In the High Peaks
















Friday, May 31, 2019

Classics Club Spin: The House of Mirth

I can only imagine how the publication of The House of Mirth must have struck the literary world of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia in 1905, a bit like a tsunami, perhaps. The novel was a huge bestseller, but who read it, and how did the upper-tier of society in the Northeast react to it?

I see the novel as totally exposing the super-wealthy elite of Newport and New York and Boston and Philadelphia, leaving them so open to the criticism that they so richly deserved. I would be very interested in reading every review of Wharton's novel in every major newspaper in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The intellectual class, the upper-middle-class, populating the professions including the law, journalism, and academia, must have had a field day with the novel, and the way in which Wharton exposed the shallowness and pettiness of the elite who had "old money" supporting them, with the "new-moneyed" class trying to nudge their way into their midst.

I can't help but see the novel in its historical context. This is partly due to my family history, which I'm not sure this entry has space for.
Laying that aside, which I scarcely can, I empathize with Lily Bart who, after the untimely death of her mother, never had a single person in her family to act as a sheltering mentor. Oh, yes, Mrs. Peniston reluctantly gave Lily a room in her home, but no woman relative took her under her wing when she was a teen or in her early twenties to give guidance, to love her, to nurture her, to question her actions as she emerged as a debutante to navigate the river rapids of the society she was dealing with, which is what all the other young woman had. This lack of a strong family behind her was really the key to her undoing, in my view.

The other aspect that paralyzed Lily's ability to secure her future was her inability to commit to anyone. The minute that affairs seemed to drift toward closure and securing her position as a wife, she flew. Over and over again. For some reason, she felt safest on her own, independent and admired by everyone. This, for a time, kept her on the pedestal she believed she could manage.

The House of Mirth is an absolutely brilliant work of art, in my opinion. It deserves a much, much, much higher place in American literature than it has been given. There are a virtually endless aspects of discussion that it provides to the reader.

10 comments:

  1. Very nice review, and you have me more interested in this than I would have thought. I have not read anything by Wharton, and maybe I will read this some day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tracy,
      Knowing your interests, and the fact that you enjoyed The Woman in White, I think you might like The House of Mirth. What I found fascinating was that there was so much to think about in every chapter and every scene. I'm so very glad I have read it. And I'd like to read it again, to catch what I missed the first time around.

      Delete
  2. This was such a great and terribly sad novel. You raise very interesting points about the reasons for Lily’s downfall. I think that you are correct in regards to the reasoning. I agree, I really wonder about how people in certain circles reacted at the time to this book. A little Googling might shed some light on the subject.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Brian,
      I'm not sure that Google would be the most helpful resource to tracking down reviews. There are databases that cover American periodicals during this period. But I'm so busy, I do wonder if I will ever get to it.

      Delete
  3. Edith Wharton is a treasure and your review makes me want to reread this novel. Have you visited The Mount, her home in the Berkshires? It's well worth the trip... the house and gardens are spectacular!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I very much enjoyed a visit to the Mount about 25 years ago. I would love to visit again, but only after reading Wharton's entire oeuvre. Getting there...
      I'm so glad you want to reread the novel. I do, too. I felt my first reading was just enough to let me skim over the top. I need a longer, deeper reading sometime soon. Such a masterpiece!

      Delete
  4. Wharton came from that upper crust of American society I think, so I also wonder what they thought of her and her books. Was it a betrayal or did they think she was already beyond the pale?

    Your point about Lily lacking a mother or a mother figure to guide her is interesting. It wasn't something I thought about when I first read it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ruthiella,
      Yes, I believe that Wharton originated originally from the upper crust, but (and forgive me, I absolutely do not recall all the details), her first match failed for some reason or other, and although her second match was to a wealthy individual, I wonder as to exactly what tier he belonged to.
      I would need to conduct further research, but the fact that Edith Wharton wrote this particular book, to my mind, indicates that she was NOT of the upper echelon of New York/Philadelphia/Boston society. I think that that's what made it possible for her to do it. Something happened to her first match--it didn't work out. Perhaps that's the key.

      Delete
  5. I think it would be really interesting to read reviews of House of Mirth after it first came out--I actually wonder whether people saw themselves in the society that Wharton was skewering.

    You're right, poor Lily Bart was rudderless without a female to mother her when she needed it. Such a sad story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane,
      I do wonder how many of that set actually read book reviews. Perhaps they did. It would be a fascinating subject to investigate.
      It would also be interesting to know if Wharton knew of women like Lily Bart, or had heard of them. I wonder if some of these questions might have been answered in a biography.
      And indeed, it is a very sad story.

      Delete