{"product_id":"romney-and-other-new-works-about-philadelphia-by-owen-wister-9780271058405","title":"Romney And Other New Works About Philadelphia By","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e is the best fictional portrayal of \"Gilded Age\" Philadelphia, brilliantly capturing Wister's vision of old-money, aristocratic society gasping its last before the onrushing vulgarity of the nouveaux riches. Published for the first time, is the complete fragment of \u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e together with two of his other unpublished Philadelphia works.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e is a delightfully surprising and important contribution to our understanding of Owen Wister, of Philadelphia and its Main Line suburbs, and of American literature in the early twentieth century. Readers will be intrigued to find that Wister anticipates in this unfinished novel, by more than seventy years, the thesis put forth by E. Digby Baltzell in his \u003ci\u003ePuritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia\u003c\/i\u003e. For anyone wishing to come to terms with the Philadelphia story, this is a ‘must-read’ book.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—David R. Contosta,Author of \u003ci\u003eSuburb in the City: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, 1850-1990\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Owen Wister’s \u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e, edited and annotated with extraordinary precision by James A. Butler, is an unexpected and most valuable contribution to two important matters. One is our knowledge of Owen Wister, through this—hitherto practically unavailable—book. The other is the very content of this unfinished Wister work, essentially a novel of manners, set in Philadelphia society of the 1880s. Philadelphia has been a nearly ideal setting for a novel of manners but, for various reasons, during two centuries few of them have been forthcoming. \u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e, unfinished as it is, is a substantial exception-which is why it ought to be read by everyone interested in the history of Philadelphia and of Philadelphians.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—John Lukacs \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An unfinished third novel, with three additional essays, about a contentedly corrupt belle epoque Philadelphia-where the famed Wister (1860-1938) went west to cure his depression after William Dean Howells rejected his first attempts at fiction. The result of that hegira, \u003ci\u003eThe Virginian\u003c\/i\u003e, is considered America’s finest western. In his introduction, Butler (English\/LaSalle) contends that Wister’s third novel, which biographers have mistakenly called \u003ci\u003eMonopolis \u003c\/i\u003e(after Wister’s name for his fictional Philadelphia), was intended to be Wister’s reply to friend Theodore Roosevelt’s objection about the xenophobic cynicism in Wister’s second novel, \u003ci\u003eLady Baltimore\u003c\/i\u003e, an Edith Wharton\/Henry James critique of southern aristocracy. Wister wrote Roosevelt that \u003ci\u003eDividends in Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e, later titled after its hero, Romney Hythe, was to be, in Wister’s words, ‘a picture of Philadelphia, and its passing from the old world to the new order; the hero of no social position, married to a wife of good social position elsewhere, and turning out to be superior to his wife.’ The 48,000-word fragment he produced-before abandoning it after WWI journalism, unsuccessful forays into politics, and the death of his wife sank him again into despair-begins in 1911, then flashes back to 1880s Philadelphia, rooting the entanglement of early Main Line society in the greed and corruption surrounding the Pennsylvania Railroad. Alas, Romney himself, though discussed, remains unborn when the pages run out. Like Wharton’s best work, the unfinished Romney, along with Wister’s essays about Philadelphia society, remains striking for its examination of American social pathologies that, despite changes in ethnic, cultural and technological composition, remain virulently prevalent today.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eRomney \u003c\/i\u003eought to be read by anyone with an interest in American history, in the price of ‘progress,’ in comic literature, or in the timeless tension between ‘old’ and ‘new’ money.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Bill Eichenberger \u003ci\u003eColumbus Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Virginian\u003c\/i\u003e we know. But not this raucous, lively, enjoyable and, alas, unfinished novel published for the first time in 2002.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Bill Eichenberger \u003ci\u003eColumbus Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Thanks in great part to superb editing by Butler, this volume is a welcome addition to the Wister canon. \u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e would have taken its place alongside \u003ci\u003eThe Virginian\u003c\/i\u003e (1902) and\u003ci\u003e Lady Baltimore\u003c\/i\u003e (1906) . . . but he never completed it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe novel occasionally brings to mind the work of Howells, James, and Henry Adams, and Wister’s thesis anticipates the urban-contrast arguments of E. Digby Baltzell’s \u003ci\u003ePuritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia\u003c\/i\u003e (1979). Nicely illustrated, with an introduction, notes, chronology, and appendixes detailing other pertinent works, this book is highly recommended at all levels.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—J. J. Wydeven \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Like Wharton’s best work, the unfinished \u003ci\u003eRomney\u003c\/i\u003e, along with Wister’s essays about Philadelphia society, remains striking for its examination of American social pathologies that, despite changes in ethnic, cultural, and technological composition, remain virulently prevalent today.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Kirkus Reviews \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penn State University","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51455976440151,"sku":"9780271058405","price":24.83,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/romney-and-other-new-works-about-philadelphia-by-owen-wister-9780271058405","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}