A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton

Carol J. Singley

ISBN 10: 0195135903 / ISBN 13: 9780195135909

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, US, 2003

About this Item

A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton provides scholarly and general readers with historical contexts that illuminate Wharton's life and writing in new, exciting ways. The essays in this volume expand our sense of Wharton as a novelist of manners and reflect the latest developments in new historicism and cultural studies. Like many other literary women, Edith Wharton overcame prejudice to enter the world of letters. Wharton stood at the historical crossroads between the literary models of sentimental lady writer and modern professional author, and her work navigates accordingly between Victorian and modern sensibilities. Writing at a time of great social and economic change, Wharton records the changes brought about by Darwinism, urbanization, capitalism, feminism, world war, and eugenics, converying these cultural transformations with unforgettable detail and realism. This compelling collection of original essays illuminates Edith Wharton's vivid and incisive fiction against the backdrop of old New York, bringing one of our most important American novelists to life within the context of the society she so memorably chronicled and confronted.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780195135909

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195135903
• ISBN 13: 9780195135909
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 499 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Edith Wharton, arguably the most important American female novelist, stands at a particular historical crossroads between sentimental lady writer and modern professional author. Her ability to cope with this collision of Victorian and modern sensibilities makes her work especially interesting. Wharton also writes of American subjects at a time of great social and economic change-Darwinism, urbanization, capitalism, feminism, world war, and eugenics. She not only chronicles these changes in memorable detail, she sets them in perspective through her prodigious knowledge of history, philosophy, and religion. A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton provides scholarly and general readers with historical contexts that illuminate Wharton's life and writing in new, exciting ways. Essays in the volume expand our sense of Wharton as a novelist of manners and demonstrate her engagement with issues of her day.

About the Author

Carol J. Singley is at Rutgers University-Camden.