Readings in Henry James and Edith Wharton
S07
Rebecca Godwin
These two prolific writers, perfectly situated by circumstance of birth and inclination of intellect to do so, captured in their fiction the changing character of American society in what is known as the Gilded Age. Their novels and stories examined the social, moral, and political structures (and strictures) of the new American aristocracy in this age of not-so-innocent; through them, we do too. We read several novels by each, including James’s Portrait of a Lady and The Wings of the Dove and Wharton’s House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. We also read selections from the short fiction of each, as well as James’s essays and selections from their extensive exchange of letters; the two were so close that when James died, Wharton wrote that their friendship had been “the pride and honor of my life.” Students prepare at least one in-class presentation and respond to the readings in writing throughout the term.