Edith Wharton's Inner Circle (Literary Modernism Series) [Hardcover]

Susan Goodman (Author), Thomas F. Staley (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994 | Series: Literary Modernism Series

When Edith Wharton became friends with Henry James, she joined a group of men who became her "inner circle" or, sometimes, "the happy few." This group included both well-known figures, such as James, Percy Lubbock, and Bernard Berenson, and several now forgotten, including John Hugh Smith, Walter Berry, Gaillard Lapsley, Robert Norton, and Howard Sturgis. Drawing on unpublished archival material by and about members of the circle, Susan Goodman here presents an intimate view of this American expatriate community, as well as the larger transatlantic culture it mirrored. She explores how the group, which began forming around 1904 and lasted until Wharton's death in 1937, defined itself against the society its founders had left in the United States, while simultaneously criticizing and accommodating the one it found in Europe. Tracing Wharton's individual relationships with these men and their relationships with one another, she examines literary kinships and movements in the biographical and feminist context of gender, exile, and aesthetics. Individual chapters focus on the history of the circle, its connections to and competition with the Bloomsbury Group, the central friendship of Wharton and James, the dynamics of influence within the circle, and the effect of Wharton's vision of the inner circle on her fiction. A concluding chapter examines the phenomenon of literary exile and investigates how other writers - Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among them - positioned themselves in their inherited or chosen places. Filled with new insights into Wharton's works and her relationships with a group of asexual or homoerotically oriented men, this study will be important reading for allreaders of American literature, literary modernism, and gender studies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From 1904 to the mid-1930s Wharton ( Age of Innocence ) was a member of what she termed an "inner circle" of literary colleagues who lived in Europe and shared friendship, intellectual discourse and a sympathetic interest in one another's writings. Until his death in 1916, fellow expatriate Henry James was at the center of this group and the inspiration for other writers, including Howard Sturgis ( Belchamber ), Percy Lubbock ( The Craft of Fiction ) and art critic Bernard Berenson. Goodman, who teaches English at California State University, had access to private papers, and her careful research yields a detailed portrait of this writing community. Wharton's intricate relationship with James is described, as is the group's rivalry with Bloomsbury writers. The author also analyzes specific works produced by inner-circle members that fictionalized episodes from one another's lives. Wharton's status as the only woman in the circle is explored. Of scholarly interest. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Goodman's study of Wharton's relationships with, among others, Henry James, Percy Lubbock, Howard Sturgis, and Bernard Berenson-her "inner circle"-contributes greatly to our understanding of Wharton's formation as a writer. Goodman examines in careful detail the influence that each of these men exerted upon Wharton's ideas of manners, gender, and writing. In addition, the author examines the similarities and differences among the "inner circle," Bloomsbury, and Gertrude Stein's salons. Close reading of The House of Mirth, The Reef, and The Age of Innocence demonstrate the extent to which Wharton's ideas about exile and the role of women in society were formed by her participation in this circle. This forms a nice companion to Goodman's earlier Edith Wharton's Women: Friends and Rivals (Univ. of New England Pr., 1990). A brilliant contribution to Wharton studies, American literary history, and cultural studies. Highly recommended.
Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 187 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292727712
• ISBN-13: 978-0292727717
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,214,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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