The Age of Innocence

Эдит Уортон создала нам яркое и самобытное описание респектабельного Нью-Йоркского высшего общества, благодаря которому мы совершаем эмоциональное погружение в царившие там архаичные порядки, нравы, устои и условности. Лично для меня было откровением, что устами героев явно проговаривается признание превосходства Европы в части прогрессивности. Мне казалось, что к началу двадцатого столетия, Америка уже завоевала лидирующие позиции в части кардинальных, можно даже сказать революционных перемен в обществе и морали, диктуемых наступавшим веком, техническим прогрессом и социальными и культурными изменениями. Приехавшая из Европы Эллен Оленская вносит в застойную, полную традиционности и благопристойности атмосферу Нью-Йоркского общества, свежесть и яркие краски. Она большая любительница искусства, причем не только в музеях и театрах, но и через личное общение с представителями богемы. Ее интересы обширны, они не ограничивается семейными ценностями, она любознательна и обладает живым характером для того, чтобы внутренне расти и развиваться. Напротив, остальные герои очень статичны, даже монументальны в своей несокрушимой духовной неподвижности. На первый взгляд, они добродетельны, особенно Мэй, этот образец чистоты, да и Ньюланд тоже. Влюбившись в Эллен накануне свадьбы, он преодолел все искушения, оставшись непорочно тверд в своем решении осчастливить Мэй. Надо отметить, что и Мэй отчаянно боролась за свое счастье. Только Арчер плыл, куда его влекло течение моральных устоев. Это общество, содрогнувшееся от самой идеи развода, изгнало свободолюбивую и непохожую на них, бросающую им вызов своим желанием жить счастливо, освободиться от тяготивших ее уз брака, Эллен обратно в Европу. Грустная история о том, как аристократ влюбился, но отказался от любви ради семейных ценностей. Вроде бы все правильно и благопристойно, дети, семья, вроде бы не зря и счастливо прожита жизнь. А действительно счастливо ли?

Yeah, you could call this The Age of Innocence. On the other hand, a more suitable title might be Anna Karenina Revisited. Here are a few similarities off the top of my head:

- It's a novel based on societal etiquette.

- A lovely woman is plagued with an unloving husband and somewhat ostracized from said society due to divorce.

- A young man rushes to marry his fiancé before troubling thoughts of cheating overtake him.

- The fiancé is a virtuous, virginal airhead.

- And finally, the adulterous woman comes equipped with a very Anna Karenina-esque European flair. Their sensibilities are remarkably similar.


Did Edith Wharton steal everything but the title? I don't know, but if you told me she read and admired Tolstoy's book, I wouldn't be surprised. However, let's set the accusations aside.

This is a damn fine novel. It's poignant. It's well-plotted. It's funny. The characters pop to life. New York society of the 1870s is set as well as any Broadway stage.

Deficiencies? Perhaps there's a little too much telling over showing, but I'm not complaining.

Indeed it's difficult to fault Wharton on any point. This is a solid novel.

Beyond the novel, it's difficult to fault Wharton even if she did pilfer the plot. Yes, she came from a very wealthy family and much of her time was spent penning novels from the comfort of her luxuriant bed, dropping completed pages upon the floor to be collected and collated by a servant. But looking deeper you discover all the good she did during the Great War. And when you learn how she put herself in danger by reporting from the front, well, you can't help but admire the woman. She's got true grit, even if it is gilded grit.


PS: Here is my video review of Age of Innocence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8gD8...

Heading for a hospital stay I decided to treat myself to a pleasant historical novel with a dash of romance. BIG mistake, if this is romantic take me to the nunnery….Okay, the ugliness of the story is offset by the beauty of the writing, and it is gorgeous, I'd read this author again - but still. This isn’t so much a review as an attempt to purge this pile of hooey from my subconscious.
1st off the main protagonist Newland Archer is a celebration of hypocrisy. A man who makes a CLEAR choice he knew he loved another woman but married anyway to reap the benefits of marrying well “After all, marriage is marriage, and money's money—both useful things in their way ...” then wastes his life and the lives of the women who share it by spending it lamenting his decision. “His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen.” Throw in the proverbial ‘vapid’ ball and chain of a wife “There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free.” Add to the mix unrequited looove, the lust for another woman. Goes without saying that in stark contrast to the wife she's intelligent and utterly fascinating. “poetry and art are the breath of life to her.”

Pen the above in gorgeous prose, set in high society New York, shake & stir and voila! Pulitzer prize for fiction.

Cons: So predictable, and except for Newland’s the characters are shallow, undefined and stereotypical. How it took the Pulitzer is beyond me.
Meanderings: Huge sigh of relief when I FINALLY finished this. Needed a break from ‘escapist’ fiction so followed it with Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish Loved it (review to follow). Eels are slimy, ugly and refreshingly uncomplicated! So obviously I’m a bit weird. Just to be clear my dislike for this novel isn’t because I over-empathized with the wife. I’ve never married and I don’t think I’m vapid:) No, I'm probably just pissed that I've been fooling myself for years, believing my like or dislike of a novels characters didn’t impact my appreciation for a book. Wrong...Newland Archer made me eat my words.

“With a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together by ignorance on the one side and hypocrisy on the other.”

5 ‘not so innocent’ stars for the ‘Age of Innocence’. A novel about love, duty, and freedom set, in New York, at a time when the existing social structures were giving way to penetrating modernism and changing values within and around familial structures and the society itself. A book that then cleverly personifies these cultural and social changes through the three central characters caught in a love triangle which plays out with such intensity, you can feel the moral dilemma, the battle between honour and passion and ultimately, the loss of innocence.

A book that is extravagant in its personal reflection but delicate in its expression and one that is beautifully crafted but written with such elegant prose. A story that is stripped back from exaggeration, convoluted themes, and complex characters, as we as spectators keenly observe how lust dominates and love can cloud the mind. And the sacrifice? - well innocence of course.

The Story

Newland Archer is heir to the fortune of one of New York’s wealthiest families who is promised to May Welland, from a noble family with an equally prominent status in New York society. However, Archer’s head is turned when May’s cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, returns from Europe creating a scandal for leaving her husband and ending their marriage by refusing to return.

Initially encouraged to keep company with the lonely, exotic, and beautiful Ellen, Archer finds his interest and affections challenge his own views on his engagement to May. On the one hand he asks May to marry him sooner to prevent him straying and on the other hand, he continues to pursue and flirt dangerously with the women who is set to challenge his values and reputation as he finds himself conflicted between duty and honour and with love and opportunity.

Review and Comments

Changing society and Culture - The late 19th Century and early 20th Century is one of the most interesting historical periods, with its rigid and uncompromising social structures, the view of marriage and the survival of prominent families and their fortunes assured through well matched suitors, and the role of women, which created the perfect backdrop to tell this story.

"The untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of twists and defenses of an instinctive guile. And he felt himself oppressed by this creation of factitious purity so cunningly manufactured by a conspiracy of mothers, aunts and grandmothers"

New York itself a microcosm of Victorian England, changes through the story, and with it, the social machines, values, and beliefs as the era of genteel snobbery gives way to a ground swell of new ideas, new money, the spirit of enterprise, and a generation prepared to challenge the long-standing divisions and ideologies in society. Something the author seemed to have difficulty with as she looks back on this period in her own life as the loss of innocence through this social revolt, which is reflected in some of her comments, such as

“The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they're going to get whatever they want, and that we almost always took it for granted that we shouldn't.

Was it a feminist story? I don’t think so. Instead it was a story where the author took advantage as a writer of overlaying her own principles and frustrations at the repression of women when she says things like ‘..women ought to be free”. However, also an author who valued the purist and principled attributes of a society she loathed to see changing.

The characterisation is outstanding, as most of these timeless classics are. May Welland symbolises innocence, and it is the changes in society, social structure and values that are played out so vividly in the character of May. Ellen symbolises the opposite, a worldly woman who is the antipathy of innocence meanwhile Archer cuts the most tragic of figures at times. A man whose life was predestined and the city he loved, and its culture was to become his most unforgiving adversary. His personal reflection on his reasons for marrying May, sums up all that was flawed in a society where people felt trapped and duty bound to follow custom

"He had married because he had met a perfectly charming girl.. and she represented peace, stability, comradeship and the steadying sense of an unescapable duty"

The clash between values, social and familial expectations, the vigorous spirit of modernism, the rising voice of women and the role of marriage and the ability to choose, provide a perfect historical backdrop for this gorgeous novel. A profound and powerful story of self-denial, love, honour, freedom, and commitment, but ultimately a loss of innocence!!! A book written with timeless elegance and purpose. An epic, a story for all generations.

“After all there is good in the old ways….. but there was good in the new order too”

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2nd Read with a Book Club - 30th June 23

I have enjoyed rereading this as part of reading club / group in the last few weeks and I must say this was one of the best group reading experiences I’ve ever had. So would highly recommend for reading clubs. There are so many threads that brought the group alive and despite offering some topics at the beginning of the discussion the group found a lot more. I thought this approach really worked to start the discussion but did not hinder the debate on anything. Fabulous.

Two points were heavily debated by the group but one all were in agreement on was the significance of the historical period, class structures, and attitudes of the time by both men and women. Opinion was however divided on the following

1.tThe individual versus the ‘group’ where the group was viewed as conformists and the ‘individuals’ dared break free of the shackles from the past. Although it was the sacrifice that was to be made with such pursuits that focused our eye on the main characters. Some of whom enjoyed the indulgence of the higher social and wealth classes, so when that all important question is posed ‘What would you do for love?’ – they failed in my eyes!!!

2.tMay Welland strangely enough divided the group which for me was the most interesting discussion point. Some viewed her as highly manipulative. For me she represented the loss of innocence more so than anyone else and of course I don’t see that as contrived but rather a sad indictment of the times. Manipulative or a survivor – you decide, but a hardening of her heart for sure and the ultimate loss of innocence.

“Ah, good conversation — there's nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.”

What a lovely quote to find in honour of this great reading experience.

I confess to missing the significance and symbolism of the ‘torn wedding dress’ at the end of the book the first time I read it. Ironic and mocking as well as poignant and bitter, but affecting nontheless.

Perceptible, evocative, delicate, flagrant, immoral but still heartbreaking.

"He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty."



I believe that the best kind of books are those which one does not expect to fall in love with, but undeniably do. You know, the ones that have been sitting on the shelf for ages and that you just finally pick up on a whim, having no idea what to expect but thinking you might enjoy it? Then you start it and all of a sudden everything draws you in: the setting, the prose, the characters, the plot...And you think why the hell have I never read this author before now? Before the first five chapters are over, it's already on the top favourites list.

I enjoyed myself hugely with The Age of Innocence. It was so beautiful, enchanting and clever. And I loved everything about it.

At the heart of the story is the complicated love triangle between three wealthy members of old New York society's elite. The tangle could have in fact been easy to solve had the characters not been living in 1870's New York.

"It was the old New York way...the way people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except those who gave rise to them."

Although considered a romance, The Age of Innocence is first and foremost a satire. The way Wharton poked fun at New York society was entertaining, but at the same time her descriptions and the atmosphere she created were delightful. I loved reading about soirées at the opera, multiple-course dinners, archery tournaments and glittering balls. It was a fascinating and scintillating world of which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about. But what made this book even better was Wharton's cleverness and her manner of showing us society's real deal beneath all that glitz and glamorous façade.



"In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs."

In one word, this society is hypocritical. Hypocrisy and fake manners are the order of their days, and most know it, are used to it, but would never dare change it. Newland Archer proposes to May Welland "because it is the right thing" and May accepts "because it is the right thing". Real feelings and true opinions are of no consequence, and are in fact out of place. Blending in is what is important.

Thus it is that May and Newland are engaged. May is considered the perfect model of womanhood; young, beautiful, soft, obedient, pliant, conventional and with no opinions on anything of importance. In short, she is pretty boring. Newland starts out pretty much the same; he's a young lawyer, used to the first style of living and strict rules of his society, who doesn't seem to be able to think outside the box and do anything original. Both are good persons with many amiable qualities, but they don't stand out.



It was very interesting that the story was told entirely from Newland's point of view. Typically, classic novels written by females usually only give - for the most part - the heroine's point of view. But in this case we are only privy to the hero's thoughts. A hero who is, moreover, a very ordinary everyday guy, with nothing special to recommend him. This is probably the first novel ever that I have loved so much without falling for the hero! He lacked a certain spark that failed to entice the reader in that way.

The love story is nevertheless magnificent, because it is the changes and character growth of both lovers that make it endearing and wonderful.

"His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen."

But Newland's careful and predictable world is flipped completely upside down when he meets the intriguing and intrepid Countess Olenska. Fleeing her despicable Polish husband, Madame Olenska seeks refuge amongst her friends and family, and lands right in the middle of the guarded world of New York high society. Ellen is older than most marriageable women, has seen more of the world, and she creates quite a stir among the elite. Wilful, strong, independent and friendly, the countess's ways are different than anyone else's, and she is the only one who dares to live by her own rules.



"You gave me my first glimpse of a real life, and at the same moment you asked me to go on with a sham one. It’s beyond human enduring—that’s all."

As she slowly becomes aware of her differences, she seeks to mould herself into the polite world, while Archer finally sees in her a way out of the predictability of the pattern of his life. Boom, mutual attraction. That was what I loved the most about their love story. The way they each learned and brought something valuable to the other. Ellen learns trust, fidelity and stability. In return, she brings some zest to spice up Newland's life, makes him re-evaluate his priorities and forces him to see the realities of his world. I loved the way they challenged each other's views and principles.



To be apart means a return into their old respective life patterns, but to be together would mean going against what they both love the most in the other.

"I can't love you unless I give you up."



I believe I could go on and on and still I wouldn't be able to convey half of this book's greatness or how much I love it. My review feels like only a sliver of what it's all about. I cannot recommend it enough, please do yourself a huge favour and read it, it is definitely not to be missed. The 1993 movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Archer, Winona Ryder as May and Michelle Pfeiffer as Ellen is also wonderful, although a little short and not so deeply developed as the book is, but if you've read the book it offers a really nice visual and is worth it just for the beautiful music, the gorgeous costumes and lavish decors.

"His mind, as always when they first met, was wholly absorbed in the delicious details that made her herself and no other."

When I visited Edith Wharton's former home in the Berkshires, The Mount, I had read only Ethan Frome but I bought a copy of the Everyman Library edition of The Age of Innocence at the gift shop that is part of the Wharton estate and not having gotten around to reading the novel, a local library reading group picked the book for discussion a few years later, causing me to finally put the book to excellent use & enjoying the novel very much.


Yes, this 1920 novel is slow moving, even static at times, thus perhaps appropriate to the age it portrays, with the exclusive segment of New York of main characters May Welland & Newland Archer's day being described as a "small & slippery pyramid in which hardly a fissure has been made or a foothold gained."

It was "an era dedicated to the few and to the very few" as a young Winston Churchill, whose mother was an American, once said about Victorian England, with the same true in the country inhabited by author Edith Newbold Jones, later to marry Theodore Wharton, with both families boasting impeccable credentials. It is said that the expression, "keeping up with the Joneses" was made in reference to Edith's family.

There are many phrasings that indicate that life in NY for elite families during the "Gilded Age" (a term Mark Twain was said to have coined) was "preserved in the airless atmosphere of a perfectly irreproachable existence", as was stated about Mrs. Vander Luyden in the novel. Mr. Vander Luyden is described as having a look of "frozen gentleness."

And yet, change is very much on the horizon during the time detailed by Wharton's novel, from the post-Civil War presidency of General Grant in the 1870s & ending in 1900 with Teddy Roosevelt in the White House.

The novel captures changes in society, the beginnings of reform movements, social "fetishes & frivolities" and a transformation of the worldview of the United States as well. Throughout the novel, there is a considerable emphasis on modes of dress, types of flowers & furnishings, all of which Edith Wharton took great interest in.


The character of May Welland is defined by her sameness + an enduring kind of innocence. As Newland Archer appraises May in the light of her mother...

He could picture in Mrs. Welland the sudden decomposure of her firm placid features, to which a life-long mastery over trifles had given an air factitious authority. Traces still lingered on them of fresh beauty like her daughter's; and he asked himself if May's face was doomed to thicken into the same middle-aged image of invincible innocence. He did not want May to have that kind of innocence, the innocence that seals the mind against imagination & the heart against experience!

Some view May Welland as a flawed personality & her unchanging nature as a limitation rather than the mark of stability. Meanwhile, the presence of Ellen Olenska, a free spirit initially thought to be a countess, who becomes a kind of muse or catalyst for Newland Archer, adds a new dimension to the lives of both Newland and May.

Especially during May's pregnancy after her marriage to Newland, the stark contrast between May & Ms. Olenska eventually causes Mr. Archer to reevaluate his life. Gradually, we begin to wonder if the use of the word innocence in the title is meant ironically.

May's incapacity to recognize change made her children conceal their views from her as Archer concealed his; there had been from the beginning a joint pretense of sameness, a kind of innocent family hypocrisy in which father & children had unconsciously collaborated. Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a dull duty, as long as it kept the dignity of that duty. He honored his own past & mourned for it. After all, there was good in the old ways.

As the novel progresses, Dallas, the son of Newland & May seems to mirror both of his parents in various ways but is more open, more direct in his language & behavior than his parents & the other characters within the novel who seem much more locked into place.

Ultimately, Newland Archer is forced to make a decision in Paris that seems both unexpected and most fitting, retaining an air of mystery that I found appropriate. And the concluding chapter is replete with wonderfully vivid passages.

While The Age of Innocence paints a portrait of people who would seem extremely formal & perhaps rather out of place today, the author's attention to the transformation of that age into a more modern & eventually a more egalitarian time is well developed and the characters in Wharton's novel are very memorable.

There seemed to be no hint of the political landscape of the Gilded Age & the men seemed mostly to have very flexible notions of work, just one area where times have changed. Reading the novel was rather like having several chapters of the history of old New York and Newport, R.I. come alive, recapturing a time & a world long past.

*Initial photo image within my review is of the author; 2nd of "The Mount", the home she had built in western Massachusetts but where she lived briefly & finally a quote from Edith Wharton.

عصر بی گناهی کتابی ایست از ادیت وارتون ، نویسنده سرشناس آمریکایی . کتاب او، به شکلی ظریف و در عین حال عمیق، به سنت‌های آمریکایی قرن نوزدهم، به ویژه در میان طبقه اشرافی نیویورک، پرداخته . وارتون با جزئیات دقیق و نگاهی انتقادی، آداب و رسوم، ارزش‌ها و محدودیت‌های آنها را نشان داده.
داستان کتاب همان روایت کلاسیک عشق و به چالش کشیدن آن در آمریکا در اواخر قرن نوزده است . داستان در دهه‌ی ۱۸۷۰ در نیویورک اتفاق افتاده و روایت زندگی مردی به نام نیولند آرچراست . آرچر نامزد دختری است که به طبقه اشراف آمریکا ، با خصوصیات و رفتاری اشراف منش و سخت پایبند به آداب و سنت گذشته تعلق دارد ، اما با ورود زنی جذاب و مستقل که از همسر خود جدا شده و به آمریکا بازگشته ، تقریبا همه‌چیز تغییر می‌کند.
سبک زندگی اشراف :
عصر بی گناهی نگاهی انتقادی به زندگی اشراف آمریکایی دارد . آنها طبقه ای هستند کاملا جدا و منفک از عامه مردم . روبط آنها محدود به خود بوده و تقریبا کاری به جز خواندن روزنامه در دفاتری بسیار لوکس و مجلل ندارند . اشراف را باید به عنوان نمادی از ثروت، قدرت و نفوذ اجتماعی در آمریکا دانست . زندگی آن‌ها در عمارت‌های بزرگ و مجلل، برگزاری مهمانی‌های باشکوه و پوشیدن لباس‌های گران‌قیمت سپری می شود. آن‌ها به شدت به حفظ ظاهر و آبروی خود اهمیت می‌دهند و تلاش می‌کنند تا در جامعه جایگاه خود را حفظ کنند . با این حال، در زیر این ظاهر پر زرق و برق، تنش‌ها و تضادهای درونی نیز وجود دارد. برخی از آن‌ها از زندگی تکراری و خسته‌کننده خود ناراضی هستند و به دنبال آزادی و رهایی از آداب و سنت و اندکی هیجان می‌گردند. برخی دیگر نیز با محدودیت‌های اجتماعی و انتظارات جامعه درگیر هستند.
سنت های آمریکایی :
گرچه قهرمانان کتاب اشراف هستند و نویسنده به آداب و سنن و تشریفات آنها بیشتر پرداخته ، اما می توان تلاش مردم عادی را برای پیروی از آداب آنها دید و این گونه به بخشی از سنت و فرهنگ آمریکاییان در اویل قرن گذشته پی برد . در داستان، خانواده نقش محوری ایفا می‌کند. تصمیمات مهم زندگی، مانند ازدواج، نه تنها تصمیم فردی بلکه مسئله‌ای خانوادگی است که بر اعتبار و جایگاه کل خاندان تاثیر می‌گذارد. آبروی خانواده از هر چیز دیگری مهم‌تر است. هرگونه رسوایی یا رفتاری که مغایر با هنجارهای اجتماعی باشد، می‌تواند به شهرت کل خانواده لطمه بزند. برای نمونه فردی که از همسرش جدا شده، در جامعه مورد قضاوت و انزوا قرار می گیرد.
ازدواج‌ها هم اغلب بر اساس ملاحظات اجتماعی و اقتصادی صورت می‌گیرند تا عشق و علاقه. انتخاب همسر برای نیولند آرچر، نمونه‌ای از یک ازدواج مورد تایید جامعه است که ثبات و تداوم سنت‌های خانوادگی را تضمین می‌کند.
نقش و جایگاه زنان:
در این جامعه از زنان انتظار می‌رود که مطیع، معصوم، و خانه‌دار باشند. نقش اصلی آن‌ها همسری شایسته و مادر خوب بودن است. استقلال و ابراز وجود برای زنان پسندیده نیست. طلاق به شدت مورد نکوهش قرار گرفته و زن مطلقه با نگاهی منفی و شکاکانه در جامعه روبرو می‌شود. هرگونه رابطه خارج از ازدواج نیز به شدت سرکوب می‌شود. زنان در این جامعه اغلب مسئول حفظ و انتقال ارزش‌ها و آداب و رسوم به نسل‌های بعدی هستند.

اما با وجود همه آداب و سنت ، وارتون نشان می دهد که در پس ظاهر محافظه‌کار جامعه، نشانه‌هایی از تغییرات اجتماعی و فکری به چشم می‌خورد. زن مطلقه نمادی از این تغییرات است، زنی که تلاش می‌کند تا بر محدودیت‌های جامعه غلبه کند و زندگی مستقل‌تری داشته باشد.
عصر بی‌گناهی نه تنها یک داستان عاشقانه است، بلکه نگاهی ایست نسبتا دقیق و انتقادی به سنت‌های آمریکایی در یک دوره تاریخی خاص . وارتون با استفاده از شخصیت‌ها و روابط آن‌ها، پیچیدگی‌ها و تناقض‌های این سنت‌ها را به تصویر کشیده و نشان داده که چگونه این سنت‌ها می‌توانند بر زندگی و انتخاب‌های افراد تاثیر بگذارند.

Part of why I love The Age of Innocence so much is for the very reason my students hate it--the subtlety of action in a society constrained by its own ridiculous rules and mores. In Old New York, conformity is key and the upper-crust go about a life of ritual that has no substance or meaning. Both men and women are victims in this world as both are denied economic, intellectual, and creative outlets. All the world's a stage in Wharton's New York and everyone wears a mask of society's creation. Such is the norm until Newland Archer.

Symbolically, Newland represents an America on the cusp of modernization, the awkward period of transition between the Victorian era and World War I. At first a devout member of New York aristocracy, Newland is awakened as one from a trance with the arrival of Countess Ellen Olenska. Ellen decides to separate from her abusive husband, Count Olenski, and is rumored to have escaped the Count by having an affair with his secretary--a scandalous circumstance that brings her back home to her native New York. Vibrant, intellectual, and free-spirited when compared with the dowdy and restrained women he's known, Ellen's predicament is a revelation to Newland. As he himself has just ended an affair with a married woman and knows the ease with which society forgave his indiscretion when contrasted with Ellen, Newland begins to acknowledge the inequality amongst the sexes. However, there's a serious roadblock to Newland ever being with the captivating Ellen: Ellen is the cousin of May Welland, Newland's fiancee.

Wharton writes with cutting wit about the hypocritical and ludicrous customs of blue blood society and cunningly plots events to work against Newland, the archer whose target is a "new land" in which he and Ellen can be together. The pity is that, ultimately, May proves to be the more cunning huntress who cleverly stalks and traps her quarry in the labyrinth of society.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder