Edith Wharton and the Politics of Race

by Jennie A. Kassanoff

Overview

Edith Wharton feared that the 'ill-bred', foreign and poor would overwhelm a native American elite. Drawing on a range of turn-of-the-century social documents, unpublished archival material and all of Wharton's novels, Jennie A. Kassanoff argues that a more accurate picture of her appreciation of American culture and democracy develops through less engagement with these controversial views. She pursues her theme by documenting Wharton's spirited participation in turn-of-the-century discourses ranging from euthanasia and tourism to pragmatism and Native Americans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521830898
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/16/2004
Series:	Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture , #143
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.42(w) x 9.33(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

Jennie A. Kassanoff is Assistant Professor of English at Barnard College in New York. Her articles have appeared in Arizona Quarterly and PMLA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Invaders and Aborigines: playing Indian in the Land of Letters; 2. 'The real Lily Bart': staging race in The House of Mirth; 3. 'A close corporation': the body and the machine in The Fruit of the Tree; 4. The Age of Experience: pragmatism, the Titanic and The Reef; 5. Charity begins at home: Summer and the erotic tourist; 6. Coda: The Age of Innocence and the Cesnola controversy; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Kassanoff not only offers a penetrating look at cultural influences on Wharton and her novels, but also writes with eloquence and conviction. This relevant and unique book has much to offer. Essential." D.D. Knight, SUNY College at Cortland, CHOICE

"This relevant and unique book has much to offer. Essential." Choice

From the Publisher