Edith Wharton : Novellas and Other Writings : Madame De Treymes / Ethan Frome / Summer / Old New York / The Mother's Recompense / A Backward Glance (Library of America) [Hardcover]

Edith Wharton (Author), Cynthia Griffin Wolff (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Library of America | Publication Date: April 1, 1990

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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to preserving America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts.

About the Author

Cynthia Griffin Wolff, editor of this volume, is the author of "A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1137 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (April 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940450534
• ISBN-13: 978-0940450530
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short novels of society, March 22, 2007

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E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edith Wharton : Novellas and Other Writings : Madame De Treymes / Ethan Frome / Summer / Old New York / The Mother's Recompense / A Backward Glance (Library of America) (Hardcover)

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars a pleasure, July 5, 2009

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M. Garchet - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Edith Wharton : Novellas and Other Writings : Madame De Treymes / Ethan Frome / Summer / Old New York / The Mother's Recompense / A Backward Glance (Library of America) (Hardcover)

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 thinking about life.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ethan Frome, November 6, 2003

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Jennifer (martin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edith Wharton : Novellas and Other Writings : Madame De Treymes / Ethan Frome / Summer / Old New York / The Mother's Recompense / A Backward Glance (Library of America) (Hardcover)

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.