Memorial boxes and guarded interiors : Edith Wharton and material culture / edited by Gary Totten.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Totten, Gary.

Orlando, Emily J. (Emily Josephine), 1969-

Barlowe, Jamie, 1943-

Wilson-Jordan, Jacqueline.

Roffman, Karin.

Duvall, J. Michael.

Watts, Linda S.

Zak, Deborah.

Bennett, Lyn.

Shepherd, Jennifer.

Sapora, Carol.

Series:

Amer Lit Realism & Naturalism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937--Criticism and interpretation.

Wharton, Edith.

American literature.

Material culture in literature.

Local Subjects:

American literature.

Material culture in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2014.

Summary:

In Edith Wharton's works, references to architecture, interior decoration, painting, sculpture, and fashion abound. As these essays demonstrate, art and objects are for Wharton evidence of cultural belief and reflect the values, assumptions, and customs of the burgeoning consumer culture in which she lived and about which she wrote. Furthermore, her meditations about issues of architecture, design, and decoration serve as important commentaries on her vision of the literary arts. In The Decoration of Houses she notes that furniture and bric-à-brac are often crowded into a room in order to com

Contents:

Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction: Edith Wharton and Material Culture / Gary Totten; I. Authority and Professionalism; 2. Presence and Professionalism: The Critical Reception of Edith Wharton / Lyn Bennett; 3. No Innocence in This Age: Edith Wharton''s Commercialization and Commodification / Jamie Barlowe; 4. Materializing the Word: The Woman Writer and the Struggle for Authority in ""Mr. Jones"" / Jacqueline Wilson-Jordan; II. The Body; 5. Picturing Lily: Body Art in ''The House of Mirth'' / Emily J. Orlando

6. Building the Female Body: Modern Technology and Techniques at Work in ''Twilight Sleep'' / Deborah J. ZakIII. Consumerism; 7. Fashioning an Aesthetics of Consumption in ''The House of Mirth'' / Jennifer Shepherd; 8. The Futile and the Dingy: Wasting and Being Wasted in ''The House of Mirth'' / J. Michael Duvall; IV. Interiors; 9. The Bachelor Girl and the Body Politic: The Built Environment, Self-Possession, and the Never-Married Woman in The House of Mirth / Linda S. Watts; 10. ""Use Unknown"": Edith Wharton, the Museum Space, and the Writer''s Work / Karin Roffman; V. Technology

11. The Machine in the Home: Women and Technology in ''The Fruit of the Tree'' / Gary Totten12. Undine Spragg, the Mirror and the Lamp in ''The Custom of the Country'' / Carol Baker Sapora; Works Cited; Contributors; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

0-8173-8882-6