2001, ISBN: 9780192840615

US: Oxford University Press, 2001. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine re… Meer...

US: Oxford University Press, 2001. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Edith Wharton's satiric anatomy of American society in the first decade of the twentieth century appeared in 1913; it both appalled and fascinated its first reviewers, and established her as a major novelist. The Saturday Rev iew wrote that she had "assembled as many detestable people as it is possible to pack between the covers of a six-hundred page novel," but concl uded that the book was "brilliantly written," and "should be read as a para ble." It follows the career of Undine Spragg, recently arrived in New York from t he Midwest and determined to conquer high society. Glamorous, selfish, merc enary and manipulative, her principal assets are her striking beauty, her t enacity, and her father's money. With her sights set on an advantageous marriage, Undine pursues her schemes in a world of shifting values, where t riumph is swiftly followed by disillusion. Wharton was recreating an environment she knew intimately, and Undine's education for social success is chronicled in meticulous detail. The novel superbly captures the world of post-Civil War America, as ruthless in its social ambitions as in its business and politics., Oxford University Press, 2001, 3<

2001, ISBN: 9780192840615

Oxford University Press, USA, 2001-01-11. Paperback. Good., Oxford University Press, USA, 2001-01-11, 2.5