The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century. Wharton creates a portrait of a stunning beauty who, though raised and educated to marry well both socially and economically, is reaching her 29th year, an age when her youthful blush is drawing to a close and her marital prospects are becoming ever more limited. The House of Mirth traces Lily's slow two-year ...
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The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century. Wharton creates a portrait of a stunning beauty who, though raised and educated to marry well both socially and economically, is reaching her 29th year, an age when her youthful blush is drawing to a close and her marital prospects are becoming ever more limited. The House of Mirth traces Lily's slow two-year social descent from privilege to a tragically lonely existence on the margins of society. In the words of one scholar, Wharton uses Lily as an attack on "an irresponsible, grasping and morally corrupt upper class."
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Add this copy of The House of Mirth to cart. $42.09, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2020 by Lulu.com.
Add this copy of The House of Mirth to cart. $47.47, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Lulu.com.
Loved the outlay. Was very fascinating. Light and fun.
Jigglyman
Aug 1, 2008
Wonderful and tragic to a point
The House of Mirth is about the tragic fall from grace of a beautiful New York socialite, Lily Bart. The story chronicles her desperate search for a husband as society gradually rejects her. Edith Wharton writes a very revealing, critical study of high-class society in the Gilded Age that is fascinating in part because it is at once unfamiliar and very similar to modern-day society. Her characters are well-crafted, she writes very well, and the subject matter is very interesting, if not at some points a bit dry and superficial.
According to Aristotle, tragedy is about making "fatal choices," and it is Wharton's exploitation of this idea that makes the book falter. Lily Bart makes so many fatal choices it's hard not to choke on them. It seems like every page, she makes a choice that is obviously (to the reader) a bad idea. No woman can possibly be this daft so often. Her character is only falling from grace because Wharton so desperately wants her to. (Oh, and she never LEARNS!) The shoddy character development brings this book down to 4/5 stars.
