Undine’s history and character is interpreted by Mrs. Wharton as the result of “the custom of the country” which develops insatiable egotism in its vain, beautiful women. Considered by many to be her masterpiece, Edith Wharton's epic work is a scathing yet personal examination of the exploits and follies of the modern upper class. The youngest of three children, Edith spent her early years touring Europe with her parents and, upon the family's return to the United States, enjoyed a privileged childhood in New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Years ago men tried to control women by keeping them locked up in housework, in children, in piety.
The plot moves along at a good clip, and if you don't read any introductory essays with spoilers, there's a fair amoun. Edith's creativity and talent soon became obvious: By the age of eighteen she had written a novella, (as well as witty reviews of it) and published poetry in the Atlantic Monthly.
In a bizarrely touching way, Moffat has loved her all along; he's pulled strings, sometimes cruelly, to keep her afloat and within reach. Edith Wharton’s magnificent and chilling novel, Serial marriage is quite usual behavior where she comes from, the invented town of Apex, somewhere in the midwest, and her ideas about the rightness of Apex morality clash resolutely with the refined ways, She tells her father to rent one for her, and he overdoes things and rents one for the whole season, because nothing is too good for his Undine, and anything is worth doing to keep that look of stormy aggression off her face, “… her work would have been better if she could have made her Undine Spragg a little more likable, even if only on occasions, and to a slight extent,” and, yet that “it remains to note that it is a powerful story of compelling interest ad a fine study of modern social life.”, With a far worse specimen, Thackeray immortalized an unscrupulous social adventuress.
Books. Wharton describes what is going on in the book with an apparent wide-eyed naiveté, but she is twisting a sharp blade under all that innocence. We are experiencing technical difficulties. We respect copyright and give users the opportunity to get to know the world literature and communicate also. But even at the end, with all the money and social standing she's ever wanted, she's already grasping for the next rung of the social ladder. Undine gets pregnant and has a child, Paul, who is the apple of his fathers eye. The Custom of the Country Book Summary and Study Guide. She was more ruthless and eviscerating than a mafia don. Read the Study Guide for The Custom of the Country…, Read the E-Text for The Custom of the Country…, View Wikipedia Entries for The Custom of the Country…. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Not all enjoyable novels are great, and not all great novels are enjoyable. I can't help it!
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Ralph kills himself, first, however, so they are allowed to get married as she's now a widower. A brutal, pessimistic view that some critics say kept her from winning the Nobel Prize. Buy. I loved THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, but this Edith Wharton novel just did not work for me. Raised in the fictional town of Apex, she’s the product of a family who has risen to a certain social status through sketchy financial dealings. will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. save hide report.
The most Balzacian of Wharton's novels. I wouldn't say it's dry at all. As she unfolds the story of Undine Spragg, from New York to Europe, Wharton affords us a detailed glimpse of what might be called the interior décor of this America and its nouveau riche fringes. Moffatt soon learns that Undine merely wants money, but he's unable to satisfy her. I have read four of her wonderful novels this year and I intend to read all of the others in time. No, what we want, what we have always wanted, is for them to look nice, to leave us alone t. I have a saying which is that the greatest trick that man ever pulled was to convince women that they are free. But she is undeniably the protagonist in this novel about the invasion of the American upper classes by money, and about the brash new ways of the stock market, of business methods only just on the right side of the law, and of the appalling economic realities of life that drive a man of good family to have to work in an office. What change, if any, should be made in sentence eight? Throughout it all, a dubious gentleman named Elmer Moffat crosses back and forth across Undines path.
They are real, they breathe, and they make me wish to cry with them, comfort them or slap them with a fervor that is generally reserved for non-fictional human beings. Which line from the selection provides the best evidence the Paul's mother has remarried more than once?
Ralph knows she doesn't love her son, so he borrows money to pay her, but it's not enough. I felt no sympathy for her but was nevertheless riveted to Wharton’s brilliant, ruthless character study. It blew me away. Surely a royal will be able to provide her with everything she wants. Then we realised that by doing so, although we posses them, we aren’t benefitting from it in the way that we would like.
Years ago men tried to control women by keeping them locked up in housework, in children, in piety. Except that Wharton has Undine's parents naming her after a patented hair curling device briefly peddled by her father.
Wharton describes what is going on in the book with an apparent wide-eyed naiveté, but she is twisting a sharp blade under all that innocence.
Even as Lily Bart of The House of Mirth was a heroine descending the social stairs, so Undine Spragg of this present novel is that pitiable creature, a social climber, making her way up society’s beanstalk.
I have a saying which is that the greatest trick that man ever pulled was to convince women that they are free. A direct route to Paradise seemed that ladder when viewed from Undine’s place of upbringing, town called, ironically, Apex. Video.
It doesnt matter how beautiful the window is, or how richly appointed the room that houses the window, there is always something out there that she must have, something just beyond her reach. Undine’s problem is that she doesn’t realize that divorce is a disgrace, and spells the end of social life for any decent woman in those societies into which she eventually marries.
More details about us. The Apex crowd, the dignified New York circle, the French family with its traditional solidarity and ideals. First Published in 1999. This book is amazing. She can’t see the difficulty in divorcing a difficult or disappointing husband to make a better deal for herself elsewhere.
Alas, her new husband has family obligations that Undine thinks are completely unreasonable. The problem for the upper class New York Marvell family, and of the family of the Marquis de Chelles, into which she does marry, is that Undine refuses to consider anyone’s needs as more important than her own, and she needs money, all the time. Yes, I ditched the eminent Dr. Eliot to drink ice cream sodas and read celebrity gossip magazines, So I had totally committed my schedule to having lengthy tea with a brilliant Oxford professor of incredible intelligence, unsurpassed insight, and fabled dry wit. Undine learns quickly and will not allow that to happen again.
It ble.
And my goodness, she marries. Buy, May 30, 2006
Raymond is a French aristocrat.
share. The entire book is written with a subtle sarcasm toward Americans and toward the rich.
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