Edith Wharton and the French Riviera - Hardcover

Collas, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 2080107224 ISBN 13: 9782080107220

Publisher: Flammarion, 2002

Synopsis

Edith Wharton's love affair with the French Riviera began in 1919, and continued to the end of her days. She found there a microcosm of the sort of society that had always fascinated her, that she described in her classic novels. Between the two world wars, the whole region was a playground for film stars, magnates, and princesses: her neighbors included Wallis Simpson, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, and Dorothy Parker. For Edith Wharton, the Riviera was at once a haven where she could write to her heart's content, and a terrifyingly superficial world.

This fascinating book is a study of this world as it existed when Edith Wharton arrived, and how the region changed over the years. Richly illustrated with both contemporary and vintage photographs, it is a hugely evocative portrait of the Golden Age of the Riviera. Edith Wharton on the Riviera is a rare treat: a taste of the fabulous lifestyle of the privileged classes that has now vanished forever.

About this title

Synopsis

Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo...Edith Wharton's love affair with the French Riviera began in 1919, and continued to the end of her days. She found there a microcosm of the sort of society that had always fascinated her, that she described in her classic novels. Between the two world wars, the whole region was a playground for film stars, magnates, and princesses: her neighbors were Wallis Simpson, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Dorothy Parker. For Edith Wharton, the Riviera was at once a haven where she could write to her heart's content, and a terrifyingly superficial world. The delights of the region were discovered by the English a century before, and in the space of a hundred years the stretch of coast between Nice and Menton had become a refuge for wealthy exiles of all nationalities. This fascinating book is a study of how this microcosm came to be as it was when Edith Wharton arrived, and how the region developed from then on. Richly illustrated with both contemporary and vintage photographs, and completed with an extensive bibliography, it is a hugely evocative portrait of the Golden Age of the Riviera.

Edith Wharton on the Riviera is a rare treat: a taste of the fabulous lifestyle of the privileged classes that has now vanished forever.

Edition details

• Publisher: Flammarion
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 2080107224
• ISBN 13: 9782080107220
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 152