Product Description

'They lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.' Edith Wharton's most famous novel, written immediately after the end of the First World War, is a brilliantly realized anatomy of New York society in the 1870s, the world in which she grew up, and from which she spent her life escaping. Newland Archer, Wharton's protagonist, charming, tactful, enlightened, is a thorough product of this society; he accepts its standards and abides by its rules but he also recognizes its limitations. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska puts all his plans in jeopardy. Independent, free-thinking, scandalously separated from her husband, Ellen forces Archer to question the values and assumptions of his narrow world. As their love for each other grows, Archer has to decide where his ultimateloyalty lies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1099527 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Stephen Orgel is the general editor of the New Pelican Shakespeare, editor of The Tempest and The Winter's Tale for the Oxford Shakeseare in OWC, co-editor with Jonathan Goldberg of Paradise Lost and Milton's Major Works in OWC, and editor of Wharton's The Custom of the Country in OWC.