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E. A Solinas reviewed:
Edith Wharton : Novels : The House of Mirth / The Reef / The Custom of the Country / The Age of Innocence (Library of America) by Edith Wharton
 Age of the not-so-innocent, August 27, 2008 And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century -- both social clashes, and ones between the sexes. This collection brings together four of her best books, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion, social-climbing and a woman's place in an unfriendly world. And each story is tinged with tragedy, satire or romance. "Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But during his engagement, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, the still-legally-married Countess Olenska -- and after his marriage, his attraction to the mysterious Countess and her unconventional ways becomes even stronger. Will he become an outcast and leave with her, or stick with a life of conformity and safety with his young wife? "The Custom of the Country" takes whatever is biting about "Age of Innocence" and magnifies it. Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, who wants the best of everything -- more than her family can afford, or ever will be able to. She begins by marrying a young scion of "old money", and leaving divorce, death and broken hearts in her wake. She does all this while hiding a then-shameful secret. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is. But the mockery in "House of Mirth" is not meant to be funny, but saddening and eye-opening instead -- because an impoverished single woman's lot in the 1800s was a sad one. Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. But her schemes and plans start to collapse, as she rejects all her adoring suitors, and a nasty society matron decides to deflect attention from her adultery by accusing Lily falsely. Her life rapidly descends into a spiral of wretched unemployment and poverty, with only one way out. "The Reef" is one of infidelity -- Charles Darrow has been reunited with his first love Anna, now a widow living in France. But as he prepares to propose, he receives a telegram telling him not to come. Angry and hurt, he decides to escort a feisty young companion named Sophy Viner around Paris, and the two fall into a brief affair. But when he reunites and reconciles with Anna, Charles discovers that not only is Sophy the governess of Anna's daughter, but is engaged to her stepson. Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. These four books are, in fact, crammed with the societal clashes of the time: infidelity, divorce, the lenience towards men versus the strict standards given to women, the impact of "new money" in the territory of the old, and what it took for a person to break out of the bounds of society -- and the cost it had. Her writing is striking even now -- it has the formal, detailed quality of nineteenth-century prose, but it isn't nearly as stuffy. Instead, her writing is lush, perfumed languid and shimmering with repressed emotion -- even "Custom of the Country," with its nasty shallow anti-heroine, has moments of pure lyrical beauty, although they usually come from someone other than Undine. And her descriptions of the tiny gestures and expressions that are used to communicate are exquisite. And her characters come to life with startling reality. Wharton never resorts to sentimentality or cheap tricks to make us react to them -- stuffy "aristocrats" of the New World, beautiful middle-aged women who worry that they've missed out on passion, and bright bohemians. The more brilliant, appealing characters like the tragic Lily and the free-spirited Countess are easy to feel liking for, but Wharton even makes the less appealing characters -- like the wishy-washy Newland -- realistically complex. "Edith Wharton Novels: The House of Mirth/The Reef/The Custom of the Country/The Age of Innocence" are among the best that Edith Wharton ever penned -- intricate looks at society and human nature, wrapped up in beautiful writing. |
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