The house of Mirth, by Edith Wharton

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• By Edith WhartonIntroduction by Cynthia Griffin WolffNotes by Cynthia Griffin Wolff
• Also by Edith Wharton
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For in the last year she had found that her hostesses expected her totake a place at the card-table. It was one of the taxes she had to payfor their prolonged hospitality, and for the dresses and trinkets whichoccasionally replenished her insufficient wardrobe. Once or twice of late shehad won a large sum, and instead of keeping it against future losses, hadspent it in dress or jewelry; and the desire to atone for thisimprudence, combined with the increasing exhilaration of the game, droveher to risk higher stakes at each fresh venture. She tried to excuseherself on the plea that, in the Trenor set, if one played at all onemust either play high or be set down as priggish or stingy; but she knewthat the gambling passion was upon her, and that in her presentsurroundings there was small hope of resisting it.

By Edith WhartonIntroduction by Cynthia Griffin WolffNotes by Cynthia Griffin Wolff

To his impatience it seemedimmeasurably long to wait, and half-ashamed of the impulse, he leaned toMrs. Fisher to ask, as the music ceased, if Miss Bart had not dined withher. The words beat on Gerty’s brain like the sound of a language which hasseemed familiar at a distance, but on approaching is found to beunintelligible.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton – review - The Guardian

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton – review.

Posted: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Also by Edith Wharton

He has an affair with Mrs Dorset, who manages to keep it concealed from most of society. Ned's increasing gambling addiction consumes not only his resources but that of his sisters, who live in poverty while he travels with Bertha Dorset. After the fling with Bertha ends, Ned participates in a scheme to help a purportedly wealthy but disreputable woman to marry the younger brother of Gwen and Evie Van Osburgh. This conspiracy, in which Lily is implicated, helps ensure Lily's downfall. Her tears had risen again, and in drawing out herhandkerchief her fingers touched the packet in the folds of her dress.

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Davies' "The House of Mirth" will be compared with Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence," also based on a Wharton novel. Wharton as a writer was a contemporary of her great friend Henry James, and also of the rising group of realists like Dreiser. The Age of Innocence is a Jamesian novel, but The House of Mirth is more like Dreiser, like an upper-class version of Sister Carrie , in which a woman's life is defined by economic determinism. (If Lily had read Sister Carrie, indeed, it might have given her some notions about how to survive.) The movie will seem slow to some viewers, unless they are alert to the raging emotions, the cruel unfairness and the desperation that are masked by the measured and polite words of the characters.

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After a while, however, he wearied of his perch and,dropping alone to the pavement, pushed his way to the first corner andturned into the moonlit silence of a side street. Long garden-wallsoverhung by trees made a dark boundary to the pavement; an empty cabtrailed along the deserted thoroughfare, and presently Selden saw twopersons emerge from the opposite shadows, signal to the cab, and driveoff in it toward the centre of the town. The moonlight touched them asthey paused to enter the carriage, and he recognized Mrs. Dorset andyoung Silverton.

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Of course she had meant to clearherself of its consequences before she met him—she had never reallydoubted that Mrs. Peniston would come to her aid. And she had felt, evenin the full storm of her misery, that Selden’s love could not be herultimate refuge; only it would be so sweet to take a moment’s shelterthere, while she gathered fresh strength to go on. Hisreasoned-out resistances seemed for the moment so much less importantthan the question as to when Lily would receive his note! He yieldedhimself to the charm of trivial preoccupations, wondering at what hourher reply would be sent, with what words it would begin. As to its importhe had no doubt—he was as sure of her surrender as of his own.

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However, Lily remains convinced that she needs to find a way to reintegrate high society and become rich and powerful—her lifelong dream. Moved by desperation, Lily considers following Rosedale’s suggestion to use Bertha’s letters against her as a form of blackmail, so that Lily might reenter high society. Although Lily hesitates at length about whether or not she should do this, she finally experiences a moment of moral illumination and concludes that she cannot let herself behave in such an unethical way. Aided only by Carry Fisher and Gerty Farish, Lily finds a series of jobs to support herself. She begins by joining the social circle of Mr. and Mrs. Gormer, although Bertha Dorset influences Mattie Gormer in rejecting Lily. Lily then serves as social secretary for a rich divorcée from the West, Norma Hatch, but soon has to leave when Norma is involved in a scandal with Freddy Van Osbourne.

All her resentment of his fancied coldness was swept away in thisoverwhelming rush of recollection. Twice he had been ready to helpher—to help her by loving her, as he had said—and if, the third time,he had seemed to fail her, whom but herself could she accuse? But the sudden longing to see him remained; it grew tohunger as she paused on the pavement opposite his door. She had a vision of his quiet room, ofthe bookshelves, and the fire on the hearth. She looked up and saw alight in his window; then she crossed the street and entered the house.

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Puzzledby the sudden change in her tone, he mechanically gathered a handful ofwood from the basket and tossed it on the fire. As he did so, he noticedhow thin her hands looked against the rising light of the flames. When she rose he fancied that he saw her draw something fromher dress and drop it into the fire; but he hardly noticed the gesture atthe time. His faculties seemed tranced, and he was still groping for theword to break the spell.

She had reached a point where abrupt retrenchment wasnecessary, and the only cheap life was a dull life. As she sat, on the Saturday afternoon, on the terrace at Bellomont, shesmiled at Mrs. Trenor’s fear that she might go too fast. If such awarning had ever been needful, the years had taught her a salutarylesson, and she flattered herself that she now knew how to adapt her paceto the object of pursuit. In the case of Mr. Gryce she had found it wellto flutter ahead, losing herself elusively and luring him on from depthto depth of unconscious intimacy. The surrounding atmosphere waspropitious to this scheme of courtship. Mrs. Trenor, true to her word,had shown no signs of expecting Lily at the bridge-table, and had evenhinted to the other card-players that they were to betray no surprise ather unwonted defection.

It was the last question which, at thatmoment, should have engaged her. She might better have contented herselfwith thinking that he had simply responded to the despairing summons ofhis hostess, anxious to interpose him between herself and the ill-humourof Mrs. Dorset. But Lily had not rested till she learned from Mrs. Trenorthat Selden had come of his own accord. “He didn’t even wire me—he justhappened to find the trap at the station. Perhaps it’s not over withBertha after all,” Mrs. Trenor musingly concluded; and went away toarrange her dinner-cards accordingly. Lily had hinted to Mr. Gryce that this neglect of religious observanceswas repugnant to her early traditions, and that during her visits toBellomont she regularly accompanied Muriel and Hilda to church.