Edith Wharton has been one of my heroes since high school. She is an extraordinary writer who captures what it means to be human, especially for women in the society of her time.
I read Ethan Frome for a class, and it haunts me still.
“…and the way they are now, I don’t see’s there’s much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; ‘cept that down there they’re all quiet, and the women have got to hold their tongues.”
My favorite Edith Wharton novel is The Age of Innocence. And Martin Scorcese’s movie adaptation does it justice. One of the things that I love about the book is how it depicts our hope for the future. We imagine Archer’s son getting along better in the world than he did. While the story is tragic, it’s not nearly as bleak as Ethan Frome.
“It’s more real to me here than if I went up,” he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other.
Somewhere along the way, I enjoyed reading The House of Mirth.
While I don’t remember all the details, here’s my favorite quote from the book.
“It was a meagre enough life, on the grim edge of poverty, with scant margin for possibilities of sickness or mischance, but it had the frail audacious permanence of a bird’s nest built on the edge of a cliff–a mere wisp of leaves and straw, yet so put together that the lives entrusted to it may hang safely over the abyss.”
Summer is another beautiful novella. And I’m currently enjoying reading The Glimpses of the Moon.
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