CONTEXT Flashcards
comparisons of American and European societies
1860s first telegraph cable laid across the N. Atlantic, reducing delivery time of messages “from two weeks to two minutes”, and the advancement and increased use of steam ship, allowing it to be used across oceans, giving rise to unprecedented connection between the two continents
Wharton’s interest in the relationship between class and money
Industrial revolution c.1760-1840 brings great wealth to middle class, leading to increased interaction between new and old money
Wharton’s nuanced portrayal of Lily’s integrity
virgin-whore dichotomy in Victorian literature
the social elite of New York being incredibly small and rigid
In 1892 the New York Times published the ‘official’ list of the Four Hundred as dictated by Ward McAllister
American society led by incredibly wealthy women
Gilded Age New York society led by Mrs Astor (Caroline Schermerhorn Astor) for the latter half century, and after her death (1908 though0 led by the “triumvirate”, also three incredibly wealthy female socialites
British vs American morality
The British aristocracy at the end of the 19thC took a disdain for what they considered middle-class morality, viewing wealthy Americans as Puritanical
cause of Wharton’s acute awareness of the nuance between new and old money
Edith Wharton from Old New York family and old money- could trace her ancestors back to Dutch and Belgian immigrants who amassed fortunes in real estate and other investments
Wharton as a kind of anthropologist of the upper-classes herself
1904 letter to her editor, W.C. Brownwell “I write about what I see”
cause of Wharton’s sensitivity to architecture and interior design, especially as a social phenomenon
Whilst living in Newport, Rhode Island, she published a successful book on design and architecture, The Decoration of Houses (1897), and in 1901 designed her estate, The Mount, in Lenox, The Berkshires
cause of Wharton’s understanding of the inner workings of the extremely wealthy and privileged
“No major American novelist has led a more privileged life than Wharton did.” Jonathan Franzen
title- critique of American pleasure seeking society
“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Ecclesiastes, 7:4
House of Mirth as having making a moral point
“No novel worth anything can be anything but a novel ‘with a purpose’” letter to Rev. Morgan Dix on THOM, 1905
critique of lack of morality in American elite portrayed in THOM
“I think the title explains itself amply as the tale progresses” letter to her editor, W.C. Brownwell in 1905
antisemitism - mistrust of social movement up the ladder because of amassed wealth- character of Rosedale as a Jewish stereotype
1870-1900 Anti-Semitism was popularised in the US
the Jew stereotyped as a Shylock possessing “both the capitalist virtues and the capitalist vices”
‘to jew’ meant to cheat cleverly by the 1840s
Jewish wealth was resented by “the poor because it exploited them, the patricians because it displaced them”
John Higham
naturalism in THOM
Emile Zola pioneers the literary movement of naturalism, in the latter half of the 19thC, similar to realism but distinguished by its embrace of determinism
