The House of Mirth Contributor(s): Wharton, Edith (Author) |
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ISBN: 0553213202 ISBN-13: 9780553213201 Publisher: Bantam Classics OUR PRICE: $5.36 Product Type: Mass Market Paperbound - Other Formats Published: February 1984 Annotation: An immensely popular bestseller upon its publication in 1905, The House of Mirth was Edith Wharton's first great novel. Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and opulent country houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novel creates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called "a society of irresponsible pleasure-seekers" with a precision comparable to that of Proust. And her brilliant and complex characterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty and dependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to a decorative object, becomes an incisive commentary on the nature and status of women in that society. From her tragic attraction to bachelor lawyer Lawrence Selden to her desperate relationship with social-climbing Rosedale, Lily is all too much a product of the world indicated by the title, a phrase taken from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of fools is in the house of mirth." For it is Lily's very specialness that threatens the elegance and fulfillment she seeks in life. Along with the author's other masterpiece, The Age of Innocence,"" this novel claims a place among the finest American novels of manners. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Historical - General |
Dewey: FIC |
Lexile Measure: 1230 |
Series: Bantam Classics |
Physical Information: 0.76" H x 4.24" W x 6.93" (0.47 lbs) 464 pages |
Accelerated Reader Info |
Quiz #: 50682 Reading Level: 9.7 Interest Level: Upper Grades Point Value: 26.0 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: An immensely popular bestseller upon its publication in 1905, The House of Mirth was Edith Wharton's first great novel. Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and opulent country houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novel creates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called "a society of irresponsible pleasure-seekers" with a precision comparable to that of Proust. And her brilliant and complex characterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty and dependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to a decorative object, becomes an incisive commentary on the nature and status of women in that society. From her tragic attraction to bachelor lawyer Lawrence Selden to her desperate relationship with social-climbing Rosedale, Lily is all too much a product of the world indicated by the title, a phrase taken from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of fools is in the house of mirth." For it is Lily's very specialness that threatens the elegance and fulfillment she seeks in life. Along with the author's other masterpiece, The Age of Innocence, this novel claims a place among the finest American novels of manners. |