A Son at the Front

by Edith Wharton, Julie Olin-Ammentorp

Overview

A Son at the Front offers a vivid portrait of American expatriate life in Paris during World War I. Wharton's only full-length novel dealing with the war, it portrays the relationship between an American expatriate artist father and his soldier son.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198859550
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/23/2023
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,092,002
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American writer whose novels and short stories reflected her life in 19th Century upper-class society. As her writing pursuits were discouraged by her prominent New York family, Wharton’s first works were published under pseudonyms and anonymously. Her first collection of stories that appeared under her own name was The Greater Inclination (1899) and her first novel, The Valley of Decision (1902). Among her best-known works are The House of Mirth (1905), The Age of Innocence (1920), and Ethan Frome (1911). She was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and Noble Prizes for Literature.

Date of Birth:

January 24, 1862

Date of Death:

August 11, 1937

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France

Education:

Educated privately in New York and Europe

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Introduction by Shari Benstock
Book One: Chapters I–IX
Book Two: Chapters X–XXIII
Book Three: Chapters XXIV–XXXI
Book Four: Chapters XXXII–XXXVI

Editorial Reviews

Largely criticized or ignored by a war-weary public when it was originally published in 1922, A Son at the Front is an extraordinarily poignant novel chronicling the effects of WWI on painter John Campton and his only child, George. Because his American parents were visiting France at the time of his birth, George is called to duty in the French army. Campton, his ex-wife, Julia Brant, and her husband, wealthy banker Anderson Brant, immediately butt heads over how to keep George safely at a desk job. Fate intervenes in the person of George himself, who transfers to an infantry regimentto the horror of Julia and the secret admiration of Brant and Campton. As the war rages on, Campton learns not only the value of his son, but empathy and sensitivity: ``never before, at least not consciously, [had] he thought of himself and the few beings he cared for as part of a greater whole.... But the last four months had shown him man as a defenceless animal.... That was what war did; that was why those who best understood it in all its farthest-reaching abomination willingly gave their lives to put an end to it.'' Wharton movingly portrays those left behind during warnot the wives and children but the devastated parents, who are forced to go on living at the cost of their own flesh and blood. Heartrending, tragic, powerful, this is not to be missed. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"Extraordinarily poignant.... Heartrending, tragic, powerful, this is not to be missed."—Publishers Weekly

"Wharton has done nothing that equals this."—New York Times Book Review (1923)

"Wharton has painted a moving landscape."—War, Literature & the Arts

From the Publisher

Wharton has painted a moving landscape.”

Literature & the Arts War

Richard Poe articulately narrates a moving story…[and] portrays Campton as a gruff, stubborn artist…Poe’s attentive narration and faithful vocalizations make this audiobook an absorbing listening experience.”

AudioFile

Wharton has done nothing that equals this.”

New York Times Book Review (1923)

Richard Poe articulately narrates a moving story of parents struggling to deal with their son’s departure for WWI. The novel focuses on middle-aged American painter John Campton and his former wife, Julia Brant, who come together when their son, George, is drafted into the French army. Poe portrays Campton as a gruff, stubborn artist; this overarching characterization nicely contrasts with the moments when his intense emotion for his son breaks through. Poe’s portrayal of young George in a youthful, cheerful cadence also provides contrast. Wharton’s story artfully puts the listener in Campton’s shoes, and Poe’s attentive narration and faithful vocalizations make this audiobook an absorbing listening experience. D.M.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile