Dear Ms. Wharton,

I recently finished your book, The House of Mirth and am once again left disappointed. I so very much want to love your books. Your style of writing is beautiful and real, but the characters, oh the characters! I feel like I get to know them so well, and feel such hope for them, only to be crushed down at the end!

Let us not start with Lily Bart as that would be jumping in rather hastily. First, let's discuss the handsome Lawrence Selden, that book-loving, philosophical lawyer who sees Lily for the woman she is, not the creature society created. From the early stages, I had hopes that LS would be the slightly impoverished hero, who saves Lily from herself and damns society in the process. But, no! How quickly he is turned away, and falls out of love (or so he thinks) just because he sees something and jumps to a rash conclusion. If ol' Larry were half the man I thought he was, he would have believed more in Lily, and denied the rumors thrown at him. When she needed him most, he turned away. At the end, he still doesn't come through in time, and I think it's appropriate that he will live with this regret in his future.

"Society" - how dull, gossipy, boring, and spiteful they all seem! Is that the point you are trying to make? I can't help but wonder if you were once shunned by society in a similar fashion and have determined to exact your revenge through your writing. If that is the case, then can you have just one woman who doesn't care about whether or not she is society's darling, and one gentleman who is actually looking for a monogamous, committed relationship instead of all those spineless dolts who want a mistress and who don't have the hutzpah to stand up their own wives?

Now, Lily. Poor, expensive toy named Lily. Was she just a symbol for the potential in all woman to deny marriages of convenience and hope for actual love. Was she meant to come across as so indecisive and shallow? It seemed that every time things got rough, she went off on a luxury vacation that her friends, whom she often disliked, paid for. She seemed like a bit of a high-priced, if virginal, prostitute, unfortunately. I had such hopes for her but they were ultimately dashed.

There was one remarkable character, however; Gerty Farrish. She was smart, charitable, independent, strong, caring, and good. Of course, since she had neither money nor looks, she was relegated to the role of unmarryable old maid, subject to have her "friend" cry out her miseries while she actually tried to do good in the world.

Now, I know this may all seem a bit harsh, and I may be missing the point, but this is my third book by you, and I have yet to come to a full appreciation of your novels that a writer of your stature deserves. That is not to say I am giving up, merely that I'm watching, very carefully, for that hidden gem, that little bit that makes a reader think of an author with a heightened sense of awe. I think you may have it, and I shall continue looking.

Til then, requiat in pace, Ms. Wharton, until we meet again.

Your devoted, yet skeptical reader,
Paula

P.S. Where was the mirth?

9/10


"I have tried hard -- but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else. What can one do when one finds that one only fits into one hole? One must get back to it or be thrown out into the rubbish heap -- and you don't know what it's like in the rubbish heap!"

There is a displacement in the space-time continuum, Mr. Spock.

If it were not for the slightly more formal language, I might be forgiven for thinking I was still in the midst of (re)reading Convenience Store Woman -- a contemporary satire on alienation. The characters therein also announce themselves as "just a screw or a cog in the great machine"; each one finds him/herself able to fit into "only one hole". Each one, too, is "useless anywhere else". Miss Furukura, for one, is "useless" everywhere except in her convenience store. She tries for a time to escape her "one hole" existence, but, like Lily, she finds herself in the rubbish heap -- and so she scurries back to the safety of a limited existence -- but one which nonetheless provides purpose to her life.

Lily Bart finds she is "useless" everywhere except in the whirling circle of high society. Without its trappings, her life is meaningless. But sadly for Lily, she cannot find her way back into her own brand of convenience store because the gatekeepers won't have it. At some point, if one has a brain, or a heart, one transgresses all the rules of a particular society, and re-entry is denied.

This is a heartbreaking tale of those damned to live the high life in the Gilded (C)Age; and more specifically, about women's precarious footing within that cage.

... she was perhaps less to blame than she believed. Inherited tendencies had combined with early training to make her the highly specialized product she was: an organism as helpless out of its narrow range as the sea-anemone torn from the rock. She had been fashioned to adorn and delight; to what other end does nature round the rose-leaf and paint the hummingbird's breast? And was it her fault that the purely decorative mission is less easily and harmoniously fulfilled among social beings than in the world of nature? That it is apt to be hampered by material necessities or complicated by moral scruples?

With faint echoes of Tess of d'Urberville in my mind, one wonders if Lily too is not more sinned against than sinning -- for what could she have done, given the strictures imposed upon her; given the life she had been shaped for, by the earliest forces of her mother inculcating in her her duty to rebel against "dinginess".

Ruling the turbulent element called home was the vigorous and determined figure of a mother still young enough to dance her ball-dresses to rags, while the hazy outline of a neutral-tinted father filled an intermediate space between the butler and the man who came to wind the clocks. ... Lily was naturally proud of her mother's aptitude in this line: she had been brought up in the faith that, whatever it cost, one must have a good cook, and be what Mrs. Bart called "decently dressed." Mrs. Bart's worst reproach to her husband was to ask him if he expected her to "live like a pig".; and his replying in the negative was always regarded as a justification for cabling to Paris for an extra dress or two, and telephoning to the jeweller that he might, after all, send home the turquoise bracelet which Mrs. Bart had looked at that morning.

Having raised the little girl to not live "like a pig", why is one surprised when she adopts the very lifestyle into which she was indoctrinated?

We speak much, in our society, of the deleterious after-effects of child abuse. We acknowledge the reality of PTSD after prolonged abuse, poverty, neglect. And yet, we smirk behind our hankies when it is suggested that someone like Lily was also abused. It's not abuse, then, if one stuffs the child's mouth with money rather than dirt?

To indoctrinate, to brainwash, to instill day after day, into a young girl that she must never stoop to live like a "dingy" "pig" ... and then to blame her when she rises up to live above the pigs! How could she fight against the very air that she breathed?

This is an insidious piece of writing which presents itself as an innocent little book of manners; perhaps a simple morality tale, but in the end is aiming at upsetting the societal apple cart.

Wharton's luscious language is applied to this tale much in the same way one would apply a rich lather of sweet icing to a cake or exuberant amounts of make-up. In truth, it reminds me of the over-garnished, over-made-up precious little girls that are decorated by their mothers to appear in beauty pageants: there is too much of it, and at some level, it feels wrong. At the same time as this occurs, one has the sense of not being able to pull away because the spectacle is riveting.

Wharton's tale would not have worked so perfectly had her language, her style, been simpler and more direct. The dress fits the occasion, one could say. How could we feel the florid exuberance of Lily's life and the ultimate depression and lethargy into which she falls to her ruin if Wharton had not provided the means to juxtapose so vividly? It cannot be otherwise.

I need to clarify here. Did I love it? No. Would I read it again. Probably. Would I recommend it to others? Probably. Did I recognize that it was beautifully written? Of course. The nuances of every thought, every move were so beautifully told. Do I realize the important part the book played in advancing the lives of women. Well yes. I guess I just wasn't fully engaged in the book. It didn't take me away. I just kept thinking "Oh you stupid woman." I also just may have identified with the position of a woman without a husband, and that may have been a little uncomfortable to me. So do I respect the book? Yes. Did I love it? Alas and woe is me.

New York, the turn of the 20th century, a story that evolves around one Lily Bart, socially adept, intelligent, attractive but with a mindset that is living in the clouds. Fashioned for a life of luxury, she conducts herself as if she is entitled to live the life of Riley, she wants, without the giving, looking at the underclasses in a scornful way, although she herself is hardly wealthy. A bit of dreamer maybe, her dependence on high society is the drive to find a suitable husband so the lavish lifestyle she craves so much can be somewhat secure.
Wharton is mercilessly frank as she chronicles Lily's fall from grace, a fall that you both empathize with but also disdain. Slowly lily sinks towards failure, gambling away large sums of money, accused of being involved with a married man, and losing an inheritance, her fall from grace will lead her to have to take employment, her reputation in tatters. The other characters within the novel act within their classes, and it's difficult to really take these to heart. But the novel is built on Lily Bart, she is the sole focus and a literary figure I will never forget. Wharton shows us exactly how women like Lily could be smothered by the upper reaches of society, where individual tragedies are easily subsumed by the current of other people lives. The novel when first published, did not exactly go down well with some, morally looking at women in the wrong light, but there are far more pluses than minuses, very well written and capturing the essence that certain people can only exist in a certain way, with any other life not perceived at all. (less)

Sau Mùa hè và Thời Thơ Ngây, “The House of Mirth” là tác phẩm tiếp theo của nhà văn người Mỹ Edith Wharton mà tôi đọc. Nếu “Thời Thơ Ngây” khiến tôi phải say mê và muốn tìm hiểu những tác phẩm khác của Edith Wharton, thì “The House of Mirth” là cuốn sách thực sự khiến tôi khâm phục và ngưỡng mộ khả năng viết truyện của tác giả. Lấy bối cảnh New York những năm 1890s, “The House of Mirth” khám phá và nghiên cứu những vấn đề rồi đây sẽ được thể hiện và bàn luận đến trong “Thời Thơ Ngây”: mất mát, sự phản bội cùng cái giá mà con người ta phải trả để tồn tại trong xã hội thượng lưu đầy rẫy thị phi cùng sự giả tạo. Tất cả được thể hiện một cách sâu sắc và chua cay thông qua hành trình tìm kiếm tiền bạc và sự giàu có của quý cô Lily Bart.

29 tuổi và chưa chồng, Lily Bart luôn phải dựa vào sắc đẹp, sự duyên dáng cùng những kỹ năng ứng xử, giao tế để có thể tồn tại và tiến thân trong xã hội New York của Thời Đại Vàng Son (Gilded Age, là thời kỳ cuối thế kỷ 19, đầu thế kỷ 20 ở Mỹ, được đánh dấu bằng sự phát triển kinh tế vượt bậc, nhưng đồng thời cũng bị giễu nhại vì những vấn đề nhức nhối của xã hội bị bao phủ bởi một lớp thếp vàng mỏng mảnh của sự phồn hoa). Ngay từ thuở lọt lòng, Lily Bart đã được mẹ cô giáo huấn rằng cách duy nhất để cô có thể sống hạnh phúc, có thể tận hưởng cuộc sống một cách trọn vẹn, đó là có thật nhiều tiền, là trở thành một phần cao quý của xã hội thượng lưu. Lily Bart, trong một chừng mực nào đó, giống với nhân vật May Welland trong “Thời Thơ Ngây”: cả hai đều là những sản phẩm được nhào nặn hoàn hảo từ bàn tay uốn nắn của gia đình và xã hội; cả hai đều ý thức được thứ mình mong đợi từ cuộc sống và đặc biệt là từ hôn nhân.

Nhưng Lily Bart không có cái may mắn của May Welland, được mẹ ở gần bên chỉ bảo và nhắc nhở từng đường đi nước bước để tồn tại và chiến thắng trong xã hội thượng lưu New York. Mẹ mất sớm, Lily Bart không còn một người thân thích gần gũi nào để gọi là gia đình ngoài một người dì với mối quan hệ hời hợt. Ngay từ rất sớm, cô đã phải tự thân vận động, phải dựa dẫm vào những gì ông trời đã ban cho cô để xây dựng những mối quan hệ mật thiết với các gia đình thượng lưu khác nhau, để có nơi ăn chốn ngủ và cơ hội đạt được vị thế xã hội mà cô mong muốn. Ở thời đại mà việc làm trả lương cao cho phụ nữ là chuyện vẫn còn hiếm, cộng với việc không có trình độ học vấn hay tay nghề lao động cao, con đường duy nhất để Lily Bart duy trì lối sống phù hoa và bắt kịp với cái guồng xoáy tiền tài danh vọng không ngừng nghỉ của New York, đó chính là sắm cho mình một tấm chồng giàu có.

Vì lẽ đó, cô đã từ chối Lawrence Selden - người yêu cô chân thành, đắm say- cùng tình cảm cô dành cho anh để theo đuổi Percy Gryce - một triệu phú trẻ tuổi đang được rất nhiều quý cô độc thân để ý. Và trên hết, Lily Bart muốn chiến đấu và trở thành người chiến thắng trong xã hội thượng lưu, muốn được trở thành người ở trên vạn người, nhìn xuống những kẻ đã nhìn xuống mình với ánh mắt thương hại, xem thường. Lối sống phồn hoa của cô phụ thuộc vào mức độ thành công của cô trong xã hội thượng lưu, và khi thấy tương lai kết hôn với Percy Gryce đã trở nên vô vọng, Lily Bart đã làm tất cả mọi thứ có thể để tiếp tục dấn thân trên con đường tìm kiếm tiền tài và danh vọng của mình.

Lily phản ứng trước cái xã hội đạo đức giả với cái nhìn gay gắt, cay nghiệt dành cho những cô gái trẻ chưa chồng; cái xã hội nhìn nhận và đánh giá một cách tồi tệ những quý cô mượn tiền của các quý ông đã có vợ, trong khi lại dễ dàng bỏ qua cũng hành động đó ở những quý bà đã có gia đình. Nhưng đồng thời, cô lại muốn là một phần của xã hội đó, lại để cho sự phồn hoa giả tạo của nó cuốn đi, lôi cô vào một vòng xoáy tối tăm không bao giờ chấm dứt. Như bao quý cô trẻ khác, cô cũng chơi bài bridge nhằm giao tế xã hội và xây dựng những mối quan hệ của mình, để rồi nướng hết toàn bộ số tiền cô có vào những ván bài may rủi. Để kiếm tiền trả nợ tiền đánh bài, cô mượn tiền và khả năng đầu tư của Gus Trenor - một quý ông đã có gia đình, để rồi lại trở thành mục tiêu đòi hỏi “sự trả ơn” trên mức bầu bạn của một người đàn ông đang chán nản hôn nhân.

Bị bao vây giữa một bên là những người phụ nữ không từ một thủ đoạn nào nhằm bảo vệ sự toàn vẹn của đời sống gia đình trước những cô gái trẻ họ cho là có khả năng trở thành “kẻ thứ ba” xen vào hôn nhân giữa họ và chồng, và một bên là những quý ông hoặc là muốn cô trở thành nguồn an ủi nhất thời giữa lúc họ đang “chán cơm thèm phở”, hoặc là trở thành người vợ đoan trang lộng lẫy để giúp họ tiến thân trong xã hội thương lưu, Lily Bart đã phạm những sai lầm nghiêm trọng, đã để khát vọng tiền tài và cuộc sống phồn hoa cuốn mình đi quá xa, vào giữa cái tâm bão mang tên cuộc hôn nhân đang trên bờ khủng hoảng của quý bà Bertha Dorset. Miệng lưỡi thế gian, ở cái thời đại mà đồng tiền lên ngôi, đã không cho Lily Bart một cơ hội nào để cứu vãn danh dự của mình, để được tin tưởng và nói ra sự thật:

n  

“The whole truth?” Miss Bart laughed. “What is truth? Where a woman is concerned, it’s the story that’s easiest to believe. In this case it’s a great deal easier to believe Bertha Dorset’s story than mine, because she has a big house and an opera box, and it’s convenient to be on good terms with her.”

“You asked me just now for the truth — well, the truth about any girl is that once she’s talked about she’s done for; and the more she explains her case the worse it looks.”

n

Và cũng giống như George Dorset - chồng của Bertha, người đàn ông bị chính người vợ hung hăng, dữ dằn của mình giam cầm và đàn áp tinh thần - Lily Bart cũng là một con chim bị mắc kẹt trong cái lồng sơn son thếp vàng mang tên xã hội thượng lưu New York, nơi mà mọi người đều được quy định một chức phận khác nhau, một vai trò đặc trưng riêng để đạt đến sự ổn định cho đời sống xã hội. Nhiệm vụ của Lily Bart là luôn luôn xinh đẹp, duyên dáng, biết cách giao tế để trở thành hình ảnh giải trí cho các quý ông, còn George Dorset thì phải luôn luôn biết ngoan ngoãn kiếm tiền và ngó lơ những vụ ngoại tình của vợ.

Quá trình tìm kiếm tiền tài và danh vọng của Lily Bart đã nhiều lần đẩy cô vào bờ vực của sự tuyệt vọng, sự mệt mỏi và nỗi sợ đánh mất chính bản thân mình. Cái giá phải trả để tiến thân trong xã hội thượng lưu, để tận hưởng những đặc quyền mà nó mang lại quả thật rất lớn, bởi trên đời đâu có ai cho không ai cái gì bao giờ. Tất cả mọi thứ đều quy ra tiền, những bữa ăn hạng sang, những bộ cánh sang trọng, thời thượng, cùng những nét tính cách được mong đợi ở một quý cô hấp dẫn, xinh đẹp và tươi vui:

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“You think we live ON the rich, rather than with them: and so we do, in a sense — but it’s a privilege we have to pay for! We eat their dinners, and drink their wine, and smoke their cigarettes, and use their carriages and their opera-boxes and their private cars — yes, but there’s a tax to pay on every one of those luxuries. The man pays it by big tips to the servants, by playing cards beyond his means, by flowers and presents — and — and — lots of other things that cost; the girl pays it by tips and cards too — oh, yes, I’ve had to take up bridge again — and by going to the best dress-makers, and having just the right dress for every occasion, and always keeping herself fresh and exquisite and amusing!”

n

Nhưng hoàn toàn chẳng có gì tươi vui hay hấp dẫn ở những gì Lily Bart đã nhọc công trải qua nhằm leo lên nấc thang xã hội; chả có gì hạnh phúc khi cô mãi theo đuổi một mục tiêu luôn xa tầm với chỉ khiến cô luôn mệt mỏi và cô đơn. Ấy vậy mà cô vẫn lao vào nó, vào cái bẫy mang tên xã hội thượng lưu, cái lồng chim luôn mang ánh vàng son đẹp đẽ nhưng lại chứa đầy cạm bẫy, như con thiêu thân lao vào ánh lửa dẫu biết cái chết là thứ đang chờ đợi nó. Bởi đó chính là mục tiêu duy nhất của cuộc đời Lily Bart, là thứ duy nhất mà vì nó cô mới tiếp tục sống, tiếp tục hít thở, tiếp tục nhọc công nghĩ cách để trụ lại, tiếp tục chiến đấu trong một cái vòng luẩn quẩn không có hồi kết:

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“It doesn’t sound very amusing, does it? And it isn’t — I’m sick to death of it! And yet the thought of giving it all up nearly kills me — it’s what keeps me awake at night, and makes me so crazy for your strong tea. For I can’t go on in this way much longer, you know — I’m nearly at the end of my tether. And then what can I do — how on earth am I to keep myself alive?”

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Bi kịch của Lily Bart là bi kịch của rất nhiều con người ở mọi thời đại, những con người lấy tiền cùng địa vị xã hội làm thước đo cho hạnh phúc và sự thành công của bản thân. Và riêng đối với Lily Bart, bi kịch ấy đã bắt đầu kể từ khi cô lọt lòng mẹ, từ khi sự giáo huấn của người mẹ cũng đam mê tiền tài danh vọng và sự phù hoa hư ảo của chốn thượng lưu đã định hình thế giới quan cùng những ước vọng của cô - những ước vọng chỉ xoay quanh chữ “tiền”. Tấn bi kịch ấy đau lòng và mặn chát, bởi đáng lẽ nó có thể đã không xảy ra, nếu như Lily Bart sinh ra ở một gia đình khác (như gia đình của Selden chẳng hạn), một thời đại khác.

Xuyên suốt câu chuyện, người đọc có thể sẽ rất khó chịu với cái cách mà nhân vật Lily Bart được xây dựng, với những suy nghĩ luôn xoay quanh chuyện làm sao kiếm được nhiều tiền, cùng những mơ mộng liên tục về thế giới vật chất. Nhưng Lily Bart đồng thời cũng là một chủ thể khơi gợi thương cảm, nỗi xót xa và ám ảnh khôn nguôi dành cho một con người trước tình cảnh cô đơn thường trực, bất kể cô có bao nhiêu mối quan hệ với các gia đình thượng lưu. Lily Bart - giống như mẹ cô - trôi nổi giữa cuộc đời, không có nơi nào để bám trụ, để xây dựng một cái gì đó vững chắc - một mối quan hệ có ý nghĩa và chiều sâu, chứ không phải sự dựa dẫm rày đây mai đó vào những cặp vợ chồng quyền lực. Bên cạnh Lily Bart có Selden - người chỉ biết cách duy nhất để giúp cô, đó là yêu cô chân thành - và Gerty Farish, em họ của Selden, người cũng không có tiền đồ hay địa vị xã hội, nhưng luôn tận tụy giúp đỡ an ủi và khuyên nhủ Lily một cách chân thành. Họ có thể làm gì được đây để cứu lấy một Lily Bart đã lún quá sâu vào vũng lầy tăm tối, đã bị mắc kẹt quá lâu trong cái guồng xoay không bao giờ dứt của tiền bạc và phù hoa?

Lily Bart là tổng hòa của nhiều mặt tính cách đối lập: một chút thơ ngây hòa quyện với quyết tâm chiến đấu; sự tôn trọng các chuẩn mực đạo đức đi kèm với khả năng tính toán chiến lược nhằm đạt được mục đích trong xã hội thượng lưu. Tuy nhiên, sự kết hợp này, ở vị thế của Lily Bart, hóa ra lại là thứ dẫn đến sự sụp đổ của chính cô. Xuyên suốt câu chuyện, Lily đã có những cơ hội để chống lại cáo buộc ngoại tình với chồng của Bertha Dorset bằng những thứ cô có trong tay; đã có những thời điểm cô có thể phát huy quyền năng từ sắc đẹp và sự duyên dáng của mình để tác động đến ngài Rosdale nhằm có lại được một lời cầu hôn xứng đáng. Ấy vậy mà cuối cùng, cô đã không có đủ sự thâm hiểm, sự hung ác hay tính bạo gan để đi ngược lại toàn bộ những giá trị đạo đức mà cô tôn trọng, để bất chấp mọi thủ đoạn, chiến đấu đến tận cùng và giành lấy cái vị thế xã hội mà cô hằng khát khao. Cũng giống như cô không đủ thơ ngây, đủ tự tin vào bản thân, vào khả năng tự lập của chính mình để có thể thoát khỏi sự lôi cuốn chết người của cái vòng xoáy tiền tài đã ám ảnh cô từ đầu đến cuối.

Edith Wharton đặt tên cuốn sách của mình theo một trích đoạn trong Kinh thánh, Ecclesiastes 7:4, quả thật đúng lắm thay: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”. Lily Bart là một trong những kẻ khờ, những người đặt trái tim mình vào ngôi nhà của những trò vui chơi giải trí, của niềm vui ngắn ngủi, giả tạo đến từ một xã hội cũng ngập tràn sự giả tạo và thói đạo đức giả, cái xã hội đã giày xéo tâm hồn và thể xác của không biết bao người. Cô là hình ảnh để qua đó, Edith Wharton giáng cái tát của bà vào chính xã hội ấy, xã hội mà bà đã từng sống qua và đả kích nó ở hầu hết các tác phẩm của bà. Nếu so với “Thời Thơ Ngây”, vốn là một câu chuyện tình tay ba trên cái nền xã hội thượng lưu New York, thì “The House of Mirth” khó đọc hơn và tăm tối hơn, bởi nó đưa xã hội thượng lưu New York lên làm nhân vật chính cùng với Lily Bart, trở thành chủ thể cho sự vạch trần những điều bất công, những thói đời phũ phàng, bạc bẽo; những thị phi, thủ đoạn để đạt được mục đích, cùng sự cố gắng trong vô vọng của một người con gái để theo đuổi một thứ mãi mãi chỉ là phù du:

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“I have tried hard — but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else. What can one do when one finds that one only fits into one hole? One must get back to it or be thrown out into the rubbish heap — and you don’t know what it’s like in the rubbish heap!”

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Cuối cùng thì, chỉ có tình yêu của Selden dành cho Lily Bart là còn ở lại, thứ tình yêu đã giúp đỡ Lily và cả Selden rất nhiều, nhưng rốt cuộc cũng chỉ là một chiến thắng thoáng qua trước ma lực của đồng tiền và danh vọng:

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“It was this moment of love, this fleeting victory over themselves, which had kept them from atrophy and extinction; which, in her, had reached out to him in every struggle against the influence of her surroundings, and in him, had kept alive the faith that now drew him penitent and reconciled to her side.”

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P.S.: Lên mạng kiếm hình bìa sách mới biết thì ra cuốn này cũng được dựng thành phim (giống “Thời Thơ Ngây” ^^). Và người đóng vai Lily Bart không ai khác chính là chụy Gillian Anderson của tui, người đã thể hiện xuất sắc vai đặc vụ Dana Katherine Scully trong TV show “The X-Files” đó trời ơi!!!!! <3 <3 <3 AHHHHHH!!!! Chắc phải kiếm phim coi mới được!!!!

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Reading Edith Wharton's second novel The House of Mirth was like being kidnapped by Barbary pirates and held for ransom for ten fortnights; not a comfort, but an adventure. Published in 1905, this tale of Miss Lily Bart -- a young woman held prisoner by New York high society for her grace and beauty until her dependence on wealthy patrons makes her vulnerable to their whims -- carried me off against my will and held me with jeweled prose, breathless detail to character and droll wit. Wharton's milieu was alien to me and her writing often so intricate that I wanted to run home to John Steinbeck, but now that the experience is over, find myself changed by it.

Book I begins in a nation with places to go and people to see, or Grand Central Station to be exact. Bachelor attorney Lawrence Selden returns to New York from the country and spots twenty-nine year old socialite Lily Bart at the station, waiting alone. Thrilled to find herself unattended no more, Lily makes the impulsive decision to join Selden for tea in his apartment on Madison Avenue. Lily is orphaned and lives with her wealthy aunt Mrs. Peniston. Though she is expected to inherit a great deal of money from her aunt, Lily is not paid an allowance, which places her at the service of whichever patron of high society offers to sponsor her.

While marriage would present her with financial security, Lily bonds with Selden over a shared antipathy toward a life of routine. She finds ways to sabotage her social encounters with eligible bachelors. Unlike Selden, Lily has no vocation which to support her independent whims. Exiting Selden's building, Lily has a chance encounter with Simon Rosedale, a social climber who makes it his business to know everything about everyone. Lily is repulsed by the man and thinks up a quick lie to explain her presence in the neighborhood alone, but immediately regrets her decision to rebuff Rosedale's offer to accompany her to her train.

Why must a girl pay so dearly for her least escape from routine? Why could one never do a natural thing without having to screen it behind a structure of artifice? She had yielded to a passing impulse in going to Lawrence Selden's rooms, and it was so seldom that she could allow herself the luxury of an impulse! This one, at any rate, was going to cost her rather more than she could afford. She was vexed to see that, in spite of so many years of vigilance, she had blundered twice within five minutes. That stupid story about her dressmaker was bad enough--it would have been so simple to tell Rosedale that she had been taking tea with Selden! The mere statement of the fact would have rendered it innocuous.

Lily arrives at Bellomont, where Mrs. Judy Trenor has invited Lily to spend a weekend among high society over bridge games that drag into the night. Mrs. Trenor offers to help the girl secure an engagement to Percy Bryce, a bachelor whom Lily is bored by the moment she catches him in her web. She finds herself elated by the arrival of Selden and incurs the wrath of Bertha Dorset, a married woman who has designs on the bachelor. Over a long Sunday walk and respite in a meadow, Selden expresses his willingness to marry Lily, while offering his distaste for her crass materialism. Bertha Dorset sinks Lily's chances with her backup Percy Bryce by spreading rumors of a gambling problem.

Dispatched to pick up Mrs. Trenor's husband from the train station, Lily finds herself obsessed upon by Gus Trenor, who offers to invest money for Lily in the stock market at no risk. Trenor earns Lily ten thousand dollars, which she discovers was actually a gift from the married man. Lily spends Trenor's money and ignores his overtures for greater intimacy. Lily's carefree ways make enemies with her own sex as well. Her cousin Grace Stepney retaliates against Lily for being excluded from their aunt's dinner party list by whispering to Mrs. Peniston that the heir to her fortune has been gambling, living extravagantly and carrying on as the kept woman of Gus Trenor.

Lily finds new benefactors in Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Bry, nouveau riche socialites who sponsor an exhibit of fashionable young women modeling historic dress. Lily's costume wags tongues, including Selden's. He reveals his feelings for Lily but is rebuffed for his unwillingness to offer anything but love. Lily is lured to the Trenors' apartment, where Gus Trenor corners Lily and demands that she reciprocate his financial generosity with affection. Seeking to settle her debts and recapture her independence, Lily struggles with opaque feelings for Selden against cash on the table: a marriage proposal from Simon Rosedale.

Even through the dark tumult of her thoughts, the clink of Mr. Rosedale's millions had a faintly seductive note. Oh, for enough of them to cancel her one miserable debt! But the man behind them grew increasingly repugnant in the light of Selden's expected coming. The contrast was too grotesque; she could scarcely suppress the smile it provoked. She decided that directness would be best.

Lily's plans to snare a husband hit a snag with she learns through the society pages that Selden has sailed overseas on business. Book II picks up in Monte Carlo three months later, where Lily has joined the Dorsets for a cruise of the Mediterranean. Invited by Judy Dorset to distract her husband George while Mrs. Dorset dallies with a would-be poet named Ned Silverton, Lily again crosses Judy Dorset by refusing to cover for Judy's hanky panky with Ned. George Dorset has reached the end of his tether with his wife and summons an American attorney in Nice to explore options for a divorce. This reunites Lily with Selden just as Judy Dorset sets out to destroy Lily once and for all.

Though unexpressed in her novel, Wikipedia told me that Wharton's title is taken from the Old Testament and the Book of Ecclesiastes. “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Wharton's ability to craft jeweled sentences and draw scenes like a cartographer designing a treasure map is peerless. In particular, her chapters are adorned with gorgeous first sentences.

Book I--Chapter I: Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart.

Book I--Chapter III: Bridge at Bellomont usually lasted till the small hours; and when Lily went to bed that night she had played too long for her own good.

Book I--Chapter XV: When Lily woke she had the bed to herself, and the winter light was in the room.

At other times, the turn of the century prose was so beautiful that it lured me into maze and the longer it went on, lost me.

A chill of fear passed over Miss Bart: a sense of remembered treachery that was like the gleam of a knife in the dusk, But compassion, in a moment, got the better of her instinctive recoil. What was this outpouring of senseless bitterness but the tracked creature's attempt to cloud the medium through which it was fleeing? It was on Lily's lips to exclaim: "You poor soul, don't double and turn--come straight back to me, and we'll find a way out!" But the words died under the impenetrable insolence of Bertha's smile. Lily sat silent, taking the brunt of it quietly, letting it spend itself on her to the last drop of its accumulated falseness; then, without a word, she rose and went down to her cabin.

Wait, what? Throughout The House of Mirth I found my eyes glancing over paragraphs like this and having to circle back to them again, like Craftsman homes on a dark, unfamiliar lane without the benefit of well lit street numbers. I was often as lost. Wharton also tells the reader what her characters are thinking and why they're thinking what they're thinking. Social mechanization doesn't reveal itself very well in action or dialogue, only inner monologue. That's why it's a mechanization! Without careful attention though, the progression of the story is often obscured in a fog of politics and social manners.

In spite of its obtuseness, The House of Mirth builds in power by illustrating the corner a single woman like Miss Lily Bart paints herself into, ill-equipped to earn her keep as anything more than an ornament to high society. The straits that the main character finds herself in during a market readjustment to her worth is as harrowing as that encountered by the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath. In addition to Wharton's opulent wordcraft, which at its best is like death by chocolate, her climax is quietly powerful and has haunted me since I reached the finish line of this magnum opus.

I completely soured on this by the end of Book I and start of Book II. I really don't want to finish it, but I might when in a better mood. The melodrama of Gus Trenor's attempt on Lily's virtue and of Lily's flight to Gerty really disgusted me; that's not the Wharton I like, the lofty and relentless social anatomist of The Age of Innocence. It was horrible to see Wharton's cool, classic prose break down into the exclamation marks and fervid dashes of a Gothic romance. In addition to the mawkish melodrama, I was put off by the clumsiness of her handling of the characters other than Lily (always exquisite), a clumsiness that became impossible to ignore during the maladroit muddle of the Monte Carlo scenes: Wharton sets us in a nest of intrigue and drama populated by badly drawn, barely formed subsidiary characters. After George Dorset broke down in front of Lily ("poured forth his wretchedness," as Wharton puts it, ridiculously) I just didn't care anymore. Strengths of The Age of Innocence include the solidity and definition of its secondary characters, and the subtle weave of subplots--think of Jules Beaufort, or Stillerton Jackson, or the van der Luydens, people whose appearance and situation are swiftly and economically evoked into convincing life on the margins of the Newland-Ellen-May triangle. With a few exceptions (Percy Gryce, Mrs. Penniston) Wharton in The House of Mirth shows no such power. Lily is a vividly colored central figure, but the rest of the picture is just sketched-in.

The House of Mirth chronicles two years in the life of Lily Bart. She is twenty-nine years old. She is of the upper-crust New York society at the end of the 19th century, frequently referred to as the Gilded Age. Mark Twain penned the phrase, characterizing the period as one that glittered on the surface but was corrupt underneath. Lily has neither mother nor father and her expensive tastes mean she is running out of money. Her stunning beauty is her trump card, her ticket to marriage.

Wharton took the title from Ecclesiastes of 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.” Here lies a hint of what lies ahead.

Going into this novel I had to rethink what seems obvious to me. If you are running out of money, get yourself a job. The hitch is that for the women of Lily’s class and era this was not an alternative. Marriage was the answer, but what if marriage to one you do not love is repugnant? Wharton had to make me see that given her birthright and how she had been raised, Lily was utterly incapable of joining the work force. Wharton, by the book’s end had me inside Lily’ head. I saw her world as she saw it. I came to understand how she felt and thought and why she had to do what she did. Making a reader of another age and way of thinking truly understand a different era is an accomplishment.

The book describes the life of the idle rich, a life style repugnant to most of us. Money and name and retaining one’s social standing are life’s goals. How this is achieved is of little importance.

The characters: Lily I came to understand thoroughly, and I liked her. She does not blame others for her misfortunes. Neither does she stoop to the immoral. That she makes mistakes, only proves that she is human. This is a love story. He who she loves is not portrayed equally well. Only one other character is drawn proficiently--Simon Rosedale. He is an aspiring Jewish businessman. His aim is to climb the social ladder. Only Lily and Simon are drawn with depth. The others merely make up the many of the class Wharton is criticizing. A few additional characters are thrown in.

The writing: Many praise Wharton’s prose style. I had difficulty with it. There is a formality in her lines. She chooses academic words rather than everyday speech. Although the words chosen are explicit, this does not necessarily mean the import of a sentence is clear. I was not always sure I had understood what was to be intended. I prefer a text that is crystal clear. I prefer a text without ambiguity, unless there is a specific point to the ambiguity. I prefer a prose that is simple rather than fancy. I found the text unnecessarily wordy, not always, but too often. As the story reaches its end, I found more clarity in the lines. Perhaps the author wanted to clear up ambiguities. Perhaps she wanted to make sure readers understood exactly that which she wanted to say.

The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Anna Fields, a.k.a. Kate Fleming, who tragically died in 2006. She was a fantastic narrator. Her tone is bass, clear, strong and very easy to follow. She reads at the perfect speed. She uses different intonations for different characters, each one perfectly capturing that particular individual. She intones men and women equally well. I have given the narration five stars. The audiobook begins with an introduction written by R.W.B Lewis. It is better saved to the end.

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Summer 4 stars
The House of Mirth 3 stars
Xingu 3 stars (short story)
The Age of Innocence 1 star
Ethan Frome 1 star
The Reef TBR
The Marne: A Tale of the War TBR (non-fiction)

Edith Wharton’s novels typically leave me emotionally bruised and battered, and House of Mirth is no exception.

Set in New York’s “Gilded Age” in which Wharton herself was raised, the story follows Lily Bart — beautiful, charming, single, almost 30 and thus nearing “expiration”. She is the product of a fatal upbringing — one which has taught her that her currency lies in her looks, her charm, and her ability to fulfill the role of decorative ornament. As a member of the upper social classes, she has no real marketable skills, and no means of generating her own income. When her formerly wealthy parents die and leave her penniless, her only means of survival is through marriage. Yet a stubborn, rebellious streak sees her repeatedly sabotaging opportunities for matrimony. This leaves her with only two choices — suffocating compliance or destitution.

As in The Age of Innocence, Wharton uses the novel form to expose the dark underbelly of high society. Here her lens is turned towards the elaborate system of quid pro quo, the commodification of social intercourse, and the complex patterns of inclusion and exclusion that govern the social strata. We witness a world where appearances matter more than the reality of a situation, where power and money equal legitimacy. Think of it as #metoo meets the upper crust of Old New York — a twisted Cinderella story in which the fairy godmother withdraws her assistance and the princes are morally repugnant. And yet Lily is no pious fairy tale maiden either — she is flawed, rootless, short-sighted, human, which makes her all the more endearing.

Lily’s inability to operate within the prevailing system of exchange unleashes a chain reaction with a devastating half-life. The tragedy lies in the certainty that Lily would have been only too capable of authoring her own story, had she been born a man.

Mood: Immersive, suspenseful
Rating: 10/10

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The Age of Innocence

A look into the society of New York right around the late 1800's. The focus is on Lily at the crown of her popularity in society. Lily Bart is an unmarried (the horror of it!) 29 year old with her sights on several candidates. She is selfish at times, does not deserve everything that happens to her, with all the drama and antics that occur and her chance of a Prince is gone.

Selden is a gentleman and they get along so well but unfortunately he does not have enough money to support the lifestyle Lily wants (to live in the glory of Society). I really do not think he is ready for marriage at this point.
Lily brushes off, an outing with another (that proposes to someone else) for Seldon. I did not really mind as I like Seldon...
Lily just moves on like 'No big deal'.

She spends time with the Trenors but the Mr takes the time Lily is spending with them as a sign. Thankfully she refuses.
Lily tries other avenues that fall apart. Her departing Aunt just leaves her enough funds to pay her debt. This leaves Lily with having to find employment to just get by, she becomes depressed and tries a sleep medicine which leads her to overdosing when things might have fallen into place with her and Selden.

It is a bleak story of Lily's descent into loneliness. The Mirth? really never drew me in, reading a few chapters here and there. I found it a bit slow inbetween, maybe that is just the sign of the times.
I expected more of an Austen type read.
The ending sure was not! Totally did not see that coming, but then maybe I should have since the cover said "grim tragedy"

3 1/2 stars

me, anytime I have to do anything manual: oh! i'm like lily bart in the workhouse