The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence offers a vivid portrait of upper-class New York in the 1870s, a society governed by rigid expectations and carefully maintained appearances. At its heart is Newland Archer, a young lawyer who believes he understands the rules of his world and the future it has laid out for him. His engagement to May Welland seems to promise stability and respectability. Yet the arrival of her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska-an unconventional woman who challenges social norms-introduces tensions that expose cracks in the polished surface of their community. Through these characters, Edith Wharton explores how tradition and propriety shape personal choices.

Wharton's novel also examines the subtler forms of control embedded in polite society. Characters often navigate unspoken pressures, aware that small gestures or rumors can influence entire lives. The story raises questions about the cost of maintaining social harmony and the sacrifices demanded by conformity. Rather than focusing solely on romantic conflict, Wharton uses the setting and characters to illuminate a broader theme: the struggle between individual desire and the expectations of a culture intent on preserving its own image. The result is a richly layered reflection on identity, duty, and the quiet constraints of a seemingly elegant world.

About the author

Edith Wharton (born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 - August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper class New York "aristocracy" to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

Despite not publishing her first novel until she was forty, Wharton became an extraordinarily productive writer. In addition to her 15 novels, seven novellas, and eighty-five short stories, she published poetry, books on design, travel, literary and cultural criticism, and a memoir.

In 1873, Wharton wrote a short story and gave it to her mother to read. Her mother criticized the story, so Wharton decided to just write poetry. While she constantly sought her mother's approval and love, it was rare that she received either. From the start, the relationship with her mother was a troubled one. Before she was 15, she wrote Fast and Loose (1877). In her youth, she wrote about society. Her central themes came from her experiences with her parents. She was very critical of her work and wrote public reviews criticizing it. She also wrote about her own experiences with life. "Intense Love's Utterance" is a poem written about Henry Stevens.

In 1901, Wharton wrote a two-act play called Man of Genius. This play was about an English man who was having an affair with his secretary. The play was rehearsed but was never produced. Another 1901 play, The Shadow of a Doubt, which also came close to being staged but fell through, was thought to be lost, until it was discovered in 2017. Its world premiere was a radio adaptation broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2018. She collaborated with Marie Tempest to write another play, but the two only completed four acts before Marie decided she was no longer interested in costume plays. One of her earliest literary endeavors (1902) was the translation of the play, Es Lebe das Leben ("The Joy of Living"), by Hermann Sudermann. The Joy of Living was criticized for its name because the heroine swallows poison at the end, and was a short-lived Broadway production. It was, however, a successful book.

... (wikipedia.org)