Migliori Libri di Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Age of Innocence, is both a poignant story of frustrated love and an extraordinarily vivid, delightfully satirical record of a vanished world. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by award-winning novelist, Rachel Cusk. As the scion of one of New York’s leading families, Newland Archer has been born into a life of sumptuous privilege and strict duty. But the arrival of the Countess Olenska, a free spirit who breathes clouds of European sophistication, makes him question the path on which his upbringing has set him. As his fascination with her grows, he discovers just how hard it is to escape the bonds of the society that has shaped him.

Uscito nel 1920, “L’età dell’innocenza” vale alla sua autrice, Edith Wharton, il premio Pulitzer: sarà la prima donna a vederselo assegnare. Il libro è una critica spietata alla convenzionalità dell’alta società newyorchese: una vera aristocrazia immobiliare in cui le famiglie sono le stesse da generazioni, le donne un ornamento e gli uomini non fanno nulla neppure quando fingono di andare in ufficio. I ricchi personaggi dell'”Età dell’innocenza” vivono tutti nello stesso quadrilatero di strade, e d’estate si spostano tutti quanti a Newport. Sono sempre insieme, sono privilegiati e severi al contempo, e non concepiscono l’esistenza di un mondo fuori dal loro. Il mondo, ovviamente, progredisce, cambia e rischia di lasciarli indietro. Ai cancelli della vecchia New York premono l’aristocrazia imprenditoriale e bancaria – i Morgan, i Lehman, i Guggenheim -, gli operai migrati dall’Europa e soprattutto stili di vita dinamici e aggressivi. Il protagonista del romanzo, Newland Archer, è un giovane raffinato che nella prima parte vediamo emanciparsi lentamente dai valori della vecchia New York ma che poi si trova costretto a sposare una donna che non ama assolutamente.

Library of America presents the first volume in a landmark two-volume collector’s edition of the incomparable stories of an American master Born into an upper-class New York family, Edith Wharton broke with convention and became a professional writer, earning an enduring place as the grande dame of American letters. This Library of America collection (along with its companion volume, Collected Stories: 1911-1937) presents the finest of Wharton’s achievement in short fiction, drawn from the more than eighty stories she published over the course of her career. Opening with her first published story-the charming “Mrs. Manstey’s View,” about a disruption in the life of an elderly apartment-dweller-this first of two volumes presents a writer, already at the height of her powers, beginning to explore the concerns of a lifetime. In “Souls Belated,” two lovers attempt to escape the consequences of their adultery-a subject to which Wharton returns throughout her career. In “The Mission of Jane” (about a remarkable adopted child) and “The Pelican” (about an itinerant lecturer), she discovers her gift for social and cultural satire. Perhaps the finest of her ghost stories, “The Eyes,” with its Jamesian sense of evil, is also included, along with two novella-length works, “The Touchstone” and “Sanctuary,” revealing the dazzling range of Wharton’s fictive imagination. Also included in this edition are a chronology of Wharton’s life, explanatory notes, and an essay on the texts. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.