"It seemed to Ethan that his heart was bound with cords which an unseen hand was tightening with every tick of the clock."
Finding himself in the small town of Starkfield for the winter, the narrator sets out to learn the tragic story of Ethan Frome. The townspeople, however, are hesitant to tell him much. But one night he seeks shelter from a bad weather in the house of non other than Frome himself.
`Ethan Frome' (1911) is the beautifully written story of a loveless marriage and temptation, full of regret and raw emotion. Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette are the leading roles in the 1993 movie of the same name.
Lily Bart, 29 ans, fait tourner bien des têtes, et du meilleur monde. Quoique issue d'un milieu modeste, elle a toujours frayé dans la haute société. Incapable de vivre sans argent, trop honnête pour monnayer sa beauté, Lily le sait et l'admet : " façonnée pour être un ornement délicieux ", quel autre destin pour elle que d'épouser un riche mari ? Rien ne serait plus simple à satisfaire que cette ambition, si la jeune femme n'était dotée d'un caractère farouche, qui lui interdit de céder au séduisant Lawrence Selden. Et si ses charmes ne suscitaient la jalousie des femmes. Son indépendance d'esprit détonne dans l'univers codifié, superficiel, de la bourgeoisie new-yorkaise. Et son désir de réussite se heurte aux règles d'un jeu sauvage dont elle refuse d'être le pion. Déchirée entre ses principes et ses aspirations, Lily Bart est-elle aussi libre qu'elle le pense ? Dans le New York de l'Âge d'or, Edith Wharton peint la satire d'une société étouffante qu'elle connaît mieux que personne, mais qui vit ses derniers instants.
Le village de North Dormer, en Nouvelle Angleterre, abrite une communauté puritaine et étriquée au sein de laquelle la belle Charity vit et, surtout, s'ennuie. Adoptée enfant par le notable du village, le vieux Royall, Charity est née dans la " montagne ", un endroit dont on parle tout bas et en se signant, un lieu sauvage qui a dû la marquer de son empreinte. Son insaisissable différence attire immédiatement l'attention de Lucius Harney, jeune architecte de la ville venu se perdre à North Dormer pour croquer des habitats traditionnels. Très vite, Charity s'éprend passionnément de lui... Admiré par Henry James, considéré par Joseph Conrad comme le plus beau roman d'Edith Wharton, parfois comparé à Madame Bovary, Été fit scandale à sa parution, en 1917.
" Peu de vices sont plus difficiles à éradiquer que ceux qui sont généralement considérés comme des vertus. Le premier d'entre eux est celui de la lecture. " Dans ce texte paru en 1903 dans une revue littéraire américaine, la romancière Edith Wharton (1862-1937) dénonce l'obligation sociale de la lecture, nuisible à la littérature et fatale à l'écrivain.
« Faites New York ! », telle est l'injonction qu'adresse, dès 1902, Henry James, son mentor et ami, à Edith Wharton. Avec L'Âge de l'innocence, prix Pulitzer en 1921, la romancière y répond de façon magistrale en dressant le tableau évocateur, subtil et cruel, d'un monde disparu qui est aussi celui de son enfance. Au début des années 1870, au sein du petit univers élitiste et fermé de la bonne société new-yorkaise, Newland Archer s'apprête à épouser May Welland, incarnation « de tout ce à quoi il avait cru et qu'il avait révéré ». L'irruption de la cousine de sa future femme, la mystérieuse comtesse Olenska qui rentre inopinément d'Europe pour fuir un mariage malheureux, va donner une tournure inattendue à ses fiançailles. Alors que la comtesse fascine et scandalise tour à tour New York, Archer voit le mélange de sympathie et de perplexité que lui inspire Ellen Olenska se changer peu à peu en un sentiment plus troublant. Mais il prend également conscience de l'implacable étau dans lequel la société corsetée du « vieux New York » enferme les individus et du sort qu'elle réserve à ceux qui refusent de se conformer à ses règles. Peinture d'un amour impossible, d'une émancipation manquée et d'un monde voué à s'éteindre définitivement au lendemain de la guerre de 1914-1918, L'Âge de l'innocence se teinte d'une flamboyante mélancolie.
Winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize for Literature and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, "The Age of Innocence" is Edith Wharton's masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the splendid Golden Age of Old New York. Everything in Newland Archer's easy life seems to be perfectly on track; he has a comfortable position in society, a high-powered job and a beautiful and well-bred fiancée, May Welland. But when May's mysterious cousin Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after leaving a terrible marriage, Newland soon falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, expectation and scandal, Newland struggles to make an impossible decision. Against a backdrop of a New York on the cusp of modernization, Wharton's classic skewers the orchestrated customs and inflexible mores of the 1870s high society. Among the novel's many film adaptations, Martin Scorsese's 1993 film stands out, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder and Richard E. Grant.
« Il était caractéristique de sa part de garder de ses échecs un souvenir aussi aigu que de ses triomphes, et un désir passionné de les "rattraper", qui comptait toujours parmi les motifs obscurs de sa conduite. Elle avait enfin ce qu'elle voulait - elle avait conscience de posséder "ce qu'il y avait de mieux" ; et parmi les autres sensations, plus diffuses, l'adoration de Ralph lui procurait le plaisir raffiné qu'aurait pu connaître une reine guerrière portée en triomphe par les princes vaincus, et lisant dans les yeux de l'un d'eux la passion qu'il n'eût pas osé exprimer. » Ondine Spragg s'ouvre les portes de l'aristocratie new-yorkaise grâce à son mariage avec Ralph Marvell. Son ambition l'amène à divorcer et à se lancer à la conquête des hommes susceptibles de lui apporter tout ce qu'elle désire, c'est-à-dire l'amusement mais aussi la respectabilité. Si elle échoue face au banquier Peter Van Degen, elle va trouver une nouvelle victime en la personne du Marquis de Chelles, grâce à qui elle va - espère-t-elle - trouver une place de choix dans le monde du Faubourg Saint-Germain. Mais c'est vers Elmer Moffatt, un ami d'enfance auquel elle avait été mariée secrètement, qu'elle finira par revenir et en compagnie duquel elle trouvera le bonheur. Les qualités d'analyse de la grande Edith Wharton font merveille dans cette vaste fresque qui dépeint une classe à l'agonie dans ce monde du XXe siècle en pleine formation, et tracent avec une talentueuse audace le portrait d'une femme moderne.
Deux classiques de la célèbre romancière : Ethan Frome, devenu un classique de la littérature américaine, et Été, considéré par Joseph Conrad comme le plus beau roman d'Edith Wharton.
Deux classiques de la célèbre romancière A Starkfield, village perdu a l'écart du chemin de fer, Ethan Frome a la réputation d'être un homme austère et peu loquace, jaloux de son isolement. A la faveur d'une tempête de neige, il va pourtant confier le drame de sa vie a un étranger de passage : sincèrement épris d'une jeune orpheline, il n'a pu se résoudre a trahir Zenobia, la femme acariâtre qu'il a épousée... Prisonnier de ses principes, entrave par le manque d'argent, Ethan est un "Ame ricain de vieille race", inadapté au monde moderne. Ethan Frome (1911) racontait une chute. E te (1917) est la chronique d'une ascension contrariée : celle de Charity, née pour son malheur dans la " Montagne ", lieu sauvage ou son tuteur l'a recueillie. Dans le bourg paisible de Nouvelle-Angleterre ou elle s'ennuie, son existence est bouleversée par l'irruption d'un architecte new-yorkais, qui ne manque pas de remarquer cette jeune femme ambitieuse. Leur amitié se trouble bientôt d'attirance. Mais préjugés, rumeurs et différences sociales compromettent leur union... Parfois compare a Madame Bovary, E te fit scandale. Edith Wharton y montre pour son héroïne, rebelle et combative, plus de compassion que pour Ethan, vaincu par le progrès.
Witty socialite Lily Bart has expensive tastes. Unfortunately, she does not have the social status to match. So far she has managed to get by on `old money' and has become accustomed to a certain level of luxury. Her luck seems to be running out, however, as she approaches thirty and begins to scramble for an eligible bachelor who will secure her both an elevation of social status and stability. First published in 1905, the transparent way in which Edith Wharton explored and challenged the little social mobility that American Victorian society offered women sent shockwaves through the very communities that she wrote about. This thought-provoking text is perfect for fans of novels such as Henry James' `The Portrait of a Lady'.
Edith Wharton (1863-1937) was an American author. Best known for her sharp, scathing, and fierce stories about the upper-class society into which she was born and its treatment of women, she wrote more than 40 books. Her major works include "The Age of Innocence" (1920), "Ethan Frome" (1911), and "The House of Mirth" (1905). Beyond novels, she wrote authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first female author to win the Pulitzer Prize, and her work is unmissable for all fans of classic authors, from Joseph Conrad to Virginia Woolf.
Héritier élégant et cultivé, Newland Archer est l'un des meilleurs partis de New York. Chacun attend de connaître la date de son union avec la prude et ravissante May Welland, issue du même monde. La seule difficulté, pour lui, consiste à annoncer ses fiançailles dans le respect des convenances et du " bon ton ".Tout est déjà réglé quand, un soir à l'opéra, le jeune homme reconnaît dans la loge des Welland la comtesse Ellen Olenska, de retour dans sa famille après l'échec de son mariage en Europe. Dans la haute société new- yorkaise, hantée par la peur du scandale, les moeurs et les idées d'Ellen suscitent une muette réprobation. Mais elles exercent sur Newland un attrait irrésistible...Couronné par le prix Pulitzer, Au temps de l'innocence (1920) fait revivre avec une grande variété de touches un univers disparu : celui du " vieux New York ", avec son chic et ses préjugés. Edith Wharton y met à nu les sentiments. Son art, tout de tendre ironie, y est à son sommet.
Charity Royall is a 19-year-old girl, bored with her life in a small New England town. Ever since she was adopted by Mr. Royall as a child and saved from a life of poverty on the "mountain", she has been unsure of her place in society. She longs to escape the claustrophobic town and the now widowed Mr. Royall's unwanted advances. Enter Lucius Harney, sophisticated architect and ambitious city boy. Suddenly, Charity's hopes of escape awaken, as well as her newly found sexuality. But will Lucius Harney mean her salvation or her undoing? Considered shocking and highly erotic when it was first published, Edith Wharton's 1917 novella "Summer" is a compelling commentary on society's notions of what is expected of women when it comes to marriage, love and proper behavior.Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American author, best known for her sharp stories about the upper-class society into which she was born. Her major works include "The Age of Innocence" (1920), "Ethan Frome" (1911), and "The House of Mirth" (1905). She wrote over 40 books, which beyond novels included authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for "The Age of Innocence" in 1921.
The Custom of the Country (1913) is a scathing critique of American upward mobility, as told through the journey of overindulged Undine Spragg. She moves from Apex City to New York and then Paris in pursuit of two things - money and status. She will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, no matter how many affairs, lies, and divorces it takes.
Edith Wharton (1863-1937) was an American author. Best known for her sharp, scathing, and fierce stories about the upper-class society into which she was born and its treatment of women, she wrote more than 40 books. Her major works include "The Age of Innocence" (1920), "Ethan Frome" (1911), and "The House of Mirth" (1905). Beyond novels, she wrote authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first female author to win the Pulitzer Prize, and her work is unmissable for all fans of classic authors, from Joseph Conrad to Virginia Woolf.
Please note: This audiobook has been created using AI voice.
Ethan Frome is a young man whose nascent ambitions were thwarted by illness and privation. Now his daily toils wring only the most meager living from his fading farm, and his marriage is as frigid as the winter that has beset his home in Starkfield, MA. Yet despite the swirling snows, a flame of passion sparked by the recent arrival of his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver, burns desperately within him. How far will he go to pursue a forbidden love and the prospect of true happiness? What will be the cost?
Please note: This audiobook has been created using AI voice.
Upperclass New York gentleman Newland Archer is set to wed May Welland in a pictureperfect union when the bride's cousin, Ellen Olenska, returns from a failed marriage overseas. As Newland endeavors to help Countess Olenska be reinstated into the family's good graces, his affections for her grow. Newland soon finds himself torn between his desire to conform to the society he knows and his newfound passion for the forbidden Countess.
The Age of Innocence was originally published in 1920 as a fourpart series in Pictoral Review, then later that same year as Wharton's twelfth novel. It went on to win the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the award.
The Stories about New York is a captivating collection of short stories by Edith Wharton, offering a vivid exploration of New York society at the turn of the 20th century. Known for her keen social commentary and richly drawn characters, Wharton delves into the lives of the city's upper class, exposing the complexities, hypocrisies, and moral dilemmas they face.
In stories like The Dilettante, The Reckoning, Expiation, The Pot-Boiler, and His Father's Son, Wharton masterfully portrays themes of love, betrayal, ambition, and personal sacrifice. Through her sharp wit and nuanced storytelling, she captures the tension between tradition and progress in a rapidly changing society.
This illustrated edition brings Wharton's tales to life with beautiful artwork, enhancing the reader's experience of the world she so expertly depicts. The Stories about New York is an essential collection for fans of Wharton's work, as well as readers fascinated by the social dynamics of early 20th-century New York.
CONTENTS
o The Dilettante
o The Reckoning
o Expiation
o The Pot-Boiler
o His Father's Son
o Full Circle
o Autres Temps...
o The Long Run
o After Holbein
o Diagnosis
o Pomegranate Seed
o Roman Fever
o Mrs. Manstey's View
o That Good May Come
o The Portrait
o A Cup of Cold Water
o A Journey
o The Rembrandt
o The Other Two
o The Quicksand
American novelist Edith Wharton was living in Paris when World War I broke out in 1914. She obtained permission to visit sites behind the lines, including hospitals, ravaged villages, and trenches. Fighting France records her travels along the front in 1914 and 1915, and celebrates the indomitable spirit of the French people. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)
"Bunner Sisters," like "The Age of Innocence" is set in 1870s New York, however the lives of Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner reflect impoverished New York. The sisters run a "very small shop, in a shabby basement, in a sidestreet already doomed to decline." Shabby as it is, the sisters are happy in their small orderly community of supportive women. The story tells of the destruction of this life, and how the once content sisters are thrown into the realistic world outside of their little shop. (Summary by Margaret)
The Glimpses of the Moon (1922) is about Nick and Susy Lansing, both of whom live a decadent life in Europe by sponging off wealthy friends. They marry out of convenience and have an "open" relationship, but are unprepared for where their feelings will take them. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)
Edith Wharton's 1913 novel is a devastating critique of American upward mobility, told through the journey of Undine Spragg from fictional Midwestern Apex City to New York to Paris. Undine is determined to acquire money and position through marriage, even if it means multiple divorces. - Summary by Elizabeth Klett
This collection of ten stories, first published in 1904, shows Edith Wharton dissecting some of the customs, habits and vagaries of courtship and marriage, particularly as practiced in the upper reaches of New York society at the turn of the twentieth century . Fidelity is only one problem; others may arise from the machinations and emotions of the protagonists or outsiders. Wharton handles the questions with her usual gentle irony and curiosity about human behavior.
Odo Valsecca, a promising nobleman, inherits a dukedom at a young age and, over the course of his young life, must quickly learn the politics of royalty as he deals with other nobles, the church, the free-thinking movement, and, of course, his subjects, the peasants. Will he be able to rise to power in time, or will he quickly buckle under the pressures of the Italian court during the seventeenth century? Published in 1902, The Valley of Decision is Edith Wharton's first full length novel.
Edith Wharton's early novella focuses on Kate Orme, who begins the story happily in love with her fiance, only to discover that he hides a terrible secret. - Summary by Elizabeth Klett
Wharton's 1917 novella Summer, like her more famous work Ethan Frome, is set in a very small rural New England town. Charity Royall longs to escape the claustrophobic confines of North Dormer and the inappropriate advances of her guardian Mr. Royall, who adopted her as a child from the nearby Mountain community. Hope arrives in the form of city boy Lucius Harney, who has come to research the architecture of the region; but will his presence in Charity's life mean her salvation - or her undoing?
Edith Wharton's 1907 novella explores the milieu of Americans living abroad in Paris. New Yorker John Durham travels to Paris to woo an old flame, Fanny Frisbee, now the Marquis de Malrive. Fanny is separated from her husband and wants to marry John and return to America, but she doubts whether her Catholic husband will grant her a divorce. When John meets Fanny's sister-in-law, the enigmatic Madame de Treymes, he hopes she may be able to help them in their quest for happiness.
