton's friends, it stresses the contrast between the values of new American society and those of the long-established society of Europe, setting the bright enthusiasms of the Americans against the ritualized behaviors of upperclass Londoners, the freedoms of the Americans against the social and familial obligations of the Europeans.

The daughters of the St. George and Elmsworth families have been snubbed by New York society for the newness of their wealth, and when their friend Conchita Closson marries a member of the British nobility, they follow her to England, intending to participate in "the season" and perhaps find husbands of their own.Though the older girls sometimes compete for the same suitors and are preoccupied with the superficialities of society, the youngest St. George sister, Nan, still retains her carefree spirit, her innocence, and her zest for life.

Wharton completed about three-fifths of the novel before her death, leaving a plot outline for the remainder of the novel.More melodramatic than most of her other novels, The Buccaneers is filled with domestic intrigues, as straightforward but remarkably naïve American heiresses are wooed by faithless suitors who need funds to support their traditional lifestyles.Nan's courtship and marriage become the emotional and dramatic focus of the last part of the novel.

The point at which Mainwaring begins writing is obvious.Though she follows the plot summary which Wharton left behind, her language is less elegant and less formal, her emphasis on the sexual aspects of the relationships more blatant.Marriage, when viewed by the participants as a social responsibility, rather than as a free, romantic choice, leads to the opportunistic marriages we see here, with one partner gaining at the expense of the other.Women take lovers, withhold sexual favors from their husbands--and talk about everyone else who does what they are doing.Trapped in stultifying relationships, they gain social acceptance at the expense of their freedom and happiness.The ending, filled with ironies, is unique among Wharton's novels, feeling more like a Gothic romance than Wharton's usual social commentary. n Mary Whipple

Yawn
If you like Jane Austen you will probably be a fan of this book.Though the pace of the book was certainly faster than Austen I found the book rather boring and predictable. ... Read more

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Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeenie. But when Zeenie’s vivacious cousin enters their household as a "hired girl," Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.

In one of American fiction’s finest and most intense narratives, Edith Wharton moves this ill-starred trio toward their tragic destinies. Different in both tone and theme from Wharton’s other works, Ethan Frome has become perhaps her most enduring and most widely read novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Tragic love, written about beautifully
Be prepared for a depressing yet powerful love story!
Ethan Frome is an estranged villager, stoic, reclusive, long since abandoned himself to live alone, on his farm, with his sickly wife.Tragedy struck his family when both his parents died, and when his wife shortly thereafter became sick, Ethan's normal reservedness turned into an abnormal reticence that completely alientated him from the small northern town in which he lived.One wintry night, the narrator of the story hitches a ride with Ethan and after getting stuck in a snowstorm, spends the night at Ethan's house where he learns the tragic details of the love triangle that is repsonsible for Ethan's self-affected misery.
There are no happy characters in this novel.Ethan's marriage has dissolved into a relationship of bickering and duty, and when Ethan finds love in the young woman who is staying with him in order to alleviate the burden on his wife, the two of them quickly grow frustrated at their inability to consummate their feelings.When the wife begins to suspect that adulterous emotions are arising in her house, she takes steps to prevent the situation, forcing the two wanna-be lovers to take drastic action.
Wharton is a poetic writer who brings emotion and humanity to a simple yet powerful story of unrequited love.Nothing too complex or convoluted mars the all too human story, and it is due to the genius of Wharton's prose that this story carries the lasting impact that it does.This is an undeniable American classic but be warned, it is not an uplifting read.

Bad 'smash up' yields good book
I dug the folksy language and the setting of the bleak, New England scene, so aptly described.If you know old timers from the area, you'll enjoy the flavor of some of the exchanges so much the better.

I will say the pervasive yet sporadic inner contemplations were not quite fully developed, so that time passed exceedingly quickly through some passages, yet struggled along in others.Somehow it distracted me a bit, while at the same time, I'm forced to admit this mimics real life.We all report what we deem important, and glaze over the rest.I suppose that's as good a reason as any why the book's named Ethan Frome, and not Mattie Silver or Zeena Frome ... :-)

Given a chance (and the lack of humility to attempt such an undertaking) to edit Ethan Frome, I don't believe I would change a thing.Most of us probably can't say that about a number of other books...It's a short read, and roundly included in almost any list of classics or "must-reads".I gather you'll find both the story and moreover the characters worth the short time reading it takes.

In the Bleak Midwinter
"Ethan Frome" is unlike any other Edith Wharton novel, yet it is perhaps one of the most widely read of her works, and for good reason.Not to shortchange her other novels, but "Ethan Frome" holds a unique place within American literary history and it is a story, simple in concept and feeling, that has universal appeal.A bleak and lonely tale of tragedy, "Ethan Frome" is both beautiful and haunting, a story that will stay with the reader long after they have finished reading it.

The story begins (and ends) with a sort of narrative framing device.An outsider to the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, longs to know the tragic tale surrounding Ethan Frome, a scarred man who drives the narrator around town.Pieced together from what other townspeople have to say and a bleak winter night spent in the Frome household, the narrator pieces together the tragedy that befell Ethan.Ethan, seven years younger than his wife Zeena whom he married after she had nursed his dying mother, has begun to feel the insularity of their isolated life.Zeena is constantly sick and Ethan can barely scratch an existence out of their meager farm.Yet when Zeena's cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to stay with them, Ethan is awakened from his langor by an unexpected love for his wife's cousin.Doomed to keep his love secret, Ethan finds that he cannot do so, especially when a suspicious Zeena threatens to send Mattie away.Ethan has few options, for he doesn't have the money to run away with Mattie and support her, nor does he wish for anyone within the town to think poorly of him.The actions he does decide to take change the course of all three lives forever.

Readers know from the very beginning that something very tragic has happened to Ethan Frome, yet it is only as the narrator pieces together the tale of his loveless, cold marriage and his budding love for Mattie, that they begin to sense what may have happened to this shattered wreck of a man.Wharton's story is fast-paced, as if the words were being told to readers direcly by Ethan himself, and there is a lyrical beauty that underlies the bleak, desolate lives of these three unhappy creature.It is easy to see why "Ethan Frome" has had such an enduring legacy within American literature.

ROMANTIC TENSION-LOVED IT!
Ethan Frome is a wonderful short book about a man, his wife and another woman who live together in the same house on a small farm around the turn of the century. The wife suffers from some sort of long-term debilitating ailment and requires constant care. Neurasthenia is one idea, but it reads more like she had an exceptionally bad case of fibromyalgia. At any rate, she hurts from head to toe and suffers terrible headaches. The young woman was brought in to help with the care of the wife and the household, but naturally the lovesick husband allows himself to grow fond of her, and the story is really about his inner longings for her and how he finally builds up enough courage to let it all out. And once that happens, the book dives headlong into a strange and unexpected conclusion. The story takes place in the horse and buggy days, and the author, Edith Wharton, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, does a splendid job of describing the rural setting, the turn of the century characters, their day-to-day activities, and the romantic tension that slowly builds between the husband and the attractive young woman. The book held my interest from beginning to end, and I wasn't particularly offset by the way things turned out. However, the critics attacked the book unmercifully when it first came out in 1911. According to the book's introduction, the Saturday Review declared: "We wish we had not read it." Now that's a pretty heavy statement. And it's just one of the critics, there were several others, and their opinion was unanimous in the negative. To me, it just goes to show that you should take criticism with a grain of salt, and view the critics and their criticism in proper perspective, in this case, 1911 rural America. I'm sure if they read this book in 2010, it would evoke a different set of criticisms.In my opinion, you've got to give Edith Wharton a huge "A" for her writing style, vivid imagination and her ability to craft a beautiful story. I give the book five stars.

If only his mother had died in the spring
Ethan Frome is not considered typical of the Wharton oeuvre.Published in 1911, it is short and the rural setting is as much or more of a factor bearing tragedy than the rigid social convention Wharton skewered in The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence.And there is something else that sets Ethan Frome apart from Wharton's other novels: the author addresses the reader in a preface in which she sets out the risks she took in portraying a character who is a product of the harsh winter landscape of New England and the difficulty of revealing the story of a man seemingly as silent as the granite outcroppings that surround him.She needn't have worried.

What she did was to use a narrator who arrives on the scene as a stranger to the rural outpost of Starkfield, Massachusetts.A civil engineer working on a power plant project, he is struck by a silent, limping figure about town--that's Ethan Frome.He gets sketchy details about Frome from his landlady and the postmaster, something about a tragic smash up years before, but it isn't until the engineer and Frome are caught in a storm together and take refuge in the latter's farmhouse that the story comes into focus, one that begins shortly before the accident, when Frome was still young but honoring marriage vows to a controlling hypochondriac wife.When her young, pretty relative arrives to attend to her, Frome's heart is tempted.

Wharton delivers a long ago America in shattering clarity, defined by the terrain, the isolation and a code of morality that are as much fully drawn characters in this drama as are the human beings.Wharton's style is clear, and her exercise of symbolism, setting, character, plot and perspective are brilliant. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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Geezer Weds Stepdaughter
Old lawyer finally marries stepdaughter after nearly loosing her to young fellow (probably from Dartmouth).Confused but fertile boyfriend opts for other woman after impregnating mountain girl who had treated him royally.Old Dan gets a workout!Be sure to have a dictionary in hand.Edith uses a lot of old words.Why aren't more authors named "Edith"? This book was worth twice its price.Edith will be famous some day if she keeps turning out stuff like this.We enjoyed it!

Surprising twists
While certainly the product of a particular era, I was surprised at the route the book took, and at how sanguine I was about the ending. I like that the main character is introduced as, frankly, a little lazy and odd, but still worth following through to the end of the story. And for a free book, it is certainly better than others to which I've given a weekend's reading. ... Read more

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The book'sconsiderable charm lies in the historical perspective it affords ofWharton and her Victorian colleagues as well as the many centuriesborne so gracefully by the beautiful land they loved. It's a marveloushomage to Wharton and a must-read for all lovers of things Italian. ... Read more

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Not bad at all
This is not the ultimate writing on Italian gardens, nor the most sumptuos as a coffee-table book. But you can do a lot worse than this when you search for garden books on Italy. And then there is the added dimension that Mrs Wharton drove up to these places a hundred years ago and had a look around. Gentle people alledgedly just showed up "never mind us, we're just here for a stroll in your lovely garden", not recommended today...
Photographs are very good/good. The selection of gardens covers the major part of the most celebrated, with a few minor ones added. No sites south of Rome alas, put the blame on Edith.

Edith Wharton's Italian Gardens
With plenty of pics, this book is good for a casual flick through or a more careful read. The photographs of the gardens are stunning and inspire a desire to visit in person. ... Read more

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Out of print for several decades, here is Edith Wharton's superb satirical novel of the Jazz Age, a critically praised best-seller when it was first published in 1927. Sex, drugs, work, money, infatuation with the occult and spiritual healing -- these are the remarkably modern themes that animate Twilight Sleep. The extended family of Mrs. Manford is determined to escape the pain, boredom and emptiness of life through whatever form of "twilight sleep" they can devise or procure. And though the characters and their actions may seem more in keeping with today's society, this is still a classic Wharton tale of the upper crust and its undoing -- wittily, masterfully told. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A great read!
Perhaps one of Wharton's lesser-known works; nevertheless a fascinating glimpse of the upper-class New York of the 1920's.Wonderful descriptions of places and people, with issues that we are still trying to deal with today.

More Edith Wharton gold
Face it: few women writers in the canon, much less male writers, can skewer women the way Edith Wharton can. Her brilliance is unparalleled, and 'Twilight Sleep' is no exception. Where Fitzgerald soft-shoed around the mores of the Jazz Age with a refined touch, Wharton simply goes for the jugular. Sometimes her sarcasm is blatant; other times, so subtle that upon finally 'getting it', I laughed aloud. And yet she never sacrificed the skill of her prose to make a point about society. Fabulous!

The 1920s seem familiar
Whenever I come across a novel by Edith Wharton, I know that it is only a matter of time before I read it. I look forward to the entertainment of visiting an exotic culture--the high society that Wharton inhabited. And I also expect to find an insightful portrayal of the human foibles that are not constrained by time and social class.

Edith Wharton was both a master of the English language and a keen observer of human nature. I sometimes stumble upon a phrase that is so sharply honed that I pause to think, "Wow! That's perfect!" Such was the case in TWILIGHT SLEEP, which holds up well to Wharton's better known novels.

In this story, the members of an extended family pursue all manner of diversions, fads, and fantasies to compensate for their inability to fully embrace life. There are some archaic attitudes and politically incorrect references, but on the whole, I was amazed at how contemporary the book felt. Although written and set in the 1920s, there are modern parallels to nearly every indulgence explored by the book's characters. In many ways, little has changed!

Pauline Manford, the matriarch who links the characters together, is an archetypical American in this affectionate satire. She's an optimistic, energetic but hopelessly simplistic meddler. Her daughter Nona, however, is thoughtful and perceptive. Like other Wharton heroines, Nona sees through many of her society's standards but can't bring herself to break free of them.

I could sense the plot accelerating toward a tragedy or at least a confrontation, so surprisingly, the book became quite a page-turner. Thanks to Scribner to bringing this and other out-of-print Edith Wharton works to my attention.

One of her greatest
This shockingly modern novel ranks among Mrs. Wharton's finest. Hard to imagine EW in the roaring twenties? She writes with the same personal grace and sly eye for the details behind the facade when focusing upon the moderns as when drawing the old New Yorkers. Those fading, listless aristocrats are included here as contrasts for the self-obsessed, alienated and narcissistic flappers. The novel resonates with modern themes, unfinished American themes; it may be the Jazz Age, but it is as now as anything I've ever read.It is also a gripping page turner- with characters at odds with the fates and the customs of society- as unforgettable as Lilly Bart's sipping of laudanum in House of Mirth and the farewell dinner for Countess Olenska in Age of Innocence.
Those uniquely Wharton flourishes abound;the sumptuous dinners with the invisible calculus of seating assignments, shifting winds of wars with realityand passion, all carried out in black boudoirs, silver crusted serving plates andoverseen bywomen draped in jewels. Within it all the people suffer againstan atavistic demon hell bent on tearing their refinement and their highly ritualized world to shreds.It is all here- within this fortunate reissue.If you are a fan of Wharton, I guaranteeyou will devour this book.Edith Wharton's novels are national treasures- and this one is one of her finest.

A psychological tour-de-force in velvet gloves, a tragedy.
Wharton is as stunningly effective as in "A House of Mirth", here conveying the frustration of a circle of people interdependent upon one another, destined to follow society's rules no matter what the cost.Each character desperately clutches at a "twilight sleep"; themode of coping each engages to distance reality. Masquerading as habit orwhim, the painted veil of illusion overlays each mode of addictive escape.Nona, the beautiful, well-bred New Yorker struggles with an imperatrixsister-in-law Lita, whose values (and their consequences) threaten theentire social order Nona's family fabric is woven of. The Marchesadispenses her social value as Pauline erases her son's debts. Lita'stabloid exposureand screen career must be suppressed. The men escape intowork while the women flail at vanity of excess. The whistle of tragedysounds in the distance as Nona falls into love with a married man, herbrother Jim hopelessly esconced in a bad marriage with a woman he idolises,while her father works himself into an eagerly embraced oblivion, whileJim's father openly drinks to forget the societal oasis he knew before hisdivorce. Nona's mother compulsively schedules all their lives to death,while pursuing the escapist mysticism of faith healing and the blindsupport of the latest guru. As the Jazz Age brings down the curtain on thetheatre of old New York and its values, Art and Cinema loom. While thefamily coalesces at their country estate to save Jim and Lita's marriage,each battle with their chosen talisman against life and its evils. Muchmore is at stake and much more is lost. This startlinglypsychological novel will fascinate any student of life. The sacrifice of afragment to obtain the societal whole inevitably comes, more starklyportrayed here than anywhere, the novel having served as forcefuldenouement. In the tolling bells of Whartons' worlds, the death of illusionsounds the deepest peal. ... Read more

Product Description
In collaboration with Edith Wharton Restoration, Rizzoli is proud to participate in a rare literary event-the publication of a recently discovered manuscript by Edith Wharton, one of America's greatest writers.
It was the winter of 1888. Edith Wharton was 26 and had been married three years. She confided in a Newport friend and cousin-in-law, James Van Alen, that there was nothing she wanted more than to make a cruise in the Mediterranean. Van Alen arranged for the charter of a yacht called the Vanadis, and Edith and her husband set off on the trip of a lifetime.
During the cruise Wharton elegantly recorded her reactions to each place along the route. Afterwards, she put the manuscript aside and began to work on her first novel. The manuscript lay untouched and undiscovered for the next one hundred years.
Annotated with timeless photographs and commentary by award-winning photographer Jonas Dovydenas, who faithfully retraced Wharton's route, and with a new introduction by renowned novelist Louis Auchincloss, this will be a gift edition for Wharton fans to cherish.
... Read more

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Brilliant Start
In 1888, when she was 26 and well before her first works were published, the writer Edith Wharton, with her husband and cousin, valet and maid, chartered a steam-yacht, 167 feet long, with a crew of 16, to sail through the Mediterranean for nearly three months visiting its ancient ports and islands. She documented this voyage in a private journal which has recently been "discovered" and now has been published, illustrated by the photographer Jonas Dovydenas, who over several years visited many of sites which Whatorn had described more than 100 years earlier. The book stands by itself as an extremely well written travel document with strongly honest opinons and vivid descriptions by a highly cultured young heiress. For the Wharton admirer, it also shows the young artist on the verge of launching a brilliant writing career. Many of the idioms associated with her work are on view here for the first time. The photographs are beautiful reminders of that storied landscape. Areas covered include Algiers, Malta, Syracuse, Palermo, Corfu, Rhodes, Smyrna, Mount Athos, and Dalmatia. ... Read more

Product Description
EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937) was one of the most remarkable women of her time, and her immense commercial and critical success--most notably with her novel "The Age of Innocence" (1920), which won a Pulitzer Prize--have long overshadowed her small but distinguished body of poetry. "ARTEMIS TO ACTAEON AND MORE: SELECTED VERSE" is a selection of poetry from early in her career. ... Read more

Product Description
These novels played a unique and lasting role in the development of American literature, and each one remains a beloved and widely read work of fiction. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-arguably the great American novel. Ethan Frome-an enduring rural tragedy. And Moby-Dick or, The Whale-a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. Now, Penguin Classics is proud to present these three novels in gorgeous graphic packages featuring cover art by some of the most talented illustrators working today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (250)

Required reading
This book is required reading for school so I was just looking for good price, quick shipping and good condition.All three items were accomplished.

Nice lite read
Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome", is a wonderful book and can be read with little effort. The story, which takes place in early 20th century, is based indirectly on a man's inability to achieve success-in spite of the number of hardships he is faced with through his young life. However on the surface, the book is directly based on the same man's infatuation with a young woman. Thus the plot. The style in which Edith Wharton uses is at times direct, simplistic in nature, and at other times technical-leaving the reader yearning for more depth and imagery. The reader is also left with some insight onto how this story may have come about. Midway through, the story scantly begins to resemble a dairy entry. Though based on somewhat actual events, the story is written as a diary entry with underdeveloped dialogue and character depth. Edith Wharton does however do a great job of transitioning from one story's layer to another.

Personal Insights:
I have had this book in my collection for 12yrs and only until recently decided to open it up. Lucky for me it was a book that I was easily able to fit in my back pocket and read on the bus back and forth to work. Though it might be a nice story to read and take in, the author does butcher the ending-leaving the reader confused. If stylistic imagery and immense character depth filled with entertaining dialogue is what you desire-then prepare yourself to be disappointed. But if you're an avid reader, such as myself, then do read this book for the sake of experiencing the trails and tribulations this couple experienced in Starkfield.

An overpraised classic
I love Edith Wharton, but honestly I don't understand why Ethan Frome is considered one of her best works.

Firstly, reading it, I felt like I'd already heard this story before. This novella about a man who is confined by his social status and unhappy marriage, and unable to realize his desires - be that a different profession or marriage to a different woman - is just all too familiar. Of course, Wharton's writing is as always remarkable, but the story itself is not impressive. Maybe my coldness towards it has something to do with the fact that I can't muster any compassion for the characters. Ethan is weak, unable to stand up to his wife or own up to his own responsibilities. Zeena - his hypochondriac wife who finds her only pleasure in taunting him. Mattie - a helpless girl who has an eye on her cousin's husband. I don't know, these people's problems just seem too melodramatic to me.

And secondly, I can't really take this novella seriously, because let's face it, the setting and the characters are well beyond the Wharton's scope of knowledge and thus never ring true.

Overall, a decent, albeit overpraised read. I much prefer Wharton's works which deal with the subjects more familiar to her: The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country.

A Chilling Winter Read
Ethan Frome is set in Starkfield, Massachusettes, where everything is very stark indeed. Much of the story also takes place in the winter, when the Puritan New England town is covered in snow and bitter cold. At the heart of the story is, of course, Ethan Frome: a farmer who has been dealt a bad lot in life. He had been living away from Starkfield, at college, studying to become an engineer, when his father died and he had to return home to the family farm to care for his ailing mother, Zenobia. He ends up marrying Zeena, the nurse who took care of his mother, more out of duty and gratefulness than love or passion. Before long Zeena becomes a hypochondriac, inventing illnesses and perpetually seeking possible cures for them.

Into this depressing scene steps Mattie, who is quite the breath of fresh air for Ethan. A distant relative---she was the daughter of Zenobia's cousin---Mattie's father had squandered all of the family's money, a fact which was only revealed after his death. Mattie's mother apparently dies of the shock and shame, leaving Mattie a penniless orphan. Zeena's doctor suggests that Zeena find someone to help with the household chores, so Mattie comes to Starkfield to do just that, and also ends up winning Ethan's heart.

The story is so depressingly tragic that at times I wanted to stop reading it. But it was like watching a scary movie or sitting down on a roller-coaster: you want to stop, kind of, but you also want to keep going. The story starts out by revealing that Ethan was in a freak accident, and then goes back in time, so you know things don't end up well. The entire feel of the book is incredibly ominous and its pace marches you right on from the sweet tale of a simple and down-on-his-luck farmer who falls in love with a young, care-free girl, to the bad ending you know is coming. The language is simple and no-nonsense, yet it alternatively scares you like Stephen King and pulls on your heart strings like Jane Austen.

There's a scene near the beginning in which Ethan has gone to pick Mattie up from a barn dance that puts you right there in the middle of their budding relationship, which is technically illicit and wrong, but feels so right that you find yourself rooting for them, even though you know it will end horribly. Ethan watches Mattie dancing, yearning for both Mattie herself and the simple innocence and hopefulness of youth, which is long-lost for him. When the dance ends, a young boy flirts with Mattie and offers her a ride home, and Ethan thinks that soon Mattie will get married and leave him. Yet, she is so surprised and happy that he is there to pick her up, and she reassures him that she's not going anywhere. The tone of the relationship between Ethan and Mattie is light-hearted, casual and happy, in the middle of this otherwise entirely depressing book.

Despite its tragic subject matter, Ethan Frome is a gem of a book I plan to re-read again and again. I also want to read more of Wharton's work. This is the first book I've read by her and I know that most of the rest of her works deal with the upper class New York society from which she came. I don't know how she can write so well about a poor New England farmer, so I can only imagine what she writes about those characters that comprise her own element. I give Ethan Frome four and a half stars and highly recommend it to anyone.

For more book reviews and other posts of interest to readers and writers, please visit my blog Voracia: Goddess of Words.

A Tragic Love Story
I was lucky enough to have discovered and loved this book as an adult; for those who were forced kicking and screaming to read it in high school, give yourself another chance; this is nothing short of an extremely rewarding and exciting reading experience. I usually like dry humor mixed in with my suffering, but this is a different kind of story, and even though it is a tragedy, there is tenderness here, too.
I read it for the second time a year or so ago, and now I've just finished the Cliff Notes. (For those of you perplexed as to why this is a classic, the Cliff Notes may be a great way to sum up the intentions of the story for you.) It brought it all back to me again, as well as some of the imagery Edith Wharton intended that I had missed the first two times around.With a bitterly harsh winter backdrop on a New England farm around 1900, this is a story of the man Ethan trapped in a loveless marriage with the cold, domineering, hypochondriacal wife Zeena.He falls in love with the wife's sweet young cousin, Mattie, who has moved in to work as a housekeeper.Mattie is as full of life and hope as Zeena is full of coldness and bitterness and degrading control over her husband.The events that follow as Ethan and Mattie hope to escape Zeena and find happiness are absolute page turners.Wharton's book is an emotion packed love story; full of tragedy and suffering, dominance and control, yet keeping us hopeful for the possibility of salvation for the characters. The movie starring Liam Neeson is also excellent; he plays a magnificent Ethan. ... Read more

Product Description
Please visit www.ArcManor.com for more books by this and other great authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

My teen age daughters assignment
I was able to find the book easily, it was available at a reasonable price. It was delivered sooner than estimated and in excellent condition; my daughter "loved" this book.

We shall never again be alone like this
Edith Wharton filled her novels with a feeling of ruin, passion and restriction. People can fall in love, but rarely do things turn out well.

But but few of even her books can evoke the feeling of "Ethan Frome," whick packs plenty of emotion, vibrancy and regrets into a short novella. While the claustrophobic feeling doesn't suit her writing well, she still spins a beautiful, horrifying story of a man facing a life without hope or joy.

It begins nearly a quarter of a century after the events of the novel, with an unnamed narrator watching middle-aged, crippled Ethan Frome drag himself to the post-office. He becomes interested in Frome's tragic past, and hears out his story.

Ethan Frome once hoped to live an urban, educated life, but ended up trapped in a bleak New England town with a hypochondriac wife, Zeena, whom he didn't love. But then his wife's cousin Mattie arrives, a bright young girl who understands Ethan far better than his wife ever tried to. Unsurprisingly, he begins to fall in love with her, but still feels an obligation to his wife.

But then Zeena threatens to send Mattie away and hire a new housekeeper, threatening the one bright spot in Ethan's dour life. Now Ethan must either rebel against the morals and strictures of his small village, or live out his life lonely. But when he and Mattie try for a third option, their affair ends in tragedy.

Wharton was always at her best when she wrote about society's strictures, morals, and love that defies that. But rather than the opulent backdrop of wealthy New York, here the setting is a bleak, snowy New England town, appropriately named Starkfield. It's a good reflection of Ethan Frome's life, and a good illustration of how the poor can be trapped.

Even when she describes a "ruin of a man" in a cold, distant town, Wharton spins beautiful prose ("the night was so transparent that the white house-fronts between the elms looked gray against the snow") and eloquent symbolism, like the shattered pickle dish. There's only minimal dialogue -- most of what the characters think and feel is kept inside.

Instead she piles on the atmosphere, and increases the tension between the three main characters, as attraction and responsibility pull Ethan in two directions. It all finally climaxes in the disaster hinted at in the first chapter, which is as beautifully written and wistful as it is tragic.

If the book has a flaw, it's the incredibly small cast -- mainly just the main love triangle. Ethan's not a strong or decisive man, but his desperation and loneliness are absolutely heartbreaking, as well as his final fate. Mattie seems more like a symbol of the life he wants that a full-fledged person, and Zeena is annoying and whiny up until the end, when we see a different side of her personality. Not a stereotypical shrew.

"Ethan Frome" is a true tragedy -- as beautifully written as it is, it's still Wharton's description of how a man merely survives instead of living, hopeless and devastated.

Not what it seems
I thought that this book was a great book. Instead of just telling the plot, Edith Wharton used a lot of symbolism to tell the story and show the characters emotions, because the point of view is that of an objectivebystander. It isn't a very good book if you just want to read for plot, butif you want to read something a little deeper, it's a very interestingbook.

Ethan Frome
I thought Ethan Frome was an average book. At times though, I had to push myself to read it because I'm not really into romance novels. Edith Wharton (the Author) gives the book a lot of details at times and I think thats whyI found the book to be only average. Although, I like the way that EdithWharton brought Jotham into the story. He doesn't play a major role likeEthan, Zeena, or Mattie, but his character helped bring their house tolife. The book was about a young lady who took care of Ethans mother in herlast hours (Zeena) and Ethan and her begin to fall in love. The interestingtwist to the story is that when Zeena begins to also have a lifethreatening disease, her cousin Mattie comes to live with them to help outaround the house. Ethan and Mattie start to fall in love and the rest ofthe story takes off from there. I don't want to give away the endingbecause that is about the only part in the book that I actually liked andenjoyed reading.

A love story as bitter as the New England winter
Inside a bare Massachussetts farmhouse a century ago, a man and two women sit down to dinner.Observing the unhappy trio is a traveler, forced to take shelter with the strange family because of the blizzard that ragesoutside.Of the three, one is proud, stoic, and hard-bitten; one isshrewish and whiny, and one works silently at the tasks that must be done-- stoking the fire, setting the table for dinner.What brought thesethree to their present state, and what holds them here in this living hell?This book is an incisive character study with an unexpected ending. The portrayal of the three in the final chapter left me with chills. ... Read more

Product Description
Chaos hits the State University of Michigan when two bitterly rival Edith Wharton societies are brought together for the same conference.Its reluctant organizer, Professor Nick Hoffman, is desperate to get tenure, and when there's a murder, his only chance of saving his academic career is finding the killer.
Amazon.com Review
Whoever said that the pen was mightier than the sword might havehad The Edith Wharton Murders in mind. In this campus mysteryby the talented Lev Raphael, a conference on Edith Wharton becomes akilling ground when various literary factions carry their war of wordsa little too far--and someone ends up dead. At the heart of both thehostilities and the mystery is Nick Hoffman, a Wharton bibliographersaddled with the thankless task of moderating the conference. Once themurder has occurred, Nick must switch his focus from panel discussionsto investigation, a course of action that provides plenty ofopportunities for author Raphael to skewer the academic world he leftbehind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Very funny!
I love Lev Raphael's style. The main hero's - Nick Hoffman's - inner monologue is simply hilarious. The author's description of the academic life is acerbic and sarcastic and that makes the book highly enjoyable even though the murder itself doesn't occur until almost 100 pages in. I loved the scene where Det. Valley spotted Nick - right in the middle of yet another murder investigation!

Great book, lots of fun
I really enjoyed this book by a former professor of mine at Michigan State University.I am not a seasoned book reviewer, but I have read a number of mysteries lately after a long stint with non-fiction, and this was a fun read.Nick is a character who isn't a super tough guy, who doesn't take himself too seriously, who doesn't burn through cliches of boot knives and emergency spare pistols taped to the underside of his car.He is a real person with real worries like tenure, his new office-mate, his relationship with his partner, and so on.There were some really funny moments surrounding the constant bickering of the two Edith Wharton factions, and I thought the author had about 5 really good ending possibilities, all of which would have made sense.Having taken two semesters from the author I can see his real-world sense of humor standing out in the book.A great read with some fun characters.

Yes, It is a mystery.
Naturally I expected it was a mystery with murders in the title, but reading it felt like I'd stumbled into a literary novel about writer's Angst.One writer was so obnoxiously obsessed with jealousy and envy that I immediately rooted for her to be perpetrator or victim.A bit over 1/3 of the way into the book, there was a murder and the story evolved into a proper mystery with the appearance of a traditional character, a likeable cop, Lt. Valley, and later, Angie, a criminal justice student who helped with the detecting.Nick's pardner, Stefan, is the practical down-to-earth one.The relationship reminded me of Hall's Stanley Hastings and his wife, Alice.Alice brings Stanley down to earth from time to time, too.Thankfully, there are no details of the men's intimate relations which is as it should be.The largest number of consumers of mysteries are mature women (like me) and the majority of them abhor sex scenes, be they hetero or homo. The book's ending was a very satisfactory wrap-up.
As to Wharton, she serves as catalyst for the gathering, but we are not bombarded with biographical data.If you want more, read a biography, and if you come to southern New England, visit The Mount, Edith's beautiful home in Lenox, MA.

A new twist on an old genre
"The Edith Wharton Murders" has it all---good writing, a bright and charming amateur sleuth, and a fresh and ironic take on those well-worn groves of academe. Wait---before you groan and mutter something about "another campus mystery with cutesy cartoon characters as faculty members," give this one a try. You''ll find plenty of highly UNstereotyped profs---you probably had classes with some of them, maybe even Nick Hoffman himself. New t-shirt motto: I LUV LEV!

Who Dunnit? Who Cares? Miserable Mystery
This is most definitely the worst mystery novel I have ever read. The characters are not two-dimentional--but one-dimentional. You will not care about anyone. There is also too much padding of incidental material, and enough red herrings to stock a Shanghai fish market. Though the lead character is supposedly gay, there is only a token gay content. He might as well be a Buddist missionary. The hero and his lover share only a Jewish ceremonial meal, all other forms of intimacy in their relationship seems to have vanished. We read mystery novels to get pleasure in discovering who dunnit before the detectives. It is impossilbe to do this when essential information is not revealed to the reader until after the culprit is caught. I feel I have wasted my time here. With an eternity of reading ahead of you, the time would still be too short to bother with this one. Read Wharton's Ethan Frome instead. ... Read more