Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

346 Pages·2003·0.81 MB·English

by  Carol J. Singley

Edith Wharton’s
The House of Mirth
A C AS E BOO K
casebooks in criticism
EDITH WHARTON’S
The House of Mirth
J J J
A C A S E B O O K
Edited by
Carol J. Singley
1
2003
1
Oxford NewYork
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Copyright(cid:1) 2003 by OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
EdithWharton’sThehouseofmirth:acasebook/editedby
CarolJ.Singley.
p.cm.—(Casebooksincriticism)
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN0-19-515602-1;0-19-515603-X(pbk.)
1. Wharton,Edith,1862–1937Houseofmirth. 2. Socialclassesin
literature. 3. Singlewomeninliterature. I. Singley,CarolJ.,1951–
II.Series.
PS3545.H16H68332003
813'.52—dc21 2003001074
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
Credits
Benstock, Shari. “‘The Word Which Made All Clear’: The Silent
CloseofTheHouseofMirth,”inFamousLastWords:ChangesinGender
and Narrative Closure, ed. Allison Booth. Charlottesville: Uni-
versity of Virginia Press, 1993. 230–58. Reprinted with per-
mission of the University Press of Virginia.
Dimock, Wai Chee. “Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The
House of Mirth.” PMLA 100 (October 1985): 783–92. Reprinted
by permission of the Modern Language Association of Amer-
ica.
Gair, Christopher. “The Crumbling Structure of ‘Appearances’:
Representation and Authenticity in The House of Mirth and The
Custom of the Country.” Modern Fiction Studies 43.2 (1997): 349–73.
(cid:1) Purdue Research Foundation. Reprinted by permission of
the Johns Hopkins University Press.
Goldman-Price, Irene C. “The “Perfect Jew” and The House of Mirth:
A Study in Point of View.” Modern Language Studies 23.2 (spring
1993): 25–36.
Kaplan, Amy. “Crowded Spaces in The House of Mirth.” The Social
vi Credits
Construction of American Realism. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1988. 88–103.
Kassanoff, Jennie. “Extinction, Taxidermy, Tableaux Vivants:Stag-
ing Race and Class in The House of Mirth.” PMLA 115 (January
2000): 60–74. Reprinted by permission of the Modern Lan-
guage Association of America.
Lidoff, Joan. “Another Sleeping Beauty: Narcissism in The House of
Mirth.” American Quarterly 32 (winter 1980): 518–39. (cid:1) The
American StudiesAssociation.Reprintedbypermissionofthe
Johns Hopkins University Press.
Merish,Lori.“EngenderingNaturalism:NarrativeFormandCom-
modity Spectacle in U.S. Naturalist Fiction.” Novel: A Forum on
Fiction 29 (spring 1996): 319–45. Copyright NOVEL Corp. (cid:1)
1996. Reprinted with permission.
Showalter, Elaine. “The Death of the Lady (Novelist): Wharton’s
House of Mirth.” Representations 9 (winter 1985): 133–49. (cid:1) 1985
by The Regents of the University of California.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. From The House of Mirth: A Novel of Admo-
nition. Twayne’s Masterwork Studies. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990.
1–11; 30–40. Reprinted by permission of the Gale Group.
Wharton, Edith. A Backward Glance. New York: Appleton-Century,
1934. 206–8. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Edith
Wharton and the Watkins/Loomis Agency.
Wharton,Edith.IntroductiontoTheHouseofMirth.Oxford:Oxford
University Press, 1936. v–xi. Reprinted by permission of Ox-
ford University Press.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. “Lily Bart and the Drama of Femininity.”
American Literary History 6.1 (spring 1994): 71–87. By permission
of Oxford University Press.
Contents
Introduction 3
carol j. singley
A Backward Glance 27
edith wharton
Introduction to the 1936 Edition of The House of Mirth 31
edith wharton
The Death of the Lady (Novelist): Wharton’s House of Mirth 39
elaine showalter
Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth 63
wai chee dimock
Crowded Spaces in The House of Mirth 85
amy kaplan
viii Contents
The House of Mirth: A Novel of Admonition 107
linda wagner-martin
“The Word Which Made All Clear”: The Silent Close of
The House of Mirth 131
shari benstock
The “Perfect Jew” and The House of Mirth:
A Study in Point of View 163
irene c. goldman-price
Another Sleeping Beauty: Narcissism in The House of Mirth 181
joan lidoff
Lily Bart and the Drama of Femininity 209
cynthia griffin wolff
Engendering Naturalism: Narrative Form and Commodity
Spectacle in U.S. Naturalist Fiction 229
lori merish
The Crumbling Structure of “Appearances”:
Representation and Authenticity in The House of Mirth and
The Custom of the Country 271
christopher gair
Extinction, Taxidermy, Tableaux Vivants: Staging Race and Class
in The House of Mirth 299
jennie a. kassanoff
Selected Bibliography 331
Edith Wharton’s
The House of Mirth
A C AS E BOO K