Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence,

and New York’s Gilded Age

Edith Wharton1862 - 1837

• Won the Pulitzer for The Age of Innocence (first female recipient)

• Was a product of the society described in the novel

• Also famous for The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome

• Known for her wit, irony, and empathetic social critique

The Gilded Age in New York City

(1860’s – 1901)

Origin of the term Gilded Age Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner were the first to use the term “Gilded” to describe the period in the United States between the Civil War / Reconstruction Era and the beginning of the 20th Century. “Gilding” refers to the application of a thin veneer of gold leaf or paint to the outside of something made of a cheaper substance. The name is a play on “Golden Age,” and refers to the habit of upper class society of ostentatiously showing off their wealth despite the atrociouspoverty and living conditions that characterized the lives of many Americans at the time. This was a time of incredible growth for the U.S. economy, and also of burgeoning tension between old money aristocrats and new money entrepreneurs.

The Age of Innocence and New YorkNew York Times article about Edith Wharton's New York

Additional reading & viewing:

• New York Social Diary: this website features a brief photo-tour displaying the architecture that characterized the Gilded Age billionaires of New York City (part 2 here)

• Modern Library’s review of the novel

The Age of Innocence1920

• Gender issues (men rule politics & money; women rule society)

• Social norms and risks of breaking them• Appearances, manipulation• When written, already a historical novel (published

1920, about the 1870’s) – but everyone recognized what it was talking about.

• The differences between the Old New York of the novel and the liberated society that replaced it were dramatic.

• Although she may criticize and satirize, Wharton may also resent the chaotic liberty of the post-war 20’s more than she does the restrictive social codes of her parents’ generation.

Novel of Manners:“A work of fiction that re-creates a social world, conveying with finely detailed observation the customs, values, and mores of a highly

developed and complex society.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Internet sources• http://davidoffutt.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/gilded20age1.jpg• http://bigoldhouses.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html• http://www.luxist.com/tag/gilded+age/• http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/english/art/artist/image/english-school/6461/110/10125

5/broadway-at-st--paul%27s,-new-york,-in-c-1870,-from-%27american-pictures%27-published-by-the-religious-tract-society,-1876/index.htm

• http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=778229• http://www.livingpresence.com/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Innocence• http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/arts/artsspecial/12rooms.html• http://

flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.com/2010/01/house-of-mirth-edith-wharton-on-tour_15.html

• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/96305/Washington-Square-Arch-New-York-City

• http://www.mystudios.com/artgallery/P/Paul-Cornoyer/Washington-Square.html• http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/edithwharton