The Age of Innocence (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Wharton, Edith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192806629 ISBN 13: 9780192806628

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2006

Synopsis

'They lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.' Edith Wharton's most famous novel, written immediately after the end of the First World War, is a brilliantly realized anatomy of New York society in the 1870s, the world in which she grew up, and from which she spent her life escaping. Newland Archer, Wharton's protagonist, charming, tactful, enlightened, is a thorough product of this society; he accepts its standards and abides by its rules but he also recognizes its limitations. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska puts all his plans in jeopardy. Independent, free-thinking, scandalously separated from her husband, Ellen forces Archer to question the values and assumptions of his narrow world. As their love for each other grows, Archer has to decide where his ultimate loyalty lies.

About this title

Review:

One of the best novels of the twentieth century (New York Times Review of Books)

A rich and powerful description of a vanished world (Penelope Lively)

There is no woman in American literature as fascinating as the doomed Madame Olenska ... Traditionally, Henry James has always been placed slightly higher up the slope of Parnassus than Edith Wharton. But now that the prejudice against the female writer is on the wane, they look to be exactly what they are: giants, equals, the tutelary and benign gods of our American literature (Gore Vidal)

From the Publisher:

A Norton Critical Edition. The editor, Candace Waid is an Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0192806629
• ISBN 13: 9780192806628
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Orgel Stephen