Edith Wharton: Four Novels: A Library of America College Edition (Library of America College Editions)

Wharton, Edith

ISBN 10: 188301137X / ISBN 13: 9781883011376

Published by Library of America, 1996

About this Item

Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_429595696

Bibliographic Details

Title: Edith Wharton: Four Novels: A Library of ...

Publisher: Library of America

Publication Date: 1996

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Born into an exclusive New York society of elegant manners and rigid codes, Edith Wharton drew on her background to create fiction both trenchantly observant and nostalgic, a vision rich in detail, satire, and tragedy. The House of Mirth traces, through the downfall of independent young Lily Bart, the insidious realities of social convention and sexual and financial aggression among New York's upper classes at the turn of the century. Repressed passions smolder in small-town New England in the classic Ethan Frome, a tale of unhappy marriage and deperate love which erupts in an act of shattering violence. The Custom of the Country is brilliant, ironic comedy, memorable for its portrait of Miss Undine Spragg of Apex City: beautiful, spoiled, and ambitious. The Age of Innocence, set in the New York society of Wharton's youth which "dreaded scandal more than disease," is a profoundly moving tragicomedy of thwarted love told with astonishing insight and objectivity.

Library of America is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to preserving the best and most significant American writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Library of America College Editions offer these volumes to students and teachers in an affordable paperback format.

About the Author:

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is a central figure in American literature, a masterful chronicler of her age and prolific writer in many modes. Her major works include The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), The Custom of the Country (1913) and The Age of Innocence (1920), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded to a woman.