- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (15 July 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192835793
- ISBN-13: 978-0192835796
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 85,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The House of Mirth (Oxford World's Classics)
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Review
"Beautifully produced, this may well become the standard reading text."--E.N. Feltskog, University of Wisconsin
"Essential reading to know this chronicler par excellence. Great for english, humanities and women's studies courses."--J.C. Moore, Scottsdale Community College
"I always choose Oxford World Classics editions whenever I can because their introductions and notes are the most useful and the texts are clearly the most carefully prepared. This book looks to be no exception!"--Laura Dabundo, Kennesaw State College
"Beautiful, thoroughgoing, very professional--a complete 'treatment' of the text from Introduction to Chronology to Bibliography and Notes. Plus the great affordable price! A really terrific edition."--John Dempsey, Brown University
"Excellent, reasonably priced edition. . . . introduction [is] useful for background and critical information."--Lynn F. Williams, Emerson College
"Essential reading to know this chronicler par excellence. Great for english, humanities and women's studies courses."--J.C. Moore, Scottsdale Community College
"I always choose Oxford World Classics editions whenever I can because their introductions and notes are the most useful and the texts are clearly the most carefully prepared. This book looks to be no exception!"--Laura Dabundo, Kennesaw State College
"Beautiful, thoroughgoing, very professional--a complete 'treatment' of the text from Introduction to Chronology to Bibliography and Notes. Plus the great affordable price! A really terrific edition."--John Dempsey, Brown University
"Excellent, reasonably priced edition. . . . introduction [is] useful for background and critical information."--Lynn F. Williams, Emerson College
Product Description
Since its publication in 1905 The House of Mirth has commanded attention for the sharpness of Wharton's observations and the power of her style. Its heroine, Lily Bart, is beautiful, poor, and unmarried at 29. In her search for a husband with money and position she betrays her own heart and sows the seeds of the tragedy that finally overwhelms her. The House of Mirth is a lucid, disturbing analysis of the stifling limitations imposed upon women of Wharton's generation. Herself born into Old New York Society, Wharton watched as an entirely new set of people living by new codes of conduct entered the metropolitan scene. In telling the story of Lily Bart, who must marry to survive, Wharton recasts the age-old themes of family, marriage, and money in ways that transform the traditional novel of manners into an arresting modern document of cultural anthropology.
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SELDEN paused in surprise. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
recommend this book, is extremely clever wry look into "society" and shallow, superficial types who are only concerned with what people wear and how much money they have. Lily (central character) turning to all sorts of odious men to keep up appearances and money, while her true love is laid aside, feelings counting little in this character's world. As a christian i find this book quite revelant as it demonstrates how little money and good time friends mean as the outcome reveals. Very good, not excellent, but v good, ethan frome by the same author is superior for me
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed the first half of this book enormously. It is beautifully written, capturing the glitter and shallowness of the fashionable world in a slightly Fitzgeraldian way. Lily Bart is supposed to be one of the most engaging heroines in all of fiction, and for much of the book this is certainly true. The complexity of her conflicting emotions and desires is wonderfully expressed. Towards the second half of the book, I started to lose sympathy with her, against my will. The main theme of the novel is her struggle to put morality over expediency and pragmatism, and the fact that she does so is seen as an overmastering triumph, "saving herself whole from the ruin of her life." I found it impossible not to wish she would just compromise her morality - the compromise required hardly seems an significant one by today's standards - and provide a happy ending to her life instead of a disasterous one.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Mirthless House
16 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions. Especially for women.
And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. "The House of Mirth" is one of her darker stories, where scandals and lack of conformity trigger a tragic downward spiral for a vibrant woman.
Like most not-so-rich women, Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. What's more, she has a rapid intellect and striking looks, but she is also a habitual liar who defies society's strictures (she gambles and smokes). Her only friend is Lawrence Seldon, but she is determined not to marry for love alone.
Unfortunately, her schemes and plans start to collapse -- her adoring suitors either aren't rich enough, or her independent spirit sends her off. Her desperation becomes even more intense as she finds herself in the thick of a scandal, spun up by a malicious society matron to cover up her own affair. With her reputation in ruins, Lily's life spirals down into a new life of unemployment, poverty, and the final tragedy.
Edith Wharton always paid a lot of attention to a woman's restricted life in the Gilded Age, and how scandals, unconventionality and society's hypocrisy could ruin them. But "The House of Mirth" pays more attention to this than most -- it's a bleakly realistic story, unflinchingly showing Lily's slow descent into miserable loneliness.
Despite that, Wharton's writing is pure flowering poetry with a knack for evocation ("Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes"), and has a sensual quality with all the descriptions of silks, plants, soft light and luxurious mansions. And she vividly portrays the upper echelons of New York society at the time -- affairs, gossip and gilded salons -- as well as the restricted lives of women
But Wharton is just as capable of describing the darker, sadder world that Lily falls into ("... blurred the gaunt roof-lines, threw a mauve veil over the discouraging perspective of the side streets"). Sedoesn't pull any punches with the tragic finale, which has a distinct air of inevitability about it -- no fairy-tale last-minute save by a Prince Charming.
Lily starts out the book as a glimmering satellite of society, who can be rather selfish and cruel, but who nevertheless gains some sympathy for her terrible plight. The cruel, glittering society of the time had no room for women who stood outside the lines, especially if they tried to lie at all the wrong times. And so we see poor Lily, driven into miserable poverty and drug addiction.
"The House of Mirth" is anything but mirthful -- it's the study of a woman's slow downfall, and the cruel society that left her friendless and disgraced. Haunting and vivid.
And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. "The House of Mirth" is one of her darker stories, where scandals and lack of conformity trigger a tragic downward spiral for a vibrant woman.
Like most not-so-rich women, Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. What's more, she has a rapid intellect and striking looks, but she is also a habitual liar who defies society's strictures (she gambles and smokes). Her only friend is Lawrence Seldon, but she is determined not to marry for love alone.
Unfortunately, her schemes and plans start to collapse -- her adoring suitors either aren't rich enough, or her independent spirit sends her off. Her desperation becomes even more intense as she finds herself in the thick of a scandal, spun up by a malicious society matron to cover up her own affair. With her reputation in ruins, Lily's life spirals down into a new life of unemployment, poverty, and the final tragedy.
Edith Wharton always paid a lot of attention to a woman's restricted life in the Gilded Age, and how scandals, unconventionality and society's hypocrisy could ruin them. But "The House of Mirth" pays more attention to this than most -- it's a bleakly realistic story, unflinchingly showing Lily's slow descent into miserable loneliness.
Despite that, Wharton's writing is pure flowering poetry with a knack for evocation ("Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes"), and has a sensual quality with all the descriptions of silks, plants, soft light and luxurious mansions. And she vividly portrays the upper echelons of New York society at the time -- affairs, gossip and gilded salons -- as well as the restricted lives of women
But Wharton is just as capable of describing the darker, sadder world that Lily falls into ("... blurred the gaunt roof-lines, threw a mauve veil over the discouraging perspective of the side streets"). Sedoesn't pull any punches with the tragic finale, which has a distinct air of inevitability about it -- no fairy-tale last-minute save by a Prince Charming.
Lily starts out the book as a glimmering satellite of society, who can be rather selfish and cruel, but who nevertheless gains some sympathy for her terrible plight. The cruel, glittering society of the time had no room for women who stood outside the lines, especially if they tried to lie at all the wrong times. And so we see poor Lily, driven into miserable poverty and drug addiction.
"The House of Mirth" is anything but mirthful -- it's the study of a woman's slow downfall, and the cruel society that left her friendless and disgraced. Haunting and vivid.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Tragic, beautiful and captivating. I adored this book!
2 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
I was totally overwhelmed by 'The House of Mirth'. Although it was clear that Lily's short sightedness was responsible for her downfall, I find it difficult to pin point exactly why the character evoked such strong feelings of sympathy from me. Her beauty makes her captivating, and she is so naieve and inexperienced, that you cannot help but feel so much sadness when things take an inevitable turn for the worse. The ending was incredibly emotional, and so moving, illustrating the point that, at the end of the day, beauty will not secure success or fulfillment. I cannot reccomend this book highly enough - it is beautifully written with a complex yet incredibly loveable female protagonist. In my opinion, this book is underrated. It is certainly worthy of the title "Modern Classic."
(I would so appreciate anyone who could e-mail me with their views on this book. After reading it I have decided to write my university dissertation on this and some of Wharton's other masterpieces - jenn_146@hotmail.com
Classic - for book club
1 May 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not too many people liked this book. I tried, but I wasn't too crazy over it either.
I ordered this from "used book" section. It was rated "very good condition." I received it early. It was sent from England! The book was very, very old. It was crushed in the bottom binding. Every time I turned a page the page fell out. Don't worry I don't want to send it back and I did finish reading it. I just wanted you to know that it was indeed not "in very good condition". This is the first time I have ordered a book (used or new) that I have had any problems. Just so you know..........
Pat Morgan
P.S. Author was a very good writer. I have two other books by her. I liked both of them.. This was one where it was hard to like most of the people in the book. I waned to shake most of them!
I ordered this from "used book" section. It was rated "very good condition." I received it early. It was sent from England! The book was very, very old. It was crushed in the bottom binding. Every time I turned a page the page fell out. Don't worry I don't want to send it back and I did finish reading it. I just wanted you to know that it was indeed not "in very good condition". This is the first time I have ordered a book (used or new) that I have had any problems. Just so you know..........
Pat Morgan
P.S. Author was a very good writer. I have two other books by her. I liked both of them.. This was one where it was hard to like most of the people in the book. I waned to shake most of them!
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