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Overview
Undine Spragg is a beautiful and ambitious, yet vain and socially dense young woman with dreams of marrying a rich man. Hoping for a life of prominence and luxury, Undine convinces her family to relocate to New York. The Spragg family, who have a earned their modest wealth from shady practices, are happy to accommodate Undine’s request. When Undine meets Ralph Marvell, an aspiring poet from a family of old New York high society, she is determined to become his wife. After a brief courtship, she gets her wish, however, Undine soon realizes that she is still unsatisfied. Though Ralph is a good husband—kind and doting, he does not have the money to support her extravagant lifestyle. While his family enjoys an elevated social status, it is mainly just reminiscent on a prior generation’s wealth; Ralph’s family does not possess a significant amount of money. Feeling judged by her in-laws and upset that she cannot purchase luxury items, Undine is unhappy in the marriage, feeling even worse after the birth of their son, Paul. Often neglectful of Paul, Undine begins an affair with an aristocrat named Peter. As their love affair intensifies, Undine becomes set on leaving Ralph, ignoring the possible consequences of being a divorcee in pursuit of money, sex, and social status. With narrative twists and memorable characters, The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton is a fast-paced story that explores the nuances of American society. Through themes of class, lovely prose and intricate satire, The Custom of the Country pays special attention to the social class divides of 20th century America. While Wharton’s novel allows modern readers to gain perspective on a specific era in America, contemporary audiences can also reflect on the ways this class system still effects social customs today. This edition of The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton now features a new, eye-catching cover design and is printed in a font that is both modern and readable. These accommodations cater to a modern audience, allowing contemporary readers to enjoy the compelling narrative of The Custom of the Country with ease.
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781513207629 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Mint Editions |
| Publication date: | 07/27/2021 |
| Series: | Mint Editions (Women Writers) |
| Pages: | 348 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.94(d) |
About the Author
EDITH WHARTON (1862 - 1937) was a unique and prolific voice in the American literary canon. With her distinct sense of humor and knowledge of New York’s upper-class society, Wharton was best known for novels that detailed the lives of the elite including: The House of Mirth, The Custom of Country, and The Age of Innocence. She was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and one of four women whose election to the Academy of Arts and Letters broke the barrier for the next generation of women writers.
Date of Birth:
January 24, 1862Date of Death:
August 11, 1937Place of Birth:
New York, New YorkPlace of Death:
Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, FranceEducation:
Educated privately in New York and EuropeRead an Excerpt
Book One
1
"Undine Spragg!-how can you?" her mother wailed, raising a prematurely wrinkled hand heavy with rings to defend the note which a languid "bell-boy" had just brought in.
But her defense was as feeble as her protest, and she continued to smile on her visitor while Miss Spragg, with a turn of her quick young fingers, possessed herself of the missive and withdrew to the window to read it.
"I guess it's meant for me," she merely threw over her shoulder at her mother.
"Did you ever, Mrs. Heeny?" Mrs. Spragg murmured with deprecating pride.
Mrs. Heeny, a stout professional-looking person in a waterproof, her rusty veil thrown back, and a shabby alligator bag at her feet, followed the mother's glance with good-humored approval.
"I never met with a lovelier form," she agreed, answering the spirit rather than the letter of her hostess's inquiry.
Mrs. Spragg and her visitor were enthroned in two heavy gilt armchairs in one of the private drawing rooms of the Hotel Stentorian. The Spragg rooms were known as one of the Looey suites,and the drawing room walls, above their wainscoting of highly varnished mahogany, were hung with salmon-pink damask and adorned with oval portraits of Marie Antoinette and the Princess de Lamballe. In the center of the florid carpet a gilt table with a top of Mexican onyx sustained a palm in a gilt basket tied with a pink bow. But for this ornament, and a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles which lay beside it, the room showed no traces of human use, and Mrs. Spragg herself wore as complete an air of detachment as if she had been a waxfigure in a show-window. Her attire was fashionable enough to justify such a post, and her pale soft-cheeked face, with puffy eye-lids and drooping mouth, suggested a partially melted wax figure which had run to double-chin.
Mrs. Heeny, in comparison, had a reassuring look of solidity and reality. The planting of her firm black bulk in its chair, and the grasp of her broad red hands on the gilt arms, bespoke an organized and self-reliant activity, accounted for by the fact that Mrs. Heeny was a "society" manicure and masseuse. Toward Mrs. Spragg and her daughter she filled the double role of manipulator and friend; and it was in the latter capacity that, her day's task ended, she had dropped in for a moment to "cheer up" the lonely ladies of the Stentorian.
The young girl whose "form" had won Mrs. Heeny's professional commendation suddenly shifted its lovely lines as she turned back from the window.
"Here-you can have it after all," she said, crumpling the note and tossing it with a contemptuous gesture into her mother's lap.
"Why-isn't it from Mr. Popple?" Mrs. Spragg exclaimed unguardedly.
"No-it isn't. What made you think I thought it was?" snapped her daughter; but the next instant she added, with an outbreak of childish disappointment: "It's only from Mr. Marvell's sister-at least she says she's his sister."
Mrs. Spragg, with a puzzled frown, groped for her eye-glass among the jet fringes of her tightly girded front.
Mrs. Heeny's small blue eyes shot out sparks of curiosity. "Marvell-what Marvell is that?"
From the Paperback edition.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsIntroduction
Edith Wharton: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
The Custom of the Country
Appendix A: Edith Wharton’s Outline and Notes for The Custom of the Country
- “Undine chronology”
- “Final version”
- Additional Notes
Appendix B: Edith Wharton’s Correspondence about The Custom of the Country
- To Morton Fullerton (15 May 1911)
- To Bernard Berenson (16 May 1911)
- To Bernard Berenson (6 August 1911)
- To Charles Scribner (27 November 1911)
- To Bernard Berenson (2 August 1913)
Appendix C: From Edith Wharton’s Autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934)
Appendix D: Contemporary Reviews
- Nation (15 May 1913)
- New York Times Review of Books (19 October 1913)
- Independent (13 November 1913)
- Athenaeum (15 November 1913)
- Bookman (December 1913)
- Times Literary Supplement (2 April 1914)
- Forum (November 1915)
Appendix E: Women and Marriage
- From Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Undine (1811)
- From Robert Grant, “The Art of Living, IX: The Case of Woman” (1895)
- From Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware or Illumination (1896)
- Letter from Edith Wharton to John Hugh Smith (12 February 1909)
- From Emma Goldman, “The Traffic in Women” (1910)
Appendix F: Competition and Consumerism
- From Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)
- From Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)
- From George Santayana, Character and Opinion in the United States (1920)
- From Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)
Appendix G: Aestheticism
- From Walter Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873)
- From Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware or Illumination (1896)
- From Henry James, The American Scene (1907)
Select Bibliography
What People are Saying About This
Anita Brookner
As long as men and women seek to use each other -- and to use each other badly -- Edith Wharton can be counted upon to provide the ideal commentary.
Reading Group Guide
1. Some critics consider The Custom of the Country an epic tale, complete with a hero (in this case, a heroine) and various battles (that is, her marriages). Do you agree? What aspects make the novel epic? Which aspects refute this idea?
2. What do the novel’s descriptions of marriage and divorce tell us about Wharton’s views on the subject?
3. Are we to look at Undine as a sympathetic character? Consider women’s roles at the time of the novel. Was Undine forced to be the person she was?
4. In contrast to Wharton’s other New York—set novels, there is no dominant moral character in The Custom of the Country to oppose the selfish Undine. Why did Wharton let Undine go unchallenged? What is she saying about New York–and, by extension, American–society?
5. Wharton consistently presents Undine as monstrously acquisitive, yet Undine seems to get these characteristics from her father, who uses them in business. Does Wharton approve of these behaviors at all? What is she saying about the gender differences of the time? If Undine had been allowed to use these characteristics in business, would she be a different person in her personal life?
6. Do you think Wharton hates Undine? If she does, how does this affect the narrative?
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