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Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence was first published in 1920 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. The story is set in upper class New York City in the 1870s.

Plot Introduction

The Age of Innocence centers on one society couple's impending marriage and the introduction of a scandalized woman whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and mores of turn of the century New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for the earlier, more brutal and critical, "The House of Mirth". Not to be overlooked is the author's attention to detailing the charms and customs of this caste. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the nineteenth-century East Coast American upper class lived and this combined with the social tragedy earned Wharton a Pulitzer - the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. Edith Wharton was fifty-eight years-old at publication; she lived in that world, and saw it change dramatically by the end of World War I. The title is an ironic comment on the polished outward manners of New York society, when compared to its inward machinations.

(From Wikipedia, description text under GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL))

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