A Feast Of Words: The Triumph Of Edith WhartonThe mystery of how a wealthy New York socialite became a major American novelist is brilliantly explored in this fascinating critical biography. To this new edition of her book, considered by many to be the most perceptive introduction to Wharton's life and work, Cynthia Griffin Wolff has added a chapter on Lily Bart and the lethal stereotypes of women in the 19th-century stage and another on the way Edith Wharton's own sensual awakening led from the frozen austerity of "Ethan Frome" to the lyricism and tempered happiness of "Summer." No one who admires Wharton's novels or enjoys the films made from them will want to be without this superb biography. |
Contents
Prologue | 3 |
The Fiction 18891911 | 55 |
The Fiction 19121920 | 181 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accept adolescence adult Age of Innocence Anna Appleton Archer Art Nouveau artistic Backward Glance beauty become beginning Beinecke Library Bernard Berenson Boyne Charity child childhood conscious Darrow daughter early Edith Wharton Ellen emotional entirely Ethan Frome eyes fact feelings felt feminine fiction finally friends genuine happiness Henry James heroine House of Mirth husband Ibid Kate knew Lapsley letters Lily Bart Lily's literary little girl lives look lover Lucretia marriage married Mattie moral Morton Fullerton mother narrative narrator nature never Newland North Dormer novel novelist old New York Palmato passion perhaps play problem R. W. B. Lewis Ralph relationship Scribner's seems Selden sense sexual short stories social society Sophy Starkfield suggests Summer tale Teddy things thought tion Twilight Sleep understand Undine Valley of Decision vision Walter Berry Whar Wharton Archives woman women words writing wrote young youth