| | 146 | Author: | Wharton review: Trueblood, Charles K. | Add | | | Title: | Edith Wharton  | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | MADAME de Treymes' way of expressing her predilection for Durham
was to say that he was extremely clever; and casting about to find
terms of appreciation for the distinguished persons the reader
discovers in Mrs. Wharton's pages, one can probably find none more
fit than the dictum that whatever else they may be they are
extremely clever. Unqualified, such a remark is slight enough.
The characters of any novelist who tends to psychology are likely
to be clever, for considerable cleverness in the subject is
necessary to psychological interest and some cleverness necessary
to any interest. And cleverness must be an elastic term to cover
such diverse qualities as the clairvoyance of Mrs. Ansell, or the
fastidiousness of Justine Brent, or the polished and brittle
worldliness of Mr. Langhope. Again, not all of these persons are
extremely clever: Gerty Farish was not clever at all, and Undine
Spragg was only clever enough to be extremely fashionable; though
here it should be remembered that Gerty Farish was rather
patronized by the narrator of her history, and Undine Spragg flayed
with satire. Moreover, one cannot take the measure of an author's
qualities, say the last word about his work, in a word; even if it
were possible, cleverness would probably not be the only
discoverable last word about the qualities of Mrs. Wharton. But it
is at least an allusion, and as a first word cannot be
unserviceable. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 154 | Author: | Wharton review: Hooker, Brian | Add | | | Title: | "Artemis to Actaeon," from "Some Springtime Verse." | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | The title-poem of Mrs. Wharton's Artemis to Actaeon
takes a very different but equally modern view of the same goddess
[as Mr. Hewlett's]. Her Artemis slays Actaeon not in anger, but in
grace, recognising in him who dared to look upon her a soul too
great for the little uses of the world, worthy of that immortality
which is death. Now, there are two ways of handling mythological
material: one may simply retell the old stories vividly, for the
sheer beauty that is in them; or one may seek out some latent
meaning, some new idea whereof the myth will form a fitting
incarnation. The trouble with these present examples of the second
method is that they do violence to the spirit of the myth. The
vigorous and original mentality which has done so much for Mrs.
Wharton as a novelist stands somewhat in her light as a poet. It
is not that a poem can be too intellectual, but that it must not be
more intellectual than emotional; and Mrs. Wharton's thought
sometimes absorbs her feeling and leaves her language dry.
Orpheus the Harper, coming to the gate
Where the implacable dim warder sate,
Besought for parley with a shade within,
Dearer to him than life itself had been,
Sweeter than sunlight on Illyrian sea . . .
Compare with this the opening of Mr. Stephen Phillips's "Christ in
Hades":
Keen as a blinded man at dawn awake
Smells in the dark the cold odor of earth—
Eastward he turns his eyes, and over him
A dreadful freshness exquisitely breathes—
This is the magic; the other is only well written; thought, not
felt. But the most of Mrs. Wharton's book is far better. It is a
delight to follow the steady and sonorous lines of her blank verse
and to note how thoroughly she has assimilated the craftsmanship of
her models. Tennyson and Mr. Phillips have given her style,
Browning has taught her monologue and Rossetti sonnet-form; yet
there is not an imitative line in her book. She has made her
learning her own; and there is far more personality in her poems
than in Mr. Hewlett's. "Margaret of Cortona" is perhaps the best
of them. In her girlhood a man took Margaret out of the slums,
made her a woman and wise. He dying, she took the veil, and in
time became a saint; and the poem is her confession.
Judge Thou alone between this priest and me;
Nay, rather, Lord, between my past and present,
Thy Margaret and that other's—whose she is
By right of salvage—and whose call should follow
Thine? Silent still— Or his who stooped to her,
And drew her to Thee by the bands of love?
Not Thine? Then his?
Ah, Christ—the thorn-crowned Head
Bends . . . bends again . . . down on your knees, Fra Paolo!
If his, then Thine!
Kneel, priest, for this is heaven . . .
Mrs. Wharton is at her best in the dramatic monologue, both because
of her power of characterisation and because blank verse is her
readiest medium. Rhyme often troubles her; and some of her
sonnets, though well versified, are abstract and confused in
expression. She was not born a poet; but this volume shows well
how high in poetry a thoroughly cultured prose artist may attain.
It is a noble and worthy piece of work, of which at least no living
poet need be ashamed. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 155 | Author: | Wharton review: Cooper, Frederic Taber | Add | | | Title: | "Custom of the Country," in: "The Sense of Personality and Some Recent Novels. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | Three husbands seem to be the customary allowance granted by
novelists to the pushing, climbing, heartless type of American
woman, who will sacrifice everything to her social ambitions and
insatiable love of pleasure. Three husbands, it will be
remembered, were given by Robert Grant to Selma White, the heroine
of Unleavened Bread; three also by Winston Churchill to the
heroine
of A Modern Chronicle; and similarly, Mrs.
Wharton is equally generous to Undine Spragg, the central figure of
her latest volume, The Custom of the Country. It is a
brilliantly cynical picture of feminine ruthlessness, and a
fundamental inability to conceive of father, mother, friends and
husbands having been created for any other purpose than to gratify
every passing whim of this one beautiful and utterly spoiled young
woman. Mrs. Wharton has painted Undine Spragg with an unsparing
mercilessness that almost makes the reader wince. It is a splendid
and memorable piece of work, a portrait to form a worthy contrast
to the equally unforgettable one of Lily Bart. But there is little
object in analysing in detail the separate episodes which make Miss
Spragg successively Mrs. Ralph Marvell, the Marquise de Chelles,
and Mrs. Elmer Moffatt. They are of a nature that cannot be
adequately conveyed at second hand; it is not what happens that
matters, it is the play of human motives and human limitations
behind the happenings that makes this volume one of Mrs. Wharton's
finest achievements. And the final touch of the closing paragraph
is a perfect climax, a crowning touch of comprehension of
monumental and perennial dissatisfaction: | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 156 | Author: | Wharton review: Anonymous | Add | | | Title: | Decoration of Houses. By Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | One opens a new book on decoration with a weary anticipation,
remembering how much has been lately written on the subject for
Americans, and to how little purpose; but now the whole style and
practice of decoration has changed, and the teaching of the last
generation has become obsolete. 'The Decoration of Houses,' a
handsome, interesting, and well-written book, not only is an
example of the recent reversion to quasi-classic styles and
methods, but signalizes the complete reaction that has thrown to
the winds, even before the public discovered it, perhaps, the
lately accepted doctrine of constructive virtue, sincerity, and the
beauty of use. The authors take the new ground uncompromisingly,
snap their fingers at sincerity, have no horror of shams, and stand
simply on proportion, harmony of lines, and other architectural
qualities. "Any trompe-d'oeil is permissible in decorative
design," they say, "if it gives an impression of pleasure." To
this have we already come; yet it seems not to have produced
harmony between the outside and the inside of their volume. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 157 | Author: | Wharton review: Cooper, Frederic Taber | Add | | | Title: | "Ethan Frome." In: The Bigger Issues and Some Recent Books. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | It is hard to forgive Mrs. Wharton for the utter
remorselessness of her latest volume, Ethan Frome, for
nowhere has she done anything more hopelessly, endlessly grey with
blank despair. Ethan Frome is a man whose ambitions long ago
burned themselves out. He early spent his vitality in the daily
struggle of winning a bare sustenance from the grudging soil of a
small New England farm. An invalid wife, whose imaginary ailments
thrived on patent medicines, doubled his burden. And then, one
day, a pretty young cousin, left destitute, came to live on the
farm, and brought a breath of fragrance and gladness into the
gloom. Neither Ethan nor the cousin meant to do wrong; it was
simply one of those unconscious, inevitable attachments, almost
primitive in its intensity. It never was even put into words,
until the day when Ethan's wife, perhaps because of a smouldering
jealousy, perhaps because the motive she gave was the true one,
namely that the girl was shiftless and incompetent, sent her out
into the world to shift for herself. It is while driving her over
to the railway station that Ethan consents to the girl's wish that
just once more he will take her coasting down a long hill, that is
a favourite coasting place throughout the neighbourhood. It is a
long, steep, breathless rush, with a giant tree towering up near
the foot, to be dexterously avoided at the last moment. It is
while he holds the girl close to him on the sled, that a ghastly
temptation comes to Ethan, and he voices it: How much easier,
instead of letting her go away, to face unknown struggles, while he
remained behind, eating his heart out with loneliness—how much
easier merely to forget to steer! One shock of impact, and the end
would come. And to this the girl consents. And neither of them
foresees that not even the most carefully planned death is
inevitable, and that fate is about to play upon them one of its
grimmest tricks, and doom them to a life-long punishment, she with
a broken back, he with a warped and twisted frame, tied beyond
escape to the slow starvation of the barren farm, and grudgingly
watched over by the invalid wife, scarcely more alive than
themselves. Art for art's sake is the one justification of a piece
of work as perfect in technique as it is relentless in substance. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 158 | Author: | Wharton review: Marsh, Edward Clark | Add | | | Title: | Mrs. Wharton's "The Fruit of the Tree"
In: Seven Books of the Month. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | It is one of the penalties of so striking a success as Mrs.
Wharton achieved in The House of Mirth that for a long time
to come all her work must endure the comparative judgment. The
first question asked concerning The Fruit of the Tree will
pertain neither to its proper merits nor its formal classification.
"Is it as good as The House of Mirth?"—that is the query
that must be met at the outset, unless it is anticipated by the no
less pressing interrogation, "Will it be as popular as The House
of Mirth?" The implied distinction must be maintained. Those
shallow-pated readers who identify merit with popularity are not to
be found in the intellectual circles to which Mrs. Wharton
ministers. Rather is her most numerous following among those who
forgive the popularity for the sake of the merit. But since the
dual question is sure to be propounded, and the dilemma cannot be
avoided by even the humblest commentator, I may at once lay a
reckless hand on either horn by hazarding the opinion that
The Fruit of the Tree, though a better book
than its predecessor, is not likely to provoke an equal amount of
that heated and emotional public discussion which is the true sign
of popularity. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 159 | Author: | Wharton review: Moss, Mary | Add | | | Title: | Mrs. Wharton's "Madame de Treymes" | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | Since such crude early attempts as Theodore Fay's preposterous
Norman Leslie deserve scant consideration, Mr. Henry James
may safely claim to have discovered the international episode as a
motive for American fiction. In spite of many competitors, he has
hitherto kept an easy supremacy in this field, with such
masterpieces as Daisy Miller, The American, The Princess
Casamassima, The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, not to mention
a host of short stories. But among this brilliant company, Mrs.
Wharton's Madame de Treymes must instantly take undisputed
place. In fact, the author fairly challenges comparison by
choosing a theme almost identical with that of The American—
the clash between a spirited outsider and the intangible
resistance of Old World traditions and standards. And to be frank,
her latest story excels Mr. James's early one in the matter of
probability. For my part I have never been quite satisfied that a
man of Newman's imaginative force would not have broken through the
network of obstacles, if only by not appreciating them, and have
ended by carrying off the object of his homage. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 160 | Author: | Wharton review: Anonymous | Add | | | Title: | A Motor Flight through France. | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | It is not to be expected that Mrs. Wharton would write the
ordinary book of travel—nor has she done so in the present
volume. «The motor-car has restored the romance of travel,» she
declares: and to prove her contention she whirls her reader through
the towns and picturesque country scenes of France on a motor-car
that certainly leaves nothing to be desired by the traveler in the
way of comfort and convenience. Mrs. Wharton dwells with delight
on the freedom from the «ugliness and desolation created by the
railway,» as enjoyed by the motorist, and describes in her usual
charming style the various objects of beauty and interest that
flash by her car without being marred by intervening railroad
yards, smoke, and general dulness. With no country is Mrs. Wharton
more thoroughly familiar than with France, and her brilliant
sketches of towns, castles, churches, men, and women, seen in
passing, furnish excellent reading and lend to this book a piquancy
not usually possest by others of its kind. For any one
contemplating a motor trip through France it should serve,
moreover, as an excellent guide. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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