Synopsis
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is Edith Wharton's insider's look at New York society at a time when an address above 12th Street was considered the wild frontier. May Welland, demure and pretty, is born and bred to marry Newland Archer, a thoughtful barrister. He in turn loves the brazen, unconventional, and attractive Countess Ellen Olenska, who has left her Count behind in Europe and returned to New York alone to get over a bad marriage. As the delicacies of this love triangle are played out, Wharton takes the opportunity to effect a subtle critique of America's East Coast upper classes, not only painting a deliciously detailed portrait of old New York and the rigid rules that governed society, but also providing readers with entertainment of the highest order. With this novel, Edith Wharton became, in 1921, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1996-07-01 | | Narrated by: | Joanne Woodward |
| Size | | Height: | 7.0 in | | Width: | 4.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 8.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
Amid the decorous upper-class society of New York, Newland Archer prepares to marry the docile May Welland, but his plans are threatened by the arrival of the mysterious and beautiful Countess Olenska. Read by Joanne Woodward. Book available.
Industry Reviews
"By the side of the absolute mastery of plot, character and style displayed in her latest novel, 'The House of Mirth' seems almost crude. Edith Wharton is a writer who brings glory on the name America, and this is her best book. It is one of the best novels of the twentieth century and looks like a permanent addition to literature."
New York Times - L. Phelps (10/20/1920)
"For Edith Wharton...there was no genuine and honorable and emotionally fulfilling alternative to the social order...To defy the social ethic was to disturb the foundation of society...But only an imagination that could feel the enormous temptation to do so--had felt it deeply, perhaps, in her own passional life--...could write as compelling an account of both the lure and the danger as 'The Age of Innocence'."
R. W. B. Lewis
"There are only three or four American novelists who can be thought of as 'major'--and Edith Wharton is one."
Gore Vidal
"THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, beneath its fine surface, holds an abyss--the abyss of time, and the tragedy of human transience."
Updike
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