New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-10-07
Literary NesOS and Criticism

composition. Ethan Frome" is a study
In prosaic realism. kindred in substance
and atmosphere TO the type Of story
made popular by Mary E. Wilkins. but
developed with an individual touch. II
Is very like Mrs. Wharton In style. and
though the squalid theme-persistently
soualid despite the tragic drift Of the
narratives IN sharp contrast with the
motives usually chosen by this author.
II excites no lasting surprise. A writer
Of her versatility may naturally enough
be expected 10 challenge. sooner or later,
almost any school. But in one respect
Mrs. Wharton exhibits her art at new
angle This book has an emotional
depth and force rarely disclosed in her
work.
1t is a painful story. and is, perhaps.
unnecessarily so. for It IS hard TO see
why Ethan Frome's pitiful drama could
not have been given its full value with
out the piIing OF one ugly detail upon
another. until compassion is very nearly
swamped in disgust Mrs Wharton has
always been skilled IN the art OF onis-
sion. but on this occasion her resolution
TO clothe her hero in black misery has
robbed her judgment OF its wonted
poise. Ethan is cursed with a sick and
whining wife and we are spared not the
last single shade OF her appalling IN
loneliness. We are shown Zeena Frome
asleep. her mouth slightly open, her
false teeth in a tumbler by the bed; we
hear about her shooting pains and her
stomach powders, and in order that we
may grasp to the full the saturation OF
her home life in a dreadful invalidism
we are offered passages like this:
Zeena made no reply; she did not seem
% hear what he had said. She had already
pushed her plate aside. and was measuring
out a draft from large bottle at her
elbow
1T ain't done me a speck Of good. but I
guess I might as well use II up she re-
marked: adding, as she pushed the empty
taste out It'll do for pickles
The trail Of pickles and patent medi-
cines IS over the whole book. injecting
its very grain and constantly threaten
ing 20 degrade Ethan Frone's life his
tory. II is the sincere emotion TO which
we have already referred that saves the
day. Though Mrs. Wharton has over
cone the "documenting' Of her hero's
purgatory, sacrificing art 70 truth, which
is almost Il not quite as dangerous as
sacrificing truth TO art. she has not OK
aggerated the cruelty OF Ethan fate.
-ha rt-i#k a
thentic strokes. Ethan's WEAKNESS Of
his wife the isolation OF his soul and the
repression Of his passion. the inevitable
growth OF his love for Matte Silver and
the blasting irony OF what follows upon
their rebellion against circumstance-all
these elements in the piece are so poig-
nantly handled that. in the end, repulsion
Yields TO sympathy. Under the stress Of
nationally evoked feeling we come near
20 forgetting the abhorrent Zeena. In
this friendIier mood. too, we note the
fidelity and the charm OF Mrs. Wharton S
landscapes. the cIairvoyance with which
she has caught the sentiment and the
beauty OF her chill New England coun-
tryside. The book is not or the whole,
successful The excess Of detail-and we
speak here not Of distasteful detail alone
-dislocates the balance OF a tale which
because Of its tragic import. peculiarly
calls for unity and simplicity. But in
the things that 60 70 make fiction hui
man Mrs. Wharton has never been
richer than IN this instance