Twilight Sleep Classic bestseller Book 12 eBook Edith Wharton
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Out of print for several decades, here is Edith Wharton's superb satirical novel of the Jazz Age, a critically praised best-seller when it was first published in 1927. Sex, drugs, work, money, infatuation with the occult and spiritual healing - these are the remarkably modern themes that animate Twilight Sleep.
Twilight Sleep Classic bestseller Book 12 eBook Edith Wharton
Wharton presents us with two families so entangled that you arent clear about who each character is for a while. But then the book takes off. It is a tour de force. It takes place almost entirely off stage, with the characters seeming scarcely aware and in fact unconscious of their own feelings or what is happening. On another level each of them knows to some extent and plays a part. This self induced somnabulism is the opposite of joycean stream of consciousness but has a modernist feel. Also a change for wharton is the disappearance of the taboo of divorce. The mysterious feel of the development makes it a page turner. In the end some of the conflicts are scarcely resolved, but within these two families there have been shattering events. The effect is strangely moving. At the same time the effect is of tragicomedy. Wharton is satirizing these people, and brings their absurdity home in a penultimate scene that is one of farce. In the end the characters give up on the license of the twenties and surrender ouy of sheer embarrassment to the proprieties of the gilded age.Product details
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Twilight Sleep Classic bestseller Book 12 eBook Edith Wharton Reviews
Great classic. I would have liked some resolution of the Nona and Stanley situation. Good character definition as usual in Wharton's books.
I had somehow missed this one and I loved it. It was amazing to me how the subject matter is still relevant. We still look for gurus to tell us how the world works and then wonder why the mysticism doesn't hold up in the real world.
I love Edith Wharton but was disappointed in this one. It seemed a bit disjointed and thrown-together. Except for Pauline, the mother, I also didn't think the characters well-developed. In all, it read more like an early draft rather than a finished work.
Wharton's satire of 'life moderne' in the jazz age of Twilight Sleep uniquely parallels a satire of life today. The often hypocritical extremes professed altruists go to for spiritual and professional fulfillment (often at the expense of others) are broadly explored through the social activism of Pauline,the main character, and her circle along with the complacency of her husband,Dexter.
They're almost caricatures of the type given their exaggerated behaviour but are still reminiscent of real 'do gooders' today. lita the daughter-in-law, who executes a Lolita style seduction of an all too willing Manford, is a beautiful grotesque in her perfect solipsistic hedonism. Nona,Paulines daughter, has an under developed character which is unfortunate because she is the only real llikeable main character. The novel has pace,however,and ;although,the plot is somewhat predictable it is not lacking in Wharton's wit in its telling. All in all, parrix
Interesting insight to the lives of people in the jazz age. Touch of Downton Abbey in the American lifestyle,. Edith Wharton is up there with Scott Fitzgerald. If you enjoy reading stories set in the 1920-1930 era this is for you. Takes you back to the days when people with money knew how to live with class; tea on the lawns, tennis for two, salad days. and travelled by ocean liner, etc. What a bore to be poor. Completely different from my slum upbringing in an East London two up two down without electric light would you believe.
The main character seemed to be pretty passive toward her parents. Her mother was driven by continual self-improvement motives, and self-aggrandizement, wanting to be socially superior, and always right, with every minute filled with activity. She was always consulting "gurus" to fulfill her desire for the perfect life. Her husband seemed on the brink of an affair with his step-daughter, but this wasn't blatantly stated, and never seemed to happen. None of them were people I would particularly care to know.
I can't imagine why this was out of print for so long. It's just as engrossing and well-written as the rest of her work. It was fascinating to discover that nothing has changed in the hundred years since it was written. The main character, Pauline, who spends all her time on yoga, following gurus, keeping minute track of her health and devoting herself to causes is no different from women of her class today. Her daughter Nona is deftly outlined by Wharton with a fine pencil. We understand and appreciate her without having it spelled out for us.
There is an odd review of this book on All Readers that outlines a completely different ending for the book. I can't find that ending on any other version of the book on line. Very strange..
Wharton presents us with two families so entangled that you arent clear about who each character is for a while. But then the book takes off. It is a tour de force. It takes place almost entirely off stage, with the characters seeming scarcely aware and in fact unconscious of their own feelings or what is happening. On another level each of them knows to some extent and plays a part. This self induced somnabulism is the opposite of joycean stream of consciousness but has a modernist feel. Also a change for wharton is the disappearance of the taboo of divorce. The mysterious feel of the development makes it a page turner. In the end some of the conflicts are scarcely resolved, but within these two families there have been shattering events. The effect is strangely moving. At the same time the effect is of tragicomedy. Wharton is satirizing these people, and brings their absurdity home in a penultimate scene that is one of farce. In the end the characters give up on the license of the twenties and surrender ouy of sheer embarrassment to the proprieties of the gilded age.
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