Broadview Literary Texts

By: Edith Wharton, Michael Nowlin (Editor)

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Paperback | 21 March 2002

At a Glance

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432 Pages

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13.9 x 21.6 x 2.5

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The Age of Innocence marks the pinnacle of Edith Wharton's career as one of the finest American novelists of her era. The narrative follows Newland Archer, of upper-crust 1870s New York, whose passion for the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska leads him to question the very foundations of his way of life. Written in the aftermath of World War I, the novel explores the psychological and cultural paradoxes of desire in a world undergoing unprecedented transformations.

This edition includes a critical introduction and a range of appendices that contextualize the novel in terms of its modernist themes and tensions.

Industry Reviews

"From the wide-ranging and expert introduction to the appendices (one of which gives readers Wharton's plot outlines for the novel), Michael Nowlin's edition is eminently useful. The book provides us with representative reviews from the time of the initial publication, writings by Wharton and others about 'feminism,' Wharton's letters, and excellent notes for both the text and supplemental materials. No one working on Wharton today places her so accurately as Nowlin." - Linda Wagner-Martin, The University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill

"The beauty of The Age of Innocence rests in the beauty of Wharton's language and the precision of her insights into human nature; the supporting reference materials provided here in appendices and notes illuminate the cultural and social history of Old New York, the city in which Newland Archer and the Countess Olenska discover their forbidden love. Michael Nowlin's edition is an excellent resource." - Shari Benstock, University of Miami

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About This Series	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
A Note on the Text	p. 10
The Age of Innocence	p. 11
Background Readings	p. 287
Questions of Culture	p. 289
From "The Metropolitan Gentry: Culture against Politics"	p. 289
From "The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy"	p. 294
From "Democratic Vistas"	p. 300
From "Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of the Metropolitan Museum of Art"	p. 303
"The Location and Decoration of Houses in The Age of Innocence"	p. 318
From How the Other Half Lives	p. 332
Marriage and Divorce	p. 338
From Domestic Revolutions	p. 338
From "For the Wedding Night"	p. 345
Travel and Sport	p. 348
From the Introduction to American Travel Writers, 1850-1915	p. 349
From "Americans Abroad"	p. 355
From "Newport"	p. 357
From "The Lawn Set"	p. 359
Anthropology	p. 364
From Violence and the Sacred	p. 364
From Primitive Culture	p. 366
Other Writings	p. 369
Writing The Age of Innocence	p. 371
The Ways of Old New York	p. 372
The Childishness of American Women	p. 378
"The Valley of Childish Things"	p. 380
Winning the Pulitizer Prize	p. 381
Critical Readings	p. 385
From "The Composition of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence"	p. 387
From "Cool Diana and the Blood-Red Muse: Edith Wharton on Innocence and Art"	p. 393
From "Becoming the Mask: Edith Wharton's Ingenues"	p. 404
From "Angel of Devastation: Edith Wharton on the Arts of the Enslaved"	p. 408
From "The Age of Innocence and the Bohemian Peril"	p. 411
From "Edith Wharton: The Archeological Motive"	p. 414
From "'Hunting for the Real': Wharton and the Science of Manners"	p. 418
From "A Note on Wharton's Use of Faust"	p. 430
From "The Mind in Chains: Public Plots and Personal Fables"	p. 432
From "American Naturalism in Its 'Perfected' State: The Age of Innocence and An American Tragedy"	p. 434
From "The Scorses Interview: On Filming The Age of Innocence"	p. 441
"Of Writers and Class: In Praise of Edith Wharton"	p. 448
Works Cited	p. 454
For Further Reading	p. 455
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Broadview Literary Texts

At a Glance

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Industry Reviews

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