The upper stratum of New York society into which Edith Wharton was
born in 1862 provided her with an abundance of material as a
novelist but did not encourage her growth as an artist. Educated by
tutors and governesses, she was raised for only one career-
marriage. But her marriage, in 1885, to Edward Wharton was an
emotional disappointment, if not a disaster. She suffered the first
of a series of nervous breakdowns in 1894. In spite of the strain
of her marriage, or perhaps because of it, she began to write
fiction and published her first story in 1889.
Her first published book was a guide to interior decorating, but
this was followed by several novels and story collections. They
were written while the Whartons lived in Newport and New York,
traveled in Europe, and built their grand home, The Mount, in
Lenox, Massachusetts. In Europe, she met Henry James, who became
her good friend, traveling companion, and the sternest but most
careful critic of her fiction. The House of Mirth (1905) was both a
resounding critical success and a bestseller, as was Ethan Frome
(1911). In 1913 the Whartons were divorced, and Edith took up
permanent residence in France. Her subject, however, remained
America, especially the moneyed New York of her youth. Her great
satiric novel, The Custom of the Country was published in 1913 and
The Age of Innocence won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
In her later years, she enjoyed the admiration of a new generation
of writers, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In
all, she wrote some thirty books, including an autobiography. A
Backwards Glance (1934). She died at her villa near Paris in
1937.
From the Paperback edition.
With an introduction by Elizabeth Hardwick,
Contemporary Reviews, and Letters
Between Edith Wharton and Her Publisher
" A frivolous
society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its
frivolity destroys."--Edith Wharton
Lily Bart knows that she must marry--her expensive tastes and
mounting debts demand it--and, at twenty-nine, she has every artful
wile at her disposal to secure that end. But attached as she is to
the social world of her wealthy suitors, something in her rebels
against the insipid men whom circumstances compel her to charm.
"Why must a girl
pay so dearly for her least escape," Lily muses as she contemplates
the prospect of being bored all afternoon by Percy Grice, dull but
undeniably rich, "on the bare chance that he might ulti-
mately do her the honor of boring her for life?" Lily is distracted
from her prey by the arrival of Lawrence Selden, handsome,
quick-witted, and penniless. A runaway bestseller on publication in
1905, The House of Mirth is a brilliant romantic novel of manners,
the book that established Edith Wharton as one of America's
greatest novelists.
" A tragedy of our
modern life, in which the relentlessness of what men used to call
Fate and esteem, in their ignorance, a power beyond their control,
is as vividly set forth as ever it was by Aeschylus or
Shakespeare." --The New York Times
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in
1920 for The Age of Innocence. But it was the publication of The
House of Mirth in 1905 that marked Wharton's coming-of-age as a
writer.
With an introduction by Elizabeth Hardwick,
Contemporary Reviews, and Letters
Between Edith Wharton and Her Publisher
" A frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only
through what its frivolity destroys."--Edith Wharton
Lily Bart knows that she must marry--her expensive tastes and
mounting debts demand it--and, at twenty-nine, she has every artful
wile at her disposal to secure that end. But attached as she is to
the social world of her wealthy suitors, something in her rebels
against the insipid men whom circumstances compel her to charm.
"Why must a girl pay so dearly for her least escape," Lily muses as
she contemplates the prospect of being bored all afternoon by Percy
Grice, dull but undeniably rich, "on the bare chance that he might
ulti-
mately do her the honor of boring her for life?" Lily is distracted
from her prey by the arrival of Lawrence Selden, handsome,
quick-witted, and penniless. A runaway bestseller on publication in
1905, The House of Mirth is a brilliant romantic novel of manners,
the book that established Edith Wharton as one of America's
greatest novelists.
" A tragedy of our modern life, in which the relentlessness of what
men used to call Fate and esteem, in their ignorance, a power
beyond their control, is as vividly set forth as ever it was by
Aeschylus or Shakespeare." --The New York Times
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in
1920 for The Age of Innocence. But it was the publication of The
House of Mirth in 1905 that marked Wharton's coming-of-age as a
writer.
Actress Eleanor Bron played Aunt Julia in the 2000 film adaptation of this Edith Wharton classic, which she brings to life in an enjoyable audio production. At the start, Bron's tones are cool and measured in keeping with heroine Lily Bart's calculated manipulations in arranging her marriage to a fantastically rich-if fantastically dull-bachelor. But Lily's efforts meet with little success, and Bron ably captures the desperate heroine as her suitor rejects her, her debts mount, and her options narrow. As Lily finds herself alone in what used to seem like a glittering world, Bron's rendition of the character's exhausted disappointment is pitch-perfect. This is a compelling audiobook with a memorable performance from Bron. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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