Ethan Frome (Signet Classics)

Synopsis

A Marked Departure From Edith Wharton's Usual Ironic Contemplation Of The Fashionable New York Society To Which She Herself Belonged, Ethan Frome Is A Sharply Etched Portrait Of The Simple Inhabitants Of A Nineteenth-century New England Village. The Protagonist, Ethan Frome, Is A Man Tormented By A Passionate Love For His Ailing Wife's Young Cousin. Trapped By The Bonds Of Marriage And The Fear Of Public Condemnation, He Is Ultimately Destroyed By That Which Offers Him The Greatest Chance At Happiness. Like The House Of Mirth And Many Of Edith Wharton's Other Novels, Ethan Frome Centers On The Power Of Local Convention To Smother The Growth Of The Individual. Written With Stark Simplicity, This Powerful And Tragic Novel Has Long Been Considered One Of Wharton's Greatest Works. Set Against The Bleak Winter Landscape Of New England, Ethan Frome Tells The Story Of A Poor Farmer, Lonely And Downtrodden, His Wife Zeena, And Her Cousin, The Enchanting Mattie Silver. In The Playing Out Of This Short Novel's Powerful And Engrossing Drama, Edith Wharton Constructed Her Least Characteristic And Most Celebrated Book. In Its Unyielding And Shocking Pessimism, Its Bleak Demonstration Of Tragic Waste, It Is A Masterpiece Of Psychological And Emotional Realism. Edith Wharton ; With A Foreword By Anita Shreve. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 158-160).