Description
Book SynopsisEdith Wharton's The House of Mirth (1905) is a sharp and satirical, but also sensitive and tragic analysis of a young, single woman trying to find her place in a materialistic and unforgiving society. The House of Mirth offers a fascinating insight into the culture of the time and, as suggested by the success of recent film adaptations, it is also an enduring tale of love, ambition and social pressures still relevant today.
Part of the Routledge Guides to Literature series, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of The House of Mirth and seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Wharton's text.
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Text and contexts; Chapter 2 Critical history; Chapter 3 Critical readings; Chapter 3a Edith Thornton, ‘Beyondthe Page: Visual Literacy and the Interpretation of Lily Bart’; Chapter 3b Katherine Joslin, ‘Is Lily Gay?’; Chapter 3c Janet Beer and Elizabeth Nolan, ‘The House of Mirth: Genred Locations’; Chapter 3d Kathy Fedorko, ‘“;Seeing a Disfigurement”: Reading the Gothic in The House of Mirth’; Chapter 3e Pamela Knights, ‘“;Hypertexts” and the City: The House of Mirthat the Millennium’; Chapter 4 Performance/adaptation; Chapter 5 Further reading and web resources;
