num_pages: 431
description: An immensely popular bestseller upon its publication in 1905, The House of Mirth was Edith Wharton’s first great novel. Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and opulent country houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novel creates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called “a society of irresponsible pleasure-seekers” with a precision comparable to that of Proust. And her brilliant and complex characterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty and dependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to a decorative object, becomes an incisive commentary on the nature and status of women in that society. From her tragic attraction to bachelor lawyer Lawrence Selden to her desperate relationship with social-climbing Rosedale, Lily is all too much a product of the world indicated by the title, a phrase taken from “The heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” For it is Lily’s very specialness that threatens the elegance and fulfillment she seeks in life. Along with the author’s other masterpiece, The Age of Innocence , this novel claims a place among the finest American novels of manners.
language: English
title: The House of Mirth
titlecomplete: The House of Mirth (Bantam Classics)
characters: Gus Trenor, Simon Rosedale, George Dorset, Lily Bart, Lawrence Selden, Bertha Dorset, Carry Fisher, Julia Peniston, Gerty Farish, Percy Gryce, Judy Trenor, Lily Bart, Lawrence Selden, Simon Rosedale, Judy Trenor, Gus Trenor, Percy Gryce, Bertha Dorset, George Dorset, Gerty Farish, Ju
genres: Fiction, Historical, American, Classic Literature, Literature, Classics, Novels, New York, Historical Fiction, 20th Century
ratings_count: 95502
places: New York (State), New York City, New York
publisher: Bantam Classic