The Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton

by Millicent Bell

Overview

This volume of essays offers fresh examinations of Wharton's fiction designed both to engage the interest of the student or general reader encountering Wharton for the first time, and to be valuable to advanced scholars looking for new insights into her creative achievement. Written by a mix of established commentators on Wharton and newer scholars in the field, the essays cover Wharton's most important novels as well as some of her shorter fiction. The Introduction supplies a valuable review of the history of Wharton criticism; a detailed chronology of her life and publications and a useful bibliography of important books for further reading are also provided.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521485135
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/30/1995
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Literature
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

Chronology of Wharton's life; Introduction: a critical history Millicent Bell; 1. The social subject in The Age of Innocence Pamela Knights; 2. Edith Wharton and the science of manners Nancy Bentley; 3. Edith Wharton and race Elizabeth Ammons; 4. The Custom of the Country: Spragg and the art of the deal Elaine Showalter; 5. The female conscience in Wharton's shorter fiction Gloria C. Erlich; 6. Law language and ritual in Summer Rhonda Skillern; 7. The House of Mirth: the bachelor and the baby Maureen Howard; 8. The Fruit of the Tree: Justine and the perils of abstract idealism James W. Tuttleton; 9. The Valley of Decision: Edith Wharton's Italian mask William L. Vance; 10. Edith Wharton's Valley of Decision: a rediscovered contemporary critique Vernon Lee; Bibliography; Index.