Authors: Edith Wharton, Shari Benstock
ISBN-13: 9780312062347, ISBN-10: 0312062346
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
Date Published: November 1993
Edition: 1st Edition
One of America's most important novelists, Edith Wharton was a refined, relentless chronicler of the Gilded Age and its social mores. Along with close friend Henry James, she helped define literature at the turn of the 20th century, even as she wrote classic nonfiction on travel, decorating and her own life.
Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovative Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.
About the Series | ||
About This Volume | ||
Pt. 1 | The House of Mirth: The Complete Text | |
Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts | 3 | |
The Complete Text | 25 | |
Pt. 2 | The House of Mirth: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism | |
A Critical History of The House of Mirth | 309 | |
Cultural Criticism and The House of Mirth | 326 | |
What Is Cultural Criticism? | 326 | |
Cultural Criticism: A Selected Bibliography | 337 | |
A Cultural Perspective: The Traffic in Women: A Cultural Critique of The House of Mirth | 340 | |
Marxist Criticism and The House of Mirth | 359 | |
What Is Marxist Criticism? | 359 | |
Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography | 372 | |
A Marxist Perspective: Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth | 375 | |
Feminist Criticism and The House of Mirth | 391 | |
What Is Feminist Criticism? | 391 | |
Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography | 398 | |
A Feminist Perspective: The Name of the Lily: Edith Wharton's Feminism(s) | 404 | |
Deconstruction and The House of Mirth | 419 | |
What Is Deconstruction? | 419 | |
Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography | 429 | |
A Deconstructionist Perspective: Death by Speculation: Deconstructing The House of Mirth | 431 | |
Psychoanalytic Criticism and The House of Mirth | 447 | |
What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism? | 447 | |
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Selected Bibliography | 459 | |
A Psychoanalytic Perspective: The Daughter's Dilemma: Psychoanalytic Interpretation and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth | 464 | |
Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms | 483 | |
About the Contributors | 497 |