Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth A C AS E BOO K casebooks in criticism EDITH WHARTON’S The House of Mirth J J J A C A S E B O O K Edited by Carol J. Singley 1 2003 1 Oxford NewYork Auckland Bangkok BuenosAires CapeTown Chennai DaresSalaam Delhi HongKong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜oPaulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright(cid:1) 2003 by OxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData EdithWharton’sThehouseofmirth:acasebook/editedby CarolJ.Singley. p.cm.—(Casebooksincriticism) Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN0-19-515602-1;0-19-515603-X(pbk.) 1. Wharton,Edith,1862–1937Houseofmirth. 2. Socialclassesin literature. 3. Singlewomeninliterature. I. Singley,CarolJ.,1951– II.Series. PS3545.H16H68332003 813'.52—dc21 2003001074 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper Credits Benstock, Shari. “‘The Word Which Made All Clear’: The Silent CloseofTheHouseofMirth,”inFamousLastWords:ChangesinGender and Narrative Closure, ed. Allison Booth. Charlottesville: Uni- versity of Virginia Press, 1993. 230–58. Reprinted with per- mission of the University Press of Virginia. Dimock, Wai Chee. “Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth.” PMLA 100 (October 1985): 783–92. Reprinted by permission of the Modern Language Association of Amer- ica. Gair, Christopher. “The Crumbling Structure of ‘Appearances’: Representation and Authenticity in The House of Mirth and The Custom of the Country.” Modern Fiction Studies 43.2 (1997): 349–73. (cid:1) Purdue Research Foundation. Reprinted by permission of the Johns Hopkins University Press. Goldman-Price, Irene C. “The “Perfect Jew” and The House of Mirth: A Study in Point of View.” Modern Language Studies 23.2 (spring 1993): 25–36. Kaplan, Amy. “Crowded Spaces in The House of Mirth.” The Social vi Credits Construction of American Realism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. 88–103. Kassanoff, Jennie. “Extinction, Taxidermy, Tableaux Vivants:Stag- ing Race and Class in The House of Mirth.” PMLA 115 (January 2000): 60–74. Reprinted by permission of the Modern Lan- guage Association of America. Lidoff, Joan. “Another Sleeping Beauty: Narcissism in The House of Mirth.” American Quarterly 32 (winter 1980): 518–39. (cid:1) The American StudiesAssociation.Reprintedbypermissionofthe Johns Hopkins University Press. Merish,Lori.“EngenderingNaturalism:NarrativeFormandCom- modity Spectacle in U.S. Naturalist Fiction.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction 29 (spring 1996): 319–45. Copyright NOVEL Corp. (cid:1) 1996. Reprinted with permission. Showalter, Elaine. “The Death of the Lady (Novelist): Wharton’s House of Mirth.” Representations 9 (winter 1985): 133–49. (cid:1) 1985 by The Regents of the University of California. Wagner-Martin, Linda. From The House of Mirth: A Novel of Admo- nition. Twayne’s Masterwork Studies. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990. 1–11; 30–40. Reprinted by permission of the Gale Group. Wharton, Edith. A Backward Glance. New York: Appleton-Century, 1934. 206–8. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Edith Wharton and the Watkins/Loomis Agency. Wharton,Edith.IntroductiontoTheHouseofMirth.Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1936. v–xi. Reprinted by permission of Ox- ford University Press. Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. “Lily Bart and the Drama of Femininity.” American Literary History 6.1 (spring 1994): 71–87. By permission of Oxford University Press. Contents Introduction 3 carol j. singley A Backward Glance 27 edith wharton Introduction to the 1936 Edition of The House of Mirth 31 edith wharton The Death of the Lady (Novelist): Wharton’s House of Mirth 39 elaine showalter Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth 63 wai chee dimock Crowded Spaces in The House of Mirth 85 amy kaplan viii Contents The House of Mirth: A Novel of Admonition 107 linda wagner-martin “The Word Which Made All Clear”: The Silent Close of The House of Mirth 131 shari benstock The “Perfect Jew” and The House of Mirth: A Study in Point of View 163 irene c. goldman-price Another Sleeping Beauty: Narcissism in The House of Mirth 181 joan lidoff Lily Bart and the Drama of Femininity 209 cynthia griffin wolff Engendering Naturalism: Narrative Form and Commodity Spectacle in U.S. Naturalist Fiction 229 lori merish The Crumbling Structure of “Appearances”: Representation and Authenticity in The House of Mirth and The Custom of the Country 271 christopher gair Extinction, Taxidermy, Tableaux Vivants: Staging Race and Class in The House of Mirth 299 jennie a. kassanoff Selected Bibliography 331 Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth A C AS E BOO K