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Oxford University Press
January 2009
On Sale: January 15, 2009
416 pages
ISBN: 0199555125
EAN: 9780199555123
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Edith Wharton's satiric anatomy of American society in the
first decade of the twentieth century appeared in 1913; it
both appalled and fascinated its first reviewers, and
established her as a major novelist. The Saturday Review
wrote that she had "assembled as many detestable people as
it is possible to pack between the covers of a six-hundred
page novel," but concluded that the book was "brilliantly
written," and "should be read as a parable."
It follows the career of Undine Spragg, recently arrived in
New York from the Midwest and determined to conquer high
society. Glamorous, selfish, mercenary and manipulative,
her principal assets are her striking beauty, her tenacity,
and her father's money. With her sights set on an
advantageous marriage, Undine pursues her schemes in a
world of shifting values, where triumph is swiftly followed
by disillusion.
Wharton was recreating an environment she knew intimately,
and Undine's education for social success is chronicled in
meticulous detail. The novel superbly captures the world of
post-Civil War America, as ruthless in its social ambitions
as in its business and politics.
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