The Age Of Innocence
$22.65
- Paperback
336 pages
- Release Date
4 March 2008
Summary
Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to a book written by a woman, The Age of Innocence is a suspenseful, deeply moving, and brilliantly accomplished novel of the struggle between desire and destiny.
In the polished world of Edith Wharton’s Old New York, society is at once infinitely sophisticated and ruthlessly primitive, in which adherence to ritual and loyalty to clan surpass all other values—and transgression is always punished.
The Age of Innocence…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780451530882 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0451530888 |
| Author: | Edith Wharton |
| Publisher: | Penguin Putnam Inc |
| Imprint: | Signet Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 336 |
| Release Date: | 4 March 2008 |
| Weight: | 244g |
| Dimensions: | 172mm x 105mm |
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Critics Review
Praise for Edith Wharton and The Age of Innocence“Is it—in this world—vulgar to ask for more? To entreat a little wildness, a dark place or two in the soul?”—Katherine Mansfield“There is no woman in American literature as fascinating as the doomed Madame Olenska….Traditionally, Henry James has always been placed slightly higher up the slope of Parnassus than Edith Wharton. But now that the prejudice against the female writer is on the wane, they look to be exactly what they are: giants, equals, the tutelary and benign gods of our American literature.”—Gore Vidal“Will writers ever recover that peculiar blend of security and alertness which characterizes Mrs. Wharton and her tradition?”—E. M. Forster
About The Author
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton was born into the upper stratum of New York society in 1862, a milieu that provided her with rich material for her novels but did not foster her artistic development. Educated by tutors and governesses, she was raised with marriage as her primary vocation. Her marriage in 1885 to Edward Wharton proved emotionally disappointing, leading to her first nervous breakdown in 1894. Despite or perhaps because of the strain of her marriage, she began writing fiction, publishing her first story in 1889.
Her early works included a guide to interior decorating, followed by novels and story collections, written while the Whartons lived in Newport and New York, traveled in Europe, and established their home, the Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. In Europe, she befriended Henry James, who became a close friend, travel companion, and a discerning critic of her work.
The House of Mirth (1905) achieved critical acclaim and commercial success, as did Ethan Frome (1911). In 1913, the Whartons divorced, and Edith relocated permanently to France. Yet, her focus remained on America, particularly the affluent New York society of her youth. Her satirical novel, The Custom of the Country, was published in 1913, and The Age of Innocence earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
In her later years, she was admired by a new generation of writers, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In total, she authored approximately 30 books, including her autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934). She passed away at her villa near Paris in 1937.
Regina Barreca is a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut. She has edited seven books, including The Penguin Book of Women’s Humor, and has authored four others. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Hartford Courant.
Judith P. Saunders is a writer known for Reading Edith Wharton Through a Darwinian Lens- Evolutionary Biological Issues in Her Fiction, Lost Partners, The Age of Innocence, and more. She is a professor of American Literature at Marist College in New York.
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