Collected Stories 1911-1937 - Hardcover

Wharton, Edith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1883011949 ISBN 13: 9781883011949

Publisher: Library of America, 2001

Synopsis

Library of America presents the second volume in a landmark two-volume collector's edition of the incomparable stories of an American master.

Born into an upper-class New York family, Edith Wharton broke with convention and became a professional writer, earning an enduring place as the grande dame of American letters. This Library of America collection (along with its companion volume, Collected Stories: 1891–1910) presents the finest of Wharton's achievement in short fiction, drawn from the more than eighty stories she published over the course of her career. 

In this volume, Wharton’s humor is abundantly evident in sly and subtle stories like “Xingu” (in which a ladies’ reading group is led to express its enthusiasm for an occult philosophy) and “Charm Incorporated” (about a mild-mannered Wall Street executive overwhelmed by his émigré wife’s needy but wonderful relatives). As always, Wharton’s is a provocative voice on the subject of sexuality and women’s roles. In “The Day of the Funeral,” “Joy in the House,” and “Atrophy,” love and desire confront the demands of polite society; in “Roman Fever,” a formal tour de force, two middle-aged women on holiday with their modern daughters revisit the fierce competitiveness of their own youth.

Of particular interest are Wharton’s stories of the uncanny and the supernatural, like the grisly “A Bottle of Perrier,” set in the North African desert, and the chilling “All Souls’,” written just before her death. An unacknowledged master of American horror fiction, Wharton’s lucid prose makes all the more powerful her exploration of the irrational forces underlying ordinary life.

Also included in this edition are a chronology of Wharton’s life, explanatory notes, and an essay on the texts.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About this title

From the Publisher

Edith Wharton's full and glamorous life bridged two continents and two centuries. Born into an upper-class New York family, she broke with convention and became a professional writer, earning an enduring place as the grande dame of American letters.

This collection presents the finest of Wharton's achievement in short fiction, drawn from the more than eighty stories she published over the course of her career. Here, in settings familiar and exotic, are all of Wharton's characteristic qualities and themes: her candid exploration of relations between the sexes; her satire, sometimes gentle, sometimes despairing, of social class and its distinctions; her keen-eyed observation of the minutiae of character; her unflinching recognition of the power of conventional morality and the limits of passion, tempered by her delightful sense of play.

Here, in the second of two volumes, Wharton's humor is abundantly evident in sly and subtle stories like "Xingu" (in which a ladies' reading group is led to express its enthusiasm for an occult philosophy) and "Charm Incorporated" (about a mild-mannered Wall Street executive overwhelmed by his emigré wife's needy but wonderful relatives). As always, Wharton's is a provocative voice on the subject of sexuality and women's roles. In "The Day of the Funeral," "Joy in the House," and "Atrophy," love and desire confront the demands of polite society; in "Roman Fever," a formal tour de force, two middle-aged women on holiday with their modern daughters revisit the fierce competitiveness of their own youth. Of particular interest are Wharton's stories of the uncanny and the supernatural, like the grisly "A Bottle of Perrier," set in the North African desert, and the chilling "All Souls'," written just before her death. An unacknowledged master of American horror fiction, Wharton's lucid prose makes all the more powerful her exploration of the irrational forces underlying ordinary life.

Also included in this edition are a chronology of Wharton's life, explanatory notes, and an essay on the texts.

Maureen Howard, editor of this volume, is the author of seven novels, including GRACE ABOUNDING, EXPENSIVE HABITS, NATURAL HISTORY, and A LOVER'S ALMANAC, and has taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Yale. She lives in New York City.

About the Author

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is a central figure in American literature, a masterful chronicler of her age and prolific writer in many modes. Her major works include The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), The Custom of the Country (1913) and The Age of Innocence (1920), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded to a woman.

Maureen Howard, the editor of this volume, is the author of numerous novels, including Grace Abounding, Expensive Habits, and Natural History, all of which were nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. She has taught at a number of American universities, including Columbia, Princeton, Amherst, and Yale, and was awarded the Academy Award in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

About this edition

• Publisher: Library of America
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1883011949
• ISBN 13: 9781883011949
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 848
• Editor: Howard Maureen