Edith Wharton in the 21st century
Three Novels of New York: The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, with an Introduction by Jonathan Franzen. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, Php899 at National Bookstores
On the 150th anniversary of Edith Wharton’s birth, at least three new novels have reimagined her work for the contemporary audience.
We have not yet read Victoria Patterson’s This Vacant Paradise and Claire McMillan’s The Gilded Age, two modern takes on Wharton’s The House of Mirth. We are reading The Innocents by Francesca Segal, practically a remake of The Age of Innocence. It is interesting to note that all three are debut novels, presumably homages to their common literary ancestor.
The Innocents by Francesca Segal, hardcover, Php995 at National Bookstores.
For Wharton fans (and admirers of Martin Scorsese’s wonderful screen version), the main pleasure of reading Segal’s novel is in identifying the 21st century equivalents of the characters and situations in The Age of Innocence. Segal has found a close parallel to claustrophobic old New York society in the tightly-knit Jewish community of Temple Fortune in present-day North West London.
Newland Archer, the young lawyer engaged to the sweet and entirely conventional May Welland, is now Adam Newman, a young lawyer who has just gotten engaged to the sweet and entirely conventional Rachel Gilbert. The Ellen Olenska who turns their safe and predictable existence on its head is Rachel’s cousin Ellie Schneider, recently expelled from Columbia University, New York for appearing in a scandalous movie (From Columbia? Really?). Ellie, like Ellen, has the knack for picking unsuitable men, making foolish decisions, and offending the “right-thinking”.
The strong-willed matriarch Mrs Mingott is now Ziva Schneider, a survivor of the Holocaust who has rebuilt her life in London; the van der Luydens at the top of the social food chain are now the philanthropic Sabahs. As its title suggests, The Innocents is so faithful to the plot points (Aha! the married guy) and narrative arc (She’s going to agree to an earlier wedding in 5, 4, 3…) of The Age of Innocence that it is impossible to read it without thinking of Wharton’s novel. And while Segal’s novel is engaging, witty and often funny, you can’t help but ask why you’re reading this when you could be reading the source.
The main difference between the two books is that Wharton exposes and satirizes the cold savagery of the New York upper class, while Segal embraces the warmth and generosity of the London Jewish community. One goes for the jugular, the other gives you a hug. (Nothing wrong with that if what you want is a hug.)
You know that killer line in The Age of Innocence? “It seemed to take an iron band from his heart to know that, after all, some one had guessed and pitied…And that it should have been his wife moved him indescribably.” When you come to that line in the book (or in the movie), it’s as if someone’s piling rocks on your chest. That emotion, even if it’s not exactly pleasant, that’s what we look for in novels. The Innocents is an enjoyable read; The Age of Innocence moves us indescribably.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 15th, 2012 at 07:17
Now I want to re-read Age of Innocence! But I’m still recovering from finishing The Custom of the Country over the week, which made me feel like punching all of the main characters in the face. Good novel, but (possibly) not good reading for depressing weather.
August 15th, 2012 at 11:34
Must everyone with a vagina read Elizabeth Gilbert? What’s wrong with a little Edith Wharton now and then? It’s a question that seems worth asking.” -David Rakoff for GQ
“I Only Wear Jonathan Franzen!”
Read More http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/201011/reading-books-in-new-york-subway-david-rakoff#ixzz23a9xE9Cg
(You will relate to this piece. Books as pre-cursor of personalities)
August 15th, 2012 at 12:37
Kalbuhin yang Undine Spragg na yan! Pwe! Bwiset!
It’s like a primer for social climbing/marrying up.
August 15th, 2012 at 14:21
Jessica: Leche talaga si Undine! Pati yung bata ba naman dinamay niya sa mga panloloko niya. Hayan tuloy. Kainis.
The next person who says “Mag-asawa ka na lang kasi ng mayaman!” to me will get a copy of this book, complete with highlighted passages.
August 15th, 2012 at 16:13
Hayyyy… Lola Edith. Ang galing galing. The scene at the end when Archer was left outside Olenska’s apartment is the saddest for me.
August 16th, 2012 at 07:24
“When you come to that line in the book (or in the movie), it’s as if someone’s piling rocks on your chest.”
brings it all back.
August 16th, 2012 at 11:35
I haven’t read yet The Age of Innocence. I was this close to buying it at Bookshop when my father told me to leave it because it has no back cover, some pages are full of underlines and highlights and annotations, and it smelled bad. Gahh! I have to wait for the cosmic Wharton-esque intervention to spy it in Booksale.
August 16th, 2012 at 14:37
Unfortunate child. New paperback editions are sold at National Bookstores for P99. Send us your address and we will mail you one. However, we shall expect a 500-word book report.
August 19th, 2012 at 17:39
And will Winona Ryder give us another performance of such subtlety and nuance?
August 29th, 2012 at 17:19
Because of this post, I started reading The House of Mirth over the weekend. I am now at the part where, from belle of the ball to milliner’s assistant, Lily Bart’s fall from grace is near complete. Lily is mesmerizing—equal parts brilliant and foolish, manipulative and manipulated, pathetic and proud. Wharton’s prose recalls the voiceover in Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence—there’s a coolly detached quality to it that sharpens the cruelties and kindnesses in the story. Aarrgh, I don’t want the story to end. Now to look for the film starring the equally coolly-detached Gillian Anderson. Thanks, Jessica, for this introduction to Ms. Wharton.
August 29th, 2012 at 22:18
Thank you, you have justified the existence of this site. We’ve gotten one person to read Edith Wharton! Very pleased.