The House of Mirth
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| Author | Edith Wharton |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Charles Schibner's Sons |
| Released | 14 October 1905 |
The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by Edith Wharton. It is centered on Lily Bart, a New York socialite who attempts to secure a husband and a place in affluent society. It was one of the first novels of manners to emerge in American literature.
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[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
The title is taken from Ecclesiastes 7:4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
[edit] Plot summary
Of all of Wharton's best-known novels, The House of Mirth seems the most tragic. The heroine, who is far from stupid, is so bound-up in her rigid principles, that she flatly refuses to grab hold of the virtual life-rafts thrown to her. Her lawyer friend, Lawrence Selden, would gladly have married her, but she thought him not rich enough. When Bertha Dorset's husband asks for her help in a proposed divorce suit against his wife by reason of infidelity, Lily coldly stands aside, uninvolved. Had the trial gone forward, she might have become his second wife. A wealthy and doting Mr. Gryce, evidently taken with her, is impetuously snubbed as she decides not to meet him at church. Compelled by her reverence for honesty, in a disastrous move she admits her gambling debts to her dour and snippy Aunt Julia, who then disinherits her. Having repeatedly refused the help of her powerful friends, she alienates them all and is forced to seek increasingly menial and disreputable (i.e. proletarian) work, at which she is a failure. Eventually, having discharged her debt to the husband of one of her friends (after her aunt left her the exact sum that she owed, instead of the large inheritance that she once expected) she dies of an overdose of a sleeping draught to which she has become addicted.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A 1906 stage adaptation was written by Clyde Fitch. A 1918 film version was directed by Albert Capellani and starred Katherine Harris Barrymore as Lily Bart. A 2000 film version was directed by Terence Davies and starred Gillian Anderson as Bart.
[edit] External links
- The House of Mirth, available freely at Project Gutenberg
- The House of Mirth (1918) at the Internet Movie Database
- The House of Mirth (2000) at the Internet Movie Database
