Edith Wharton: Matters of Mind and Spirit (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "DISCOVERIES in science, which played key roles in the late Victorian struggle with faith, are crucial to understanding Edith Wharton's religious choices..." (more)
Key Phrases: original ellipsis, gods arrive, moral tortures, Ethan Frome, New York, Edith Wharton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bringing impressive scholarship to bear, Singley traces the influence, fermentation, and transformation of various philosophical ideas and discourses in Wharton's texts....Without denying the isolation and alienation of Wharton by class and gender insightfully identified by other scholars, Singley returns Wharton to her intellectual and literary origins at home as well as abroad. Whartonians and Americanists will welcome this book." Mary Suzanne Schriber, American Literature

Product Description

Edith Wharton emerges in this book as a novelist of morals (rather than manners). Behind her polished portraits of upper-class New York life is a thoughtful, questioning spirit. This book analyzes Wharton's religion and philosophy in short stories and seven major novels. It considers Wharton in terms of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American intellectual and religious life. It also analyzes Wharton in terms of her gender and class, explaining how this aristocratic woman applies and yet transforms both the classical and Christian traditions that she inherits.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052164612X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521646123
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,993,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)