House of Mirth (Barnes & Noble Classics - Edith Wharton [199]
Trilling, Diana, “The House of Mirth Revisited,” Harper’s Bazaar, 81 (December 1947), pp. 126-127, 181-186. Reprinted in Edith Wharton: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Irving Howe (see above), pp. 103-118. Argues that Wharton concentrated the anger of a lifetime in her telling indictment of social privilege.
Wharton, Edith. “Introduction to The House of Mirth” (1936). In Uncollected Critical Writings, edited and with an introduction by Frederick Wegener. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 264-269. On her choice of subject and hostile reception by her social circle.
Wilson, Edmund. “Justice to Edith Wharton.” In The Wound and the Bow: Seven Studies in Literature. 1941. Reprint: New York: Oxford University Press, 1965, pp. 159-173. Brilliant pioneering essay defines her major phase as 1905—1920 and traces her later decline.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977, pp. 109-133. Section cited provides psychoanalytical biography and criticism.
Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. “The Conspicuous Wasting of Lily Bart.” English Literary History, 59 (Fall 1992), pp. 713-734. Intelligently argues that consciousness in the novel “defines itself by negating the world of appearances.”
a
From the Bible, Ecclesiastes 7:4: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth” (King James Version; henceforth, KJV).
b
Fashionable resort on the coast of Rhode Island, noted for its many sumptuous mansions.
c
The references are to country retreats for wealthy New Yorkers. Rhinebeck is a town on the Hudson River, and Tuxedo Park is north of the city in Orange County. Bellomont, the Trenors’s country house, is possibly named for Belmont in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice; it is Portia’s house, where her suitors are tested.
d
Fashionable Fifth Avenue restaurant. †In theology, finding proofs of God’s existence in the natural world.
e
Apartment house for bachelors, named after the lively bachelor Benedick in William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Selden, though tempted by Lily, remains a bachelor.
f
Common garden plant with fragrant greenish-white flowers (French).
g
Book-muslin is a light cotton fabric; gigot sleeves are puffed at the shoulder and narrowed at the wrist.
h
Tooling is a reference to ornamental designs in leather; fine bookbindings are made of goatskin from Morocco.
i
Jean de la Bruyère (1645-1696), French author of Caractères (1688), which makes pessimistic and ironic observations on character and conduct.
j
Bezique is a game resembling pinochle, played with sixty-four cards. Richfield Springs is a health resort with sulfur springs in central New York. †wood nymph in classical mythology.
k
Two-wheeled, horse-drawn closed carriage for two passengers.
l
Crowded social events. †Secret dungeon with a trap door in its ceiling (French).
m
At one time, book pages were folded together and had to be slit with a knife.
n
Blend of black China teas.
o
The reference is to “Sarum Use,” the order of divine service used in the English diocese of Salisbury (which traces its roots to the nearby Iron Age settlement of Old Sarum) from the Middle Ages to the Reformation.
p
Once fashionable suburb of New York City, in Westchester County.
q
Cut-glass decanters containing whiskey, wine, and liqueurs, identified with silver-chained labels.
r
Her divorce case.
s
Referring to a mountainous region in ancient Greece, symbolic of pastoral innocence.
t
Social invitations traditionally came in square envelopes; bills came in oblong envelopes.
u
Southampton is a fashionable resort on Long Island.
v
Thomas Cole (1801-1848), leading artist of the Hudson River school, painted the allegorical The Voyage of Life (1840).
w
Cooked jellied chicken, served cold (French).
x
Candied chestnuts (French). †American