The Age of Innocence was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921. The author of this classic, Edith Wharton, did a magnificent job dissecting society and exposing the hypocrisy and cruelty behind the veneer of respectability during the Gilded Age in New York City. This was a riveting narrative from the beginning to the stunning ending of the book. This is a book that I will certainly read again.

Not a review, but more of a personal reflection… I vaguely remember watching Scorsese’s adaptation, which might have been faithful to the novel, but, now after finally reading the book, I am not sure if the film could have done full justice to Wharton’s literary greatness. All I remember it for is a love triangle and the Gilded Age opulence. Scorsese’s cinematographic skills are admirable but unfortunately this perception of the film kept me from reading the novel, erroneously assuming that it is a romance with a triangle twist and otherwise celebrating the splendors of the age and wealth into which Wharton herself was born. Well, I am glad that finally reading the novel in this centenary year since its publication proved such a perception wrong. It is anything but…

That it starts with the opera Faust should already hint at Wharton’s ironic twist in entitling the book The Age of Innocence when in fact she presents it as the age of hypocrisy. Her writing is full of symbolism and subtlety. My sense is that what interests Wharton more than individual stories is to paint a canvass of the society in which norms, proprieties, and public morality stifle an individual to live true to his or her feelings and ideas. I also loved her clever twist on the Faustian bargain that the individual makes with society which is contrary to an instinctive expectation and it reveals itself toward the end of the novel. But the plot is only one aspect that makes this novel great. I enjoy her style and, perhaps above all, the sharp satirical tone with which she masterfully dissects how the characters fit into the scripts of social customs and conventional morality. I came to Wharton late but I am glad that so much of her writing is still ahead of me.

با وجود جزئیات زیاد دوسش داشتم

That last scene!

Some people are what they did, and others are what they didn't do.

Such a sad, sad conclusion.

If Ellen was the main character, life still happened, even though there was pain and sorrow and brutal expulsion from the tribe.

If Newland was the main character, indifferent repetition of nothing was the reward for staying outside passionate life and experience and inside the tribe.

If May was the main character, life was triumphing over feeling and intelligence by being the perfect incarnation of the tribe.

If they all together formed a triangle of main characteristics, life was the opportunity that you could miss without noticing it, or catch at a high price.

If I had to choose, I would be Ellen in Paris any day of the week!

n  “The longing was with him day and night, an incessant undefinable craving, like the sudden whim of a sick man for food or drink once tasted and long since forgotten. He could not see beyond the craving, or picture what it might lead to, for he was not conscious of any wish to speak to Madame Olenska or to hear her voice. 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.”n

Oh my God, obsessed much?

Actually that quote is misleading because The Age of Innocence is not about a man’s obsession with a beautiful girl. If it was you wouldn’t be reading this review because I wouldn’t have been able to make it past the first chapter. I just put it there because it’s a nice quote to get the ball rolling as it were.

How many books do you read because Hollywood made a movie of it? Books you would otherwise not have heard of? Quite a few in my case. I saw the Martin Scorsese film adaptation in 1993, I didn’t actually like it; I can’t remember why, but the word “boring” springs to mind. In all fairness, I was not in a receptive frame of mind for character-based melodrama in those days. Anyway, I decided to “read” this audiobook version because it was recommended to me as one of Librivox’s* best.

The Age of Innocence is about New York’s society during 1870, a time of rapid social changes (thank you Wikipedia!). The novel depicts the upper class “Old New York” society as ultra conservative, prejudiced and intolerant. As the book opens the protagonist Newland Archer is about to marry May Welland who he seems to regard as some kind of vapid trophy wife or arm candy.

Winona Ryder as May Welland (no, not cosplaying)
He is pleased with himself until Countess Ellen Olenska enters the scene and unintentionally rocks his world. She is something you don’t see every day in “Old New York” a badass strong willed independent lady, beautiful too of course.

Michelle Pfieffer as Countess Ellen Olenska
She has just separated from a European husband who is a despicable cad. This makes her a controversial figure in New York’s high society where women are supposed to stay married to their husbands for better or for worse. Her personality and circumstances fascinate Archer who is experiencing a feeling of ennui from the way his life is proceeding too precisely on track.

What makes the novel interesting for me is the depiction of the New York society which I knew nothing about and the dilemma faced by the central characters. Newland Archer is about to “settle for” someone who would make him look good in society, suddenly he finds himself pursuing this enigmatic, charismatic and downright sexy countess. Poor Countess Olenska is tempted but is far too smart to bring even more scandal on herself, not to mention her consideration for the bride to be, May Welland, who is her cousin.

I personally do not have a lot of time for Newland Archer who has to decide between Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer in their prime (movie reference). Though Michelle Pfeiffer (Countess Olenska) is not really an option. However, I am glad to report this is not a tale of adultery, it is more like a satire of the social mores of the time. The book is exquisitely well written, the characters are vivid though the protagonist is not particularly prepossessing. The book ends in a somewhat inconclusive note, as the author deliberately frustrates the reader by not giving the story a proper closure in order to avoid predictability. She did a good job of that, I am duly frustrated and will knock off one star in my rating for her troubles.

My thanks to Ms. Brenda Dayne for her gracious and beautiful audiobook narration. (Download link).

* Librivox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers.

The most perfect ending in literature - I'll never get over it.

New York society at the end of the 19th century. An impossible love story.

I’ve been so amazed by this novel that I don’t even know how to begin my comment on it. The book starts slowly, mentioning the (actually not so) many names and families composing New York society of the time: their intertwining and relationships are difficult to follow.

Then, around page 40-60, the story unfolds: it is a love story between two members of New York society. One (Archer), a conformist who cannot escape etiquette and is about to get married and the other (Countess Olenska), who fights every day against it, and left her Polish husband running away from Europe in the hope that she will be backed up by her family in New York.



But what I enjoyed most in this love story was Wharton's great ability to tell it without falling into pathetic tones and exaggerations (like, for instance, the Brontë sisters) and, above all, starting from the very subtle and, at times, ironic description of the characters’ thoughts (in particular, Newland Archer's).

Only through this expedient can we truly understand the New York society of the time, pity its non-conformist members, laugh at their bigotry and tribal organization.

And then comes the ending, one of the most beautiful endings ever: Archer's society, with all its rules and conventions has almost vanished in the following thirty years.

What is left is his regret that he didn’t act when and how he would have liked. Not having made the right decision at the right time, against all those changing social norms.

Beautifully delivered, although the second part was better than the first. But am I to deny the novel 5 stars just for this dense and a bit confusing beginning.

P.S. : Also, see the excellent movie by Scorsese (1993)!

n  

The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.

n
Just when I think a classic unlikely to give me pause, it surprises me with relatable themes. After reading Wharton's short story, "The Muse's Tragedy" (one of the supplemental reads I'll be teaching this Fall), I knew I had to visit one of her longer forms. So rewarding it was, to be wooed by elegant prose and positioning; a plot that moves in practiced laps; a story that could be yours, mine, theirs; a setting that will always be known for both its vibrance and austerity.

Wharton is a writer of words nestled in conscious rhythm, the director of a play that centers around societal distinctions like class and gender, yet still embodies universal themes of love, betrayal, and self-actualization. Wharton writing from a male's perspective reminds me of Cather, in My Ántonia: they do it so well, so authentically. She had Henry James as a mentor, and yet I prefer her books to his (although I see a resemblance to my favorite James book to-date: The American).
n  

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.

n
Countess Olenska is not just a woman ostracized in 1920s New York Society: she is symbolic of New York on the verge of change, the cusp of a new era; she is love and beauty and complications; she is pain, consolation, a new life which uncovers an insipid way of living. The Countess represents fresh ideas, a new way of thinking, a society that doesn't place class and materialism before all else, a bohemian way of being. The Countess is hope.

I realize I"m taking an unorthodox stand, seeing as how the Countess also represents infidelity and betrayal, and the uproot of normalcy. Yet knowing Newland's choices when he meets Ellen, one knows that in the end, he'll make a decision forced upon him by his society. In the end, we see his gratitude for life, and the regrets from his choices, which once again, reminds us of the complications of life. Wharton leaves us with an ending rife with speculative contemplations, and as readers, we become just like her characters.
n  

Something he knew he had missed: the flower of life. But he thought of it now as a thing so unattainable and improbable that to have repined would have been like despairing because one had not drawn the first prize in a lottery.

n
Conventional New York was not ready for the Countess. The city had not yet formed itself into the diverse structure it now is, with a roadway tunnel that traverses the Hudson river, and a train station that connects you with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In fact, conventional New York City was also unprepared for The Harlem Renaissance, taking place only a few blocks away, in the same decade and the same world, yet separate and forgotten--like Ellen Olenska.
n  

But then you come; and you're so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting it to come true.

n

This is a gorgeous book with some great characters and a special ambience that I haven't experienced in any other novel. Edith Wharton takes the reader deep inside the strange little world of upper-class late 19th century New York, detailing the manners, the attitudes, the rules, the institutionalized hypocrisy, the spectacular beauty and superficiality, and most of all, the lies that everyone must tell themselves and those around them to survive in a tightly regimented culture that has just barely reached its zenith and is already in decline.

Wharton's protagonist, Newland Archer, is one of the best written male characters I've ever come across. Her insightful portrayal is so steeped in the nuances of the masculine dilemma that it's hard to believe she was never a man. At the same time, her writing is effortlessly sensual and poetic without any of the arrhythmia or excessive floweriness that I find often characterizes Victorian writing.

Both times I read this book (at 17 & 26) it affected me profoundly. It was a very different experience each time, but the familiarity I had with the characters and situations (enchanced by multiple viewings of Martin Scorsese's pitch-perfect film adaptation) made the second reading particularly rewarding. I have a strong suspicion that I'll be returning to it quite a number of times in my life. I love to know that a book of such quality is always there for me to reunite with whenever I get the hankering.

I went into this without any expectations, and it turned out to be a surprisingly rewarding experience!
Looking forward to reading more of Wharton.

Edith Wharton nació en una familia rica y sus obras suelen ambientarse en la alta sociedad estadounidense que tan bien conocía y a la que ella nunca se adaptó del todo. En ‘La edad de la inocencia’ nos presenta a Newland Archer, un joven abogado que pertenece a una de las familias más respetadas de la ciudad de Nueva York. Archer se promete con May Welland, una refinada joven admirada por la clase alta de la sociedad neoyorquina. Pero de repente llega a la ciudad la prima de May, Ellen Olenska, tras escaparse de su esposo y dejar Europa atrás, y la llegada de esta última sacudirá la burbuja en la que viven Archer y las demás familias de la clase alta.

Desde el primer momento me ha parecido asombrosa la habilidad con la que la autora construye a sus protagonistas, dotándoles de una profundidad psicológica y de una complejidad abismal como personajes humanos alejados de cualquier perfección. Se sienten reales y por eso es sencillo empatizar y emocionarnos con ellos. La evolución de Archer es simplemente excelente y Ellen Olenska desprende un magnetismo increíble en todas sus apariciones. La novela es también una comparación del modelo social norteamericano con el europeo, y es que Edith Wharton era una apasionada de la Vieja Europa, lugar hacia el que dirige la mirada como ejemplo a seguir.

Desde luego, la sensibilidad de la autora unida a sus conocimientos y experiencias de primera mano del mundo en el que nos adentra fueron piezas clave para crear esta novela que años y años después sigue cautivando a tantos lectores.

i don’t think i’ve ever described a book as delicious but this one is just that—wholly delectable, so luscious & rich, the passion somehow dissolved into my hands?! to think that a work read in mid december turned out to be my favorite of the year, that i read only because it had gathered enough dust on my shelf all this while to have me almost give it away without a peek? a christmas miracle! i also watched the perfect 1993 martin scorsese adaptation as i read which had me so overwhelmed by the end of it that i cried reading daniel day-lewis’ wikipedia page. i have tons more to say but it is 2am on a lovely cold night and i must go to bed with my thoughts on this gem.
why do i bother reading any book that’s not a classic? “i mean: how shall i explain? i-it’s always so. each time you happen to me all over again.”