I first read the ebook version of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, and quite frankly I really enjoyed the plot. Wharton’s writing style strongly resemble that of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, and many of the themes from The Age of Innocence overlap with that of The Great Gatsby. Both authors seem to really have a passion for writing about the complications and imperfections of society and love. The two texts also anchor on detailing the convoluted social expectations during this time as well as the juxtaposition of a character’s facade and internal thoughts.
I then went on to read American Rhapsody by Claudia Roth Pierpont. Pierpont lays down a biography of all the twist and turns in Edith Wharton’s personal life and explains the influences it had on Wharton’s writing. When I read the assignment’s question, I was confused as to what I was suppose to write about. The prompt was “determine whether Claudia got Wharton’s writing style right”. My initial reaction, after reading the first couple pages of Pierpont’s essay, was that the essay didn’t explicitly comment on Wharton’s writing style. Pierpont simply put several of Wharton’s writing into context by explaining what was happening in Wharton’s life prior and following Wharton’s completion of a new literary piece. But, after reading more of Pierpont’s essay, I realized that Pierpont subtly inputs her own view of Wharton’s writing style throughout her essay, which I only detected after a more careful second read. Even in the opening of her essay, Pierpont describes “Beatrice Palmato”, a story written by Wharton, as “exquisitely detailed and explicitly pornographic” (13). Although this comment isn’t about The Age of Innocence, Wharton noticeable seems to “exquisitely detail” certain points. For example in Chapter 3, Wharton really gets lost in describing the drawing room and everything that the women are wearing.
Only at the end of Pierpont’s essay does she explicitly state that Wharton’s writing has “a strong plot, a brilliant but self-divided heroine, and a full supply of negative heroes, and a smash surprise a the end” (33). I definitely feel that Wharton’s writing has a strong plot because it hooks the reader right off the bat and continues to draw in the reader as the plot progresses. In The Age of Innocence, I feel that Madame Ellen Olenska shone through as the “brilliant but self-divided heroine” because even though she does agree to have an affair with Newland Archer and many of her actions are seen as unconventional, she has clear values and boundaries set for herself , which is exhibited when she declines Archer’s offer to run away together.
Lastly, after getting an understanding of what Wharton’s life was like, I had a better grasp on the reason why Wharton choses to write about a racy topic (the protagonist commits adultery).
This actually answered my drawback, thank you!