Edith Wharton, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

The weather outside was frightful – reminiscent of our ODD WOMEN July meeting, similarly chill and drippy – but Amanda’s hôtel privé was, as usual, delightful. She was hostess to Cynthia and Mark, Michel, Maren, and Phoebe for a discussion of Edith Wharton’s THE AGE OF INNOCENCE.

The verdict on the book was five enthusiastic thumbs up, with only Mark, who simply couldn’t get into it, abstaining. (He seemed abashed and said he might give it another try.) As usual, I missed a lot of points in the crisscrossing discussion, so please use the comments to fill in.

 We loved the detail (Phoebe noting that it was the sort of book it’s fun to read with Google open to look up furniture, clothing, and painters as they’re mentioned – her new favorite is Carolus Duran). Cynthia was especially fond of the humor as Wharton looked back on the angels-on-a-pin New York society of the 1870s. We remarked on how little her protagonists had to do – a point underlined by Wharton in contrasting it with the society of only thirty years later. Maren reminded us of those invisible workers who made it possible for the protagonists to lead their unoccupied lives. The diminuendo ending reminded Michel of Flaubert’s EDUCATION SENTIMENTALE.

This opened the floodgates to all sorts of possibilities for future selections – yes, EDUCATION SENTIMENTALE and MADAME BOVARY, but also Wharton’s friend Henry James and PORTRAIT OF A LADY, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, THE TURN OF THE SCREW … reflect, select, and pick your months, please !

 We’ll be taking August off and resuming in September with John Williams’ STONER.