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Title: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Flo Gibson, Dick Hill ISBN: 1-56100-818-4 Publisher: Bookcassette Sales Pub. Date: April, 1997 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 8 List Price(USD): $59.25 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26 (106 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A sumptuous New York of a bygone age
Comment: This is a story set in the stifling atmosphere of upper-class turn of the century New York, where everyone does what they think others expect of them, and are more worried about appearances and 'tradition' (though really, the city is till so young the traditions are relatively new) than what is right or good.
Newland Archer is engaged to marry May Welland, a young woman from the same social strata as himself. He then meets May's cousin Ellen Olenska, and falls in love, which is a major problem - not only is Newland expected to marry May, but Ellen is a married woman, who did the wrong thing and left her rich European husband. The story explores the attempts by Newland to break out from the expectation of society to be with the woman he loves, and how society and his own beliefs keep him reined in.
This story is a joy to read, not only for its narrative, but also because of Wharton's lush descriptions of the locations and rituals of New York life - she can make you feel that you know a house inside and out just by the way she writes about it. This book reminded me a lot of Anna Karenina - the same stifling societal rules that kept people from doing what they wanted in life, the same sumptuous settings. Only Age of Innocence is a lot shorter, and I have to say a lot more readable!
Rating: 5
Summary: American Middlemarch?
Comment: This is a stunning masterpiece of American literature. Wharton reaches the heights achieved by England's George Eliot in Middlemarch. Age of Innnocence is considered one of the top 100 novels in the English language and I heartily agree. The novel is set in the Golden Age of New York high society in the 1870's. Like Middlemarch, manners and rigid conformity assure success. Love is an anomaly.
Newland Archer, rich and well-connected, is poised to marry May Welland. She is beautiful, suitable and pure. In fact she is compared to a Diana, goddess of the hunt. This is the virgin archetype, untouchable, pure and only desirable from a distance. Archer meets her scandalous cousin, the Countess Olenska. Olenska has committed the unforgivable and left her husband for another man. She is taboo. She is also older, wiser and sexual (more taboos.) Archer is irrestibly drawn to her and thus forms the conflict for the rest of the novel.
No one of her era writes of toxic marriages better than Wharton; she had her own tragic marriage to a man who used her fortune to set up a house for his mistress. And don't forget Wharton's equally famous novel Ethan Frome, about another toxic marriage that ends in grief.
Good news,by the way; Wharton's home in Lennox, MA, the Mount, is being restored. It's home to a resident theater that does some brilliant Shakespeare. If you have a chance to go, do so. It's a wonderful experience.
Rating: 5
Summary: Tension between individualism and confomity
Comment: Edith's book talks about the tension between following one's heart and loyalty to societal expectations. Case in point, Newland Archer.
Torn by his loyalty to his wife-to-be, who repesents tradition and stability of Old New York society and the soon-to-be divorce, who represents the worldly bohemian life of the Old World, namely European. Mr. Archer has a major dilemma since he's both has both progressive and conservative views. He has very progressive views on art, literature, politics, etc., while at the same time have conservative views on romance. It's the dilemma of most upper class and professional men even in these progressive and liberal times. Most men want stability in their lives, they want a "May Welland" type over the outspoken and unpredictable "Ellen Olenska".
Let me get back to the issue at hand, the choices of Newland Archer. Newland seemed to want to have it both ways. He wants to marry May and have Ellen as his secret lover. Knowing that New York society frowns on such things, Ellen decides to leave New York for Europe, therefore annul that possiblity. In the meantime, Newland became a devoted husband to May until her death.
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Title: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Anna Quindlen ISBN: 0451527569 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: CliffsNotes On Wharton's The Age of Innocence by Susan Van Kirk ISBN: 076453713X Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 28 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Anita Shreve ISBN: 0451527666 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 12 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Awakening by Kate Chopin ISBN: 0380002450 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 10 February, 1982 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway ISBN: 0684800713 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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