#edith wharton

[gonzabasta]

The Reckoning by Edith Wharton

I already knew that Wharton wrote beautiful short stories—just read my review of *New York Stories*—but every time I’m amazed at how she manages, in 18 pages (in this case), to stir such deep emotions in me. Once I finished reading and caught my breath, I couldn’t help but keep reflecting on these new truths—truths that I may have known before, but never in such explicit terms.

Mi era noto ormai che la Wharton scrivesse dei racconti bellissimi, basta leggere la mia recensione delle New York stories, ma ogni volta resto basita per come lei riesca in 18 pagine (in questo caso) a suscitare in me delle emozioni così profonde. Una volta finito di leggere e dopo aver ripreso fiato, non si puó che continuare a riflettere su queste nuove verità che forse erano anche note, ma mai così esplicite.

[didanagy]

WINONA RYDER as MAY WELLAND

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) dir. martin scorsese

[princeturveydrop]

the whole thing about Newland Archer is that he thinks he’s not like other girls

[crookedreads]

They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods.

Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, 1911

[kariastillero]

"But I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing-room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting-room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors perhaps are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes."

- Edith Wharton, The Fullness of Life

[angelhill]

He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty.

Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

[asexual-hugger]

[nocturnus33]

Minerva McGonagall by Edith Wharton

Wharton would view McGonagall as the formidable guardian of a decaying, though still potent, social institution, much like the rigid society she chronicled in The Age of Innocence. The narrative would be deeply concerned with the tension between individual passion and the crushing weight of duty, capturing the subtle, unspoken sacrifices McGonagall makes to maintain the "sanctity" of Hogwarts. Her technique centers on masterful social irony and the psychological architecture of restraint, where the drama unfolds in the smallest of gestures—a tightened lip, a perfectly phrased reprimand, or the strategic placement of a cup of tea. Wharton would strip away the magical spectacle to reveal the cold, tactical brilliance required to navigate a patriarchal establishment, portraying McGonagall as a woman of iron resolve whose greatest battle is suppressing her own human heart to preserve the order she serves.