This book is the second in Wharton's cycle of books focusing on women and marriage in gilded age New York. The first, House of Mirth, was published in 1905. House of Mirth was her first full-length novel. The Custom of the Country was the second of the three, published in 1913. The Age of Innocence ...
Some quick thoughts: I think this would make an excellent entry-level Wharton novel for a young reader who does not fully grasp the realities of the Old World and the Old New York, but is ready to learn.The protagonist, like many people in our time, strives after a certain lifestyle, the details of ...
Poor Ralph. Poor Paul. Everyone who comes into contact with Undine Spragg ends up regretting it. She pulls them in with her beauty and appearance of innocence, but this girl knows what she is doing - if only she could figure out what she wants. Constantly striving for whatever it is she doesn't ...
A non-satirical work by Twain in the form of Socratic-like dialogue between an Old Man arguing that man is merely a machine with no free will or self-sacrifice (a determinist) and a Young Man who is hesitant to believe him without requiring much elaboration first. This has been on my mental to-read ...
An excellent book. I can see that Edith Wharton and I will be spending a lot more time together.The heroine of the story, Undine Spragg, is a spoiled, shallow, self-centered, conniving social climber. She is supremely unsympathetic, equally as fascinating as she is repellent. Her goal is to position...
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