The House of Mirth

For the various adaptations of the novel, see The House of Mirth (disambiguation).
The House of Mirth

First Edition, 1905
Author Edith Wharton
Country United States
Language English
Genre Novel
Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons
Publication date
 October 14, 1905
Media type print

The House of Mirth (1905), a novel by Edith Wharton (1862–1937), tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City’s high society around the turn of the last century.[lower-alpha 1] Wharton creates a portrait of a striking beauty who, though raised and educated to marry well both socially and economically, is reaching her 29th year, an age when her youthful blush is drawing to a close and her marital prospects are becoming ever more limited. The House of Mirth traces Lily’s slow two-year social descent from privilege to a tragically lonely existence on the margins of society. Wharton uses Lily as an attack on "an irresponsible, grasping and morally corrupt upper class." (309-310)[2]

Before publication as a book on October 14, 1905, The House of Mirth was serialized in Scribner’s Magazine beginning in January 1905. It attracted a readership among housewives and businessmen alike. Charles Scribner wrote Edith in November 1905 that the novel was showing "the most rapid sale of any book ever published by Scribner." (310)[2] By the end of December sales had reached 140,000 copies.[3] Edith's royalties were valued at more than half a million dollars in today's currency. The commercial and critical success of The House of Mirth solidified Wharton's reputation as a major novelist.[3]

Because of the novel's commercial success some critics classified it as a genre novel. However, Edith's pastor, then rector of Trinity Church in Manhattan, wrote to tell her that her novel was "a terrible but just arraignment of the social misconduct which begins in folly and ends in moral and spiritual death."(310)[2] This moral purpose was not lost on the literary reviewers and critics of the time who tended to categorize it as both social satire and a novel of manners. Carol Singley in her Introduction to Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth: A Case Book states, "[The House of Mirth] is a unique blend of romance, realism, and naturalism,[and thus] transcends the narrow classification of a novel of manners." (3)[4] The House of Mirth was Edith Wharton's second published novel[2] and was preceded by two novellas, The Touchstone (1900), Sanctuary (1903) and one full-length novel, The Valley of Decision (1902). Her subsequent important novels are Ethan Frome (1911), The Custom of the Country (1913), and The Age of Innocence (1920) for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.[2][5] These works influenced a host of American authors for two generations. They include F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Sinclair Lewis (Main Street),John O'Hara (Appointment in Samarra), and Louis Auchincloss (The House of Five Talents).[3][6]

Title: Theme and Purpose

In The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart enjoys the attentions of a gentleman.

Wharton considered several possibilities[lower-alpha 2] as the title of her novel. Two were germane to her purpose:

A Moment's Ornament appears in the first stanza of William Wordsworth's (1770–1850) poem, "She was a Phantom of Delight" (1804) that describes an ideal of feminine beauty:

"She was a Phantom of delight / When first she gleam’d upon my sight; / A lovely Apparition, sent / To be a moment’s ornament: / Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; / Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; / But all things else about her drawn / From May-time and the cheerful dawn; / A dancing shape, an image gay, / To haunt, to startle, and waylay."
— CLXXIV: She was a Phantom of Delight, first stanza (1804)[7]

"A moment's ornament"[lower-alpha 3] represents the way Wharton describes Lily's relationship to her reference group as a beautiful and well-bred socialite. Her value lasts only as long as her beauty and good-standing with the group. By centering the story around a portrait of Lily, Wharton was able to address directly the social limitations imposed upon her. These included the mores of the upper crust social class to which Lily belonged by birth, education, and breeding.[9]

The title Wharton finally chose for her novel was The House of Mirth (1905) taken from the Old Testament:

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
— Ecclesiastes 7:4

As The House of Mirth the novel spotlights the social context as playing as much of a role in the development of the novel's purpose as the heroine herself.[lower-alpha 4] "Mirth" contrasted with "mourning" also bespeaks a moral purpose as it underscores the frivolity of a social set that not only worships money, but also uses it ostentatiously solely for its own amusement and aggrandizement. At the time the novel takes place, Old New York high society was peopled by the extraordinarily wealthy who were conditioned by the economic and social changes the gilded age (1870–1900) wrought. Wharton's birth around the time of the Civil War predates that period by a little less than a decade. As a member of the privileged Old New York society,[lower-alpha 5] she was eminently qualified to describe it authentically. She also had license to criticize the ways New York high society of the eighteen nineties had changed without being vulnerable to accusations of envy motivated by coming from a lower social caste.[lower-alpha 6] She accused her peers of having lost the sense of noblesse oblige of their forebears.

Wharton reveals in her introduction to the 1936 reprint of The House of Mirth her choice of subject and her major theme:

When I wrote House of Mirth I held, without knowing it, two trumps in my hand. One was the fact that New York society in the nineties was a field as yet unexploited by a novelist who had grown up in that little hot-house of tradition and conventions; and the other, that as yet these traditions and conventions were unassailed, and tacitly regarded as unassailable.
— Introduction to 1936 Edition, The House of Mirth 32-33[12]

Wharton figured that no one had written about New York society because it offered nothing worth writing about. But that did not deter her as she thought something of value could be mined there. If only the writer could dig deeply enough below the surface, some " 'stuff o' the conscience' " could be found. She went on to declare unabashedly that:

[I]n spite of the fact I wrote about totally insignificant people, and 'dated' them by an elaborate stage-setting of manners, furniture and costume, the book still lives and has now attained the honour of figuring on the list of the Oxford University Press. . . . Such people always rest on an underpinning of wasted human possibilities and it seemed to me the fate of the persons embodying these possibilities ought to redeem my subject from insignificance.
— Introduction to 1936 Edition, The House of Mirth 33[12]

If the excesses of the lives of the rich and famous had, by themselves, been the subject of The House of Mirth, it surely would have been relegated to a period piece. The House of Mirth continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication because its central theme, the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be, is as relevant today as it was in 1905.[13] The life and death of Lily Bart continues to matter to us because Wharton has succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it." (3)[4]

Plot

In The House of Mirth (1905), the story of Lily Bart begins in Grand Central Station where Lawrence Selden, a lawyer of modest means, but with connections to New York’s high society lays eyes on her after an eleven-year hiatus. Appreciating her exquisite beauty, he decides to greet her and agrees to keep her company as she has a two-hour wait for the next train to Gus Trenor’s estate in Bellomont. They begin walking in search of a tea house and end up at the Benedick, Selden’s apartment building. She takes the risk of accepting his invitation for tea in his rooms. Lily was well aware that visiting a man's rooms is considered inappropriate for a young unmarried woman, but Lily, once in a great while, impulsively ventures to escape the claustrophobic constrictions and routines of upper crust society thus expressing her longing to be free. During their tête-à-tête over tea Lily makes it clear that she looks at Selden as that friend who won’t be afraid to say disagreeable things to her and he muses that he is way out of her league as a possible love interest. Departing Selden's rooms to catch the five-forty to Bellomont, she inopportunely encounters Mr. Rosedale, a Jewish businessman, known to her set, who happens to own the building. She attempts to cover the appearance of an indiscretion by professing to have been consulting with her dress-maker.[lower-alpha 7]

One of the disagreeable things Lilly discussed with Selden was that a "girl" must marry to achieve economic security, but a man may choose. She is now setting her sights on Percy Gryce, a young, shy and excruciatingly boring millionaire who was also expected at Bellomont. Fortuitously, she encounters him on the Bellomont five-forty. She skillfully contrives to have him sit with her for tea where she disarms him by engaging in conversation about his one claim to fame, his Americana rare book collection. In that encounter she solicits support from Bertha Dorset to cover her smoking and while at Bellomont from Judy Trenor to cover her gambling at bridge in an effort to be acceptable to the conservative Mr. Gryce. Selden unexpectedly shows up at Bellomont at week's end allowing Lilly to compare Selden to Percy at Saturday-night supper —a comparison that turned out to be her undoing as she begins to see her friends as dull and vacuous. She fails to meet her appointment to attend church with Percy on Sunday morning and excuses herself from a walk with him in the afternoon feigning illness. Lily thinks she can go slow with Percy because she is convinced she can marry him whenever she pleases. Instead, she spends the afternoon on a four-hour walk with Selden where an air of buoyancy and freedom engulf her. She begins to be drawn to Selden romantically not only as tall and handsome, but also as cultivated and a cut above other men —even those with extreme wealth. Selden begins to fall in love with Lily, yet will not risk marriage. He realizes she cannot marry a man of his modest means, and that this romantic interlude notwithstanding she has not given up her strategy to marry Percy Gryce. The next day her hostess and best friend, Judy Trenor admonishes her for an hour on the huge mistake she has made ignoring Percy by going off with Selden. Judy reminds Lily that she had been told about Bertha and Selden's affair, that Bertha's behavior at Saturday-night supper showed she was still wildly interested in Selden, and that as an enemy Bertha was cruel and unscrupulous. Bertha Dorset had correctly surmised that Selden had come to Bellomont to see Lily not Bertha, and she had already retaliated by making sure Percy found out about Lily's gambling, smoking, and her borrowing money to pay off her gambling debts which has scared Percy off. Miss Bart's folly ends up costing her. Percy Gryce ends up marrying Evie Van Osburgh, a younger woman, also a guest at Bellomont and heiress to a fortune in her own right. Their courtship proceeded so rapidly that Lily is unaware of it until Evie's mother mentions their engagement at the wedding of her cousin Jack Stepney to Gwen Van Osburgh six weeks after the Bellomont house party.

The tragic heroine of The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart, lingers at the broad staircase, observing the high-society people gathered in the hall below.

Threats to Lilly’s social standing begin innocently enough when she acquiesces to her friend Judy Trenor's plea to fetch her husband Gus at the 4:00 train. This averts an encounter with Carrie Fisher—a social sponge who gets Gus to pay her bills. Lily engages Gus in a conversation about his day and learns about his woes and his successes in getting "tips" that make a lot of money. He also asks her to persuade his wife to be decently civil to Rosedale by asking him to dine with them. Rosedale is becoming richer and richer, is the source of lucrative "tips", and is now vulnerable to those who will give him entré to high society. It occurs to Lily, then, that playing the stock market, though she is naïve about how it works, might be a way to earn some money to solve her indebtedness and keep her from resorting to asking for loans from men—a social taboo for a young unmarried "girl." She realizes that Gus —as the husband of her best friend— had the wits and knowledge to help her make a profitable investment. She attempts to establish a "fraternal" relationship with him by asking him to intervene with his wife to assuage her anger at the mess Lily has made in pursuing Percy Gryce.

She accepts several checks for large amounts of money from Gus, who is accustomed to receiving romantic attention from women such as "that battered wire-puller. . . Mrs. Fisher". (94)[1] in exchange for money. Gus expects romantic attention from Lily in exchange for the payments. To him, an experienced Wall Street speculator, the idea that he's actually investing Lily's money for a gigantic profit is an obvious social fiction. Lily, however, lacks financial knowledge and truly believes he's making investments on her behalf. She begins to avoid Gus, who speaks indiscreetly to others about the transaction. The rumors that arise from his continued pursuit of her and from the compromises she makes to allow Gus a little bit of social contact with her alienate her friend Judy and damage Lily's reputation. Lily one day receives a note from Selden, who asks to meet with her. Certain that he will propose marriage, she agrees to meet him the next day. Surprised and alarmed by Lily's apparent change of heart toward him, and also by the fact he sees her sneaking out of Gus's townhouse that very night while Judy is known to be out of town, Selden flees New York City. He travels first to Havana and then to Europe, cravenly leaving Lily with no notice and no explanation. To escape the rumors arisen from the gossip caused by her financial dealings with Gus Trenor, and also disappointed by what she interprets as Selden's emotional cowardice, Lily accepts Bertha Dorset's invitation to join her and her husband, George, on a cruise of Europe aboard their yacht, the Sabrina. Bertha intends that Lily should keep George distracted while Bertha conducts an affair with a young poet Ned Silverton. Lily fails to keep George sufficiently distracted, and so when George catches Bertha in a compromising situation, Bertha falsely accuses Lily of adultery with George, in order to divert the attention and suspicion of their social circle away from herself. The ensuing social scandal ruins Lily's personal reputation, which then causes her abandonment by friends and disinheritance by Aunt Peniston.

Undeterred by such misfortunes, Lily fights to regain her place in high society by befriending Mr and Mrs Gormer and becoming their social secretary, so as to introduce the Gormers to high society and groom them to take a better social position. However, her enemy, the malicious Bertha Dorset, gradually communicates to them the "scandalous" personal background of Lily Bart, and, so, undermines the friendship which Lily had hoped would socially rehabilitate her. Only two friends remain for Lily: Gerty Farish (a cousin of Lawrence Selden) and Carry Fisher, who help her cope with the social ignominy of a degraded social status, whilst continually advising Lily to marry as soon as reasonably possible.

Despite the efforts and advice of Gerty and Carry to help her overcome notoriety, Lily descends through the social strata of the high society of New York City. She obtains a job as personal secretary of Mrs. Hatch, who is a disreputable woman and who very nearly succeeds in marrying a wealthy young man in Lily's former social circle. She resigns after Lawrence Selden returns to warn her of the danger, but not in time to avoid being blamed for the crisis. Lily then finds a job in a milliner's shop; yet, unaccustomed to the rigors of working class manual labour, her rate of production is low and the quality of her workmanship is poor, and she is fired at the end of the New York social season when the demand for fashionable hats has ceased.

Meanwhile, Simon Rosedale, a Jewish suitor who earlier had proposed marriage to Lily, when she was higher in the social scale, returns to her life and tries to rescue her, but Lily is unwilling to meet his terms. Simon wants Lily to use love letters, which she bought from her servant, to confirm the occurrence of a long-ago love affair between Lawrence Selden and Bertha Dorset. For the sake of Selden's reputation, Lily does not act upon Rosedale's request, and secretly burns the love letters when she visits Selden, one last time.

Eventually, Lily Bart receives a ten-thousand-dollar inheritance, from her Aunt Peniston, with which she repays Gus Trenor. Distraught by her misfortunes, Lily had begun regularly using a sleeping draught of chloral hydrate to escape the pain of poverty and social ostracism. One day, Lily takes an overdose of the sleeping draught and kills herself. Hours later, Lawrence Selden arrives to her quarters, to finally propose marriage, but finds Lily Bart dead; only then is he able to be close to her.

Characters

Lily Bart—Wharton paints Lily, the heroine of her novel, as a complex multifaceted personality with the purity that her Christian name implies, the defiance that her surname implies,[lower-alpha 8] and the foolishness that the title of the novel implies. The combination of the social pressures and conventions of her reference group and her refusal to "settle" numerous times to save herself portend a fateful destiny where she becomes complicit in her own destruction. Wharton depicts Lily as having an aesthetic purpose in life—a fine specimen to be looked at and admired. Her pressing task as the novel begins is to find that husband with the requisite wealth and status to maintain her place in upper-class New York social circles and the atmosphere of luxury she feels she cannot live without. Her beauty should have served her well to achieve that purpose for which she had been well trained. However, it turns out that who she is at her core, her desire to escape the claustrophobic confines of social convention, her sense of what is right, and her personal desire for love as well as money have thwarted her success in spite of a number of eligible admirers. Her vulnerabilities are her advancing age—she has been on the "marriage market" for ten years as the novel begins—her constant efforts to "keep up with the Joneses"(4)[lower-alpha 9] given the very modest but erratic "allowance" from her straight-laced Aunt Julia; the loss of her father's wealth, and the death of her parents which has left her orphaned and without a caring protector. To protect Lawrence Selden's reputation, she refuses to use damning evidence against Bertha Dorset which would have recouped her ruined social standing. This leads to a tragic yet heroic ending.

Lawrence Selden—A young lawyer who, although not wealthy himself, is able to move easily within and without Old New York's elite social circles through kinship with old-line New York families. He has known Lily since her “coming out” eleven years ago. For all this time he has been in the background of her life. He views the comings and goings of New York's high society with the detachment and the objectivity of an outsider —a characteristic that Lily not only admires but also that allows her to view those people in her surroundings in an objective, critical and a not-so-flattering way. She becomes fascinated and envies his independence from the “tribe” and the freedom that has given him.[lower-alpha 10] Her encounters with Selden underscore the conflict between her inner voice —her self-hood at its core— and the outer voices of her reference group. It is from Selden's description, assessment and admiration of Lily's outward characteristics that we glean those attributes that contribute to New York high society's perception and misperceptions of who she is. He can be brutally honest about Lily's superficiality and artificiality and simultaneously appreciate the sparks of freedom and spontaneity that temper these negatives. These mutual admirable qualities give way to their romantic regard for one another. He is not, however, free from the social pressure of rumor. Though he has shown Lily consistent friendship, he abandons her when she becomes the victim of appearances that put her virtue, as an unmarried woman,in question.

Simon Rosedale—A successful and socially astute Jewish businessman who has the money but not the social standing to be accepted into the circle of New York's leisure class. Building his fortune in real estate, Rosedale makes his first appearance in the story when he observes Lily leaving his apartment building in what appears to be a tryst with one of his tenants. Rosedale is interested in Lilly because not only is she beautiful, but what is more important, she is also a social asset in gaining him a place in high society. She reflects that she has put herself in his power by her clumsy dress-maker fib and her refusal to allow him to take her to the station which would have given him the prestige of being seen by members of the society with whom he was aspiring to gain acceptance. As his social ascendency continues, he offers Lily marriage which would provide her a way out of her financial dilemma and her precarious social standing, but she refuses. His cleverness and business acumen serve him well to achieve a higher and higher rung on the social ladder. Lily, however, is on her way down to the point that Rosedale is no longer interested in marrying her. Despite the differences in their social standing by the end of the story, Rosedale shows compassion for Lily. He offers her a loan when he runs into her after she has lost her hat-making job—an offer she refuses.

Percy Gryce—A conservative,rich, but shy and unimaginative young eligible bachelor on whom Lily, with the support of her friend Judy Trenor, sets her sights. Percy's less than titillating personality notwithstanding, Lily works out a strategy to catch him at week-long festivities at Bellomont. Her fortuitous and successful encounter with Percy on the train to Bellomont further encourages her in pursuit of her goal. Her strategy gets interrupted, however, when Selden at week's end also appears on the scene unexpectedly. Lily then decides, on the spur of the moment, to set aside her well-thought-out tactics to pursue Percy in favor of spending some time with Selden. When, at a more rational moment, she returns to pursuing Percy, his mother-in law-to-be tells Lily about his engagement to Evie Van Osburgh at Jack Stepny's and Gwen Van Osburgh's wedding.

Bertha Dorset (Mrs. George Dorset)—A petite and pretty high-society matron whose husband George is extremely wealthy. She is first introduced catching the train to Bellomont where she boards with great fanfare and commotion. She demands that the porter find her a seat with her friends, Lily and Percy. Once at Bellomont Judy Trenor intimates to Lilly that Bertha is manipulative and also unscrupulous such that it is better to have her as a friend rather than an enemy. It is well known that Bertha is bored with her husband and seeks attention and love outside the confines of marriage. At Bellomont Bertha continues to pursue Selden in an attempt to rekindle the flame of an adulterous affair they have been carrying on but with which he has become disenamored. As Book I ends, she invites Lily to accompany her on a Mediterranean cruise to distract her husband so she can carry on an affair with Ned Silverton. Bertha understands, as a married woman, she must keep up appearances and ruthlessly impugns Lily's reputation to mask her own adultery. She spreads false rumors that besmirch Lily's virtue among their friends. Lily, as an unmarried woman without a protector, has little she can do in her own defense.

Mrs. Peniston (Julia)—Lily's wealthy, widowed Aunt –sister to Lily’s mother. Mrs. Peniston embodies "old school" morality and has a family pedigree that goes back to the industrious and successful Dutch families of early New York. Although she maintains an opulent residence on fashionable Fifth Avenue, in Lilly's eyes it lacks a certain chic, and thus is but one step away from dingyness. Mrs. Peniston's “Old New York” lifestyle requires keeping her drawing room neat, eating well and dressing expensively. She harbors a passive attitude and does not actively engage in life. Mrs. Peniston took pleasure in the public display of her generosity by agreeing to take Lilly on for a year after her mother died—much to the relief of the extended family. Lily stayed on for years because she was able to adapt to her aunt’s passive ways and because Mrs. Peniston was indulgent for the volatility of youth. Lilly is dissatisfied with her existence in her aunt's house to the point of engaging in "fits of angry rebellion against fate"(56).[1] She desires to make an independent life for herself, but that is economically and socially impossible. The peaceful co-existence she has constructed with her aunt comes to an end when Mrs. Peniston hears the rumors that Lily has had an affair, learns that Lily gambles on Sundays, and then disinherits her leaving most of her estate to other relatives and Lilly without a fashionable place to live.

Judy Trenor (Mrs. Gus Trenor)—Lily's best friend and confidante— is the stereotypical high-society matron, married to Gus Trenor, a successful business man. She frequently hosts large parties and social events at their country home, Bellomont. By engaging in gossip Mrs. Trenor keeps up on the social scene. She acts as matchmaker between Lily and Percy Gryce. She uses Lily as her surrogate private secretary and spends much of her day making sure that every detail of her events is done to perfection. This includes poring over lists to decide which guests are the most desirable to invite, which have been "stolen" by another conflicting event, and which unmarried men and women should be set up together. She invites Selden to Bellomont on anonymous advice to keep Mrs. George Dorset entertained.

Gus Trenor—Judy Trenor's husband—a massive man with a heavy carnivorous head and a very red complexion. He is a successful stock market speculator and an advocate of Sid Rosedale's acceptance in high society circles although he considers him a bounder. He is also a notorious flirt and looks for attention in relationships with women outside of his marriage. Gus becomes enamored with Lily, a frequent guest at his wife's weekend social events. He uses his financial investment skills and a large sum of his own money in a risky investment for Lily which she agrees to. The proceeds from this speculation will help her pay her gambling debts and other expenses necessary to keep up appearances. The investment turns sour and Lily commits to repaying her debt to Gus rather than to bestow him with the sexual favors he desires.

Carry Fisher (Mrs. Fisher)—A small, fiery and dramatic divorcée. She is perceived as carrying "a general air of embodying a 'spicy paragraph';"(70)[1] and according to Mrs. Trenor, ". . .most of her alimony is paid by other people's husbands." (91)[1] She sponges money from Gus Trenor to cover her bills much to his wife's chagrin. Although Gus accepts romantic favors from Mrs. Fisher in exchange for paying her bills and investing her money in the stock market, he considers her a "battered wire-puller"(94)[1] in comparison to the freshness and unsullied Miss Bart. Carry is also known for bringing newcomers, such as the Brys, into society. After Lily has been expelled from the upper class by Bertha, Carry is one of the few people who still shows compassion toward her, offering Lily support and money.

Ned Silverton—A young man, whose first intention was to live on proofreading and write an epic, but ended up living off his friends. Ned accompanies Lily and the Dorsets on their Mediterranean cruise. He has an affair with Mrs Dorset, but manages to keep it concealed from most of society.

Evie Van Osburgh—A young, innocent, dull, and conservative, stay-at-home kind of a girl, heiress to a substantial fortune. Judy Trenor paired her with Percy Gryce at the Sunday-night supper at Bellomont. They ended up getting engaged within six weeks of their stay at Bellomont.

Gerty Farish—Selden's cousin. She is a kind, generous woman who occupies herself with charity work. In Book Two, she becomes one of Lily's only friends, giving her a place to stay and taking care of her when everyone else abandons her.

Jack Stepney and Gwen (Van Osbburgh) Stepney—A very wealthy couple—guests at Bellomont just before celebrating their wedding at the Van Osburgh's estate six weeks later. They belong to Old New York's high society. Jack has business dealings with Sid Rosedale and has tried to get him entré into New York's high society. Jack is Lily's cousin so he agrees to shelter her for the night after Bertha kicks her off her yacht for ostensibly carrying on romantically with Bertha's husband.

Grace Stepney—Lily's competitive cousin who refuses to give Lily financial assistance.

Critical reception

In the contemporary book review "New York Society Held up to Scorn in three New Books" (15 October 1905) The New York Times critic said that The House of Mirth is "a novel of remarkable power" and that "its varied elements are harmoniously blended, and [that] the discriminating reader who has completed the whole story in a protracted sitting, or two, must rise from it with the conviction that there are no parts of it which do not properly and essentially belong to the whole. Its descriptive passages have verity and charm, it has the saving grace of humor, its multitude of personages, as we have said, all have the semblance of life."[14]

The publication of the novel prompted letters to the editor of the "New York Times Saturday Review of Books" which argued the merits of the story, saying that the novel was a faithful and true portrait of the New York City gentry, while detractors said that it impugned the character of the city's social élite as heartless and materialist leisure class.[15]

Adaptations

The novel The House of Mirth (1905) has been adapted to radio, the stage and the cinema.

Notes

  1. ↑ In the opening sentence of the House of Mirth Edith Wharton places Lily in "Grand Central Station" where Selden is taken by surprise to see her.[1] The name of the famous New York City railroad terminal was changed from "Grand Central Depot" to Grand Central Station after extensive renovation of the "head house" between 1899 and 1900. The name Grand Central Station stuck despite further massive reconstruction between 1903 and 1913 when the site was named Grand Central Terminal.
  2. ↑ The Year of the Rose also appears in one of her donnée books as a possible title for her novel.[4]
  3. ↑ Cynthia Griffin Wolff tells us (as cited in Restuccia (404)[8] “In the first Donnée Book,". . ."'A Moment’s Ornament' appears as the initial title of the novel." Wolff goes on to pinpoint a “pernicious form of femininity”—"femininity as the 'art of being’—as the subject of. . .'the House of Mirth'.”
  4. ↑ Louise Barnett (1989) analyzes The House of Mirth as a “speech act drama” and interprets high society as a fully realized character. She further posits that in this “speech act drama” the only language that exists is for social discourse dominated by the linguistic strategies of men, yielding no language for personal discourse. Thus, the “word that would have saved both Lily and Selden. . .remains unuttered and unutterable”(61)as cited in Killoran(34)[10]
  5. ↑ Carol Singley defines “Old New York” society this way: “Wharton’s family represented a class of American aristocrats made comfortable from inherited wealth, steeped in traditional values, and well practiced in patterns of ritualized behavior. Members of her society socialized with one another and shunned the ostentation of the nouveau riche, who after the Civil War were making their way into the ranks of Old New York.”(5)[11]
  6. ↑ Ironically, critics in the twenties and thirties criticized Mrs. Wharton precisely because of her wealth and pedigree as a member of “old money” Manhattan. They reasoned that “such a woman could not understand the average working person. . . ." and that "[Mrs. Wharton’s] upper-class characters. . .constituted too narrow a subject matter. . . .” to be of any importance to the real world. (3)[10]
  7. ↑ After Lilly percipitously explains a visit to her dress-maker’s as her reason to be at Rosedale’s apartment building,Rosedale tells her that he knew of no dress-makers in the Benedick. . . . and adds, “Yes. [ Benedick ] that’s the name; I believe it’s an old word for bachelor, is n’t it? I happen to own this building—that’s the way I know.” (35)[1]
  8. ↑ Jeffrey Myers tells us, "Lily Bart’s surname means ‘beard’ in German; and in English ‘to beard’ means 'to defy’ and ‘to oppose boldly.’ Though Lily defies social conventions, her first name is the Virgin Mary’s symbol of purity and innocence . . . .” (XXIII)[3]
  9. ↑ Singley reports that Edith Wharton's mother, Lucretia Rhinelander Jones, had such high social aspirations, it gave rise to the expression "keeping up with the Joneses." [4]
  10. ↑ Lily muses as she reflects on her social constraints compared to Selden’s freedom, “How alluring the world outside the [great gilt] cage appeared as she heard its door clang on her! In reality, as she knew, the door never clanged: it stood always open; but most of the captives were like flies in a bottle, and having once flown in, could never regain their freedom. It was Selden’s distinction that he had never forgotten the way out.” (70)[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wharton, Edith, The House of Mirth: The Complete Text in Ross C. Murfin (series) & Shari Benstock, ed. (1994). Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth pp.25-305. Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-06234-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Benstock, Shari.(1994). "A critical history of the House of Mirth." In Ross C Murfin (series) & Shari Benstock (Eds.), Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth. pp. 309-325.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Meyers, Jeffrey (2004), Notes in Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 1-59308-153-7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Singley, Carol J., Introduction in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, A Case Book,pp. 3-24. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 0-19-515603-X.
  5. ↑ http://archive.pulitzer.org/bycat/Novel retrieved March 31, 2016
  6. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/bookauth/laint.htm retrieved March 31, 2016
  7. ↑ "bartelby".
  8. ↑ Restuccia, Frances L. The name of the Lily: Edith Wharton’s feminism(s) in Ross C. Murfin (series ed.) & Shari Benstock, ed. (1994). Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Boston * NewYork: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. pp. 404-418.
  9. ↑ Lewis, RWB (1984), "Introduction", The House of Mirth, Bantam Books (published 1986)
  10. 1 2 Killoran, Hellen (2001). The Critical Reception of Edith Wharton. Rochester, NY: Camden House. ISBN 1-57113-101-9.
  11. ↑ Singley, Carol, Introduction’’ in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton, pp.3-18. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513591-1.
  12. 1 2 Wharton, Edith., Introduction to the 1936 edition of The House of Mirth in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, A Case Book, pp.31-38. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 0-19-515603-X.
  13. ↑ Quindlen, Anna, Introduction’’ in Wharton, Edith (2000). The House of Mirth pp. v-xi. New York: The Penguin Group (Signet Classics). ISBN 978-0-451-47430-8.
  14. ↑ "New York Society Held Up to Scorn in Three New Books," New York Times, October 15, 1905
  15. ↑ Letter to the editor of the New York Times Saturday Review of Books, 3 March 1906.
  16. ↑ "The House of Mirth: The Play of the Novel, Dramatized by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch, 1906; edited, with an introd., notes, and appendixes by Glenn Loney", Catalogue, Australia: National Library.
  17. ↑ The House of Mirth: The Play of the Novel, Dramatized by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch, 1906; edited, with an introd., notes, and appendixes by Glenn Loney, Open library.
  18. ↑ Kirby, Walter (December 14, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 54.
  19. ↑ Marshall, Scott (1996), "Edith Wharton on Film and Television: A History and Filmography" (PDF), Edith Wharton Review (Washington State University): 15–25.

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Accessed: 01-04-2016 03:52 UTC.DOI: 10.2307/3509561

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