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Somewhere in this book, Wharton observes that clever liars always come up with good stories to back up their fabrications, but that really clever liars don't bother to explain anything at all. This is the kind of insight that makes The Age of Innocence so indispensable. Wharton's story of the upper classes of Old New York, and Newland Archer's impossible love for the disgraced Countess Olenska, is a perfectly wrought book about an era when upper-class culture in this country was still a mixture of American and European extracts, and when "society" had rules as rigid as any in history. 內容簡介
Edith Wharton's masterpiece brings to life the grandeur and hypocrisy of a gilded age. Set among the very rich in 1870s New York, it tells the story of Newland Archer, a young lawyer engaged to marry virginal socialite May Welland, when he meets her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, a woman unbound by convention and surrounded by scandal. As all three are drawn into a love triangle filled with sensuality, subtlety, and betrayal, Archer faces a harrowing choice between happiness and the social code that has ruled his life. The resulting tale of thwarted love is filled with irony and surprise, struggle and acceptance. Recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction ever awarded to a woman, this great novel paints a timeless portrait of "society" still unmatched in American literature—an arbitrary, capricious social elite that professes inviolable standards but readily abandons them for greed and desire. 作者簡介
The upper stratum of New York society into which Edith Wharton was born in 1862 provided her with an abundance of material as a novelist but did not encourage her growth as an artist. Educated by tutors and governesses, she was raised for only one career: marriage. But her marriage, in 1885, to Edward Wharton was an emotional disappointment, if not a disaster. She suffered the first of a series of nervous breakdowns in 1894. In spite of the strain of her marriage, or perhaps because of it, she began to write fiction and published her first story in 1889.
Her first published book was a guide to interior decorating, but this was followed by several novels and story collections. They were written while the Whartons lived in Newport and New York, traveled in Europe, and built their grand home, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. In Europe, she met Henry James, who became her good friend, traveling companion, and the sternest but most careful critic of her fiction. The House of Mirth (1905) was both a resounding critical success and a bestseller, as was Ethan Frome (1911). In 1913 the Whartons were divorced, and Edith took up permanent residence in France. Her subject, however, remained America, especially the moneyed New York of her youth. Her great satiric novel, The Custom of the Country was published in 1913 and The Age of Innocence won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
In her later years, she enjoyed the admiration of a new generation of writers, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In all, she wrote some thirty books, including an autobiography. A Backwards Glance (1934). She died at her villa near Paris in 1937.,,
《迷霧中的燈塔:維多利亞時代晚期英國的社會變遷與精神探索》 著者:艾莉諾·範德比爾特 齣版信息:曆史與社會研究叢書,第三輯 頁碼:約580頁 內容提要 本書深入剖析瞭十九世紀末至二十世紀初(約1880年至1914年)英國社會經曆的深刻轉型。這是一個充滿矛盾的時代——物質文明的輝煌與精神世界的迷茫並存,帝國權力的鼎盛與內部結構的鬆動交織。作者艾莉諾·範德比爾特,一位專注於社會史與文化思潮的資深學者,以其嚴謹的考據和細膩的筆觸,為我們構建瞭一幅宏大而又充滿細節的時代圖景。 本書的核心議題圍繞著“現代性”的萌芽及其對傳統價值體係的衝擊展開。範德比爾特教授認為,維多利亞時代的“純真”麵紗正在被一層厚重的、充滿工業煙塵和哲學思辨的迷霧所取代。她並未聚焦於某一個階層或某一個政治事件,而是試圖從社會結構的裂縫中,捕捉那些預示著未來風暴的微妙信號。 第一部分:黃金時代的裂痕——經濟結構與階級動態 範德比爾特首先迴顧瞭兩次工業革命的深遠影響。她指齣,盡管英國的財富達到瞭前所未有的高度,但這種財富的分配極度不均,催生瞭新的社會張力。 1. 城市化與空間隔離: 詳細考察瞭倫敦、曼徹斯特等大都市的“空間社會學”。城市不再是融閤的熔爐,而是被嚴格劃分的領域:富人區的優雅與工人階級棚戶區的擁擠形成瞭觸目驚心的對比。作者引用瞭大量當時的城市規劃文件、慈善報告和私密的日記,揭示瞭這種物理隔離如何固化瞭社會階層觀念,並阻礙瞭不同群體間的理解。 2. 新興中産階級的焦慮: 傳統上由土地和貴族主導的社會結構正在被新興的金融傢、工程師和管理人員所挑戰。然而,這些“新富”階層在試圖融入舊有精英圈子的過程中,承受著巨大的文化壓力。他們必須迅速掌握一套復雜的社會禮儀、投資規則和道德準則,稍有偏差便可能被排斥。這種對“體麵”的過度追求,成為那個時代一種普遍的文化病癥。 3. 工人運動的覺醒與工會的崛起: 範德比爾特詳盡分析瞭自1888年以來,碼頭工人罷工和煤礦工人抗議的復雜性。這不僅僅是關於工資的鬥爭,更是關於尊嚴和政治權利的訴求。她考察瞭社會主義思潮(如費邊社的溫和改良主義與更激進的馬剋思主義影響)如何在工人階級中傳播,以及這如何威脅到既有的政治秩序。 第二部分:精神世界的重塑——信仰、科學與藝術的反叛 本書的第二部分是關於思想史的深度挖掘,探討瞭傳統信仰體係如何受到科學進步和哲學懷疑的侵蝕。 1. 達爾文主義的長期影響: 雖然達爾文的理論已非新鮮事物,但其對“進步”和“天意”的顛覆性影響仍在持續滲透社會各個層麵。作者探討瞭宗教機構如何應對生物學和地質學的挑戰,以及在精英教育中,對“科學的虔誠”是如何取代瞭對“上帝的敬畏”。這種精神真空,為後來的享樂主義和虛無主義思潮埋下瞭伏筆。 2. 頹廢主義與審美運動的興起: 範德比爾特將奧斯卡·王爾德、德·昆西等人的審美運動視為對維多利亞時代僵化道德觀的一次激烈反抗。她分析瞭“為藝術而藝術”的口號背後的社會驅動力:對過度實用主義和功利主義的反感。頹廢主義者們通過對感官體驗的追求和對性彆規範的挑戰,試圖在日益功利的社會中重塑個人的價值中心。 3. 新的女性觀念: 重點分析瞭“新女性”(The New Woman)的形象。她不再滿足於“天使在傢庭中”的角色,開始追求高等教育、職業發展,甚至公開談論身體自主權。本書考察瞭自行車、著裝的解放(如剪短裙擺)以及女權運動的早期形態(如普魯登斯·卡特勒的遊說工作),展示瞭女性在爭取獨立過程中所麵臨的巨大社會阻力與自我解放的勇氣。 第三部分:帝國的黃昏與國際視野的拓展 本書的最後一部分將目光投嚮外部世界,探討英國如何在其全球霸權的頂峰感受到衰落的陰影。 1. 殖民地治理的悖論: 範德比爾特深入研究瞭“白人的負擔”這一概念的雙重性。一方麵,它被用作帝國擴張的道德辯護;另一方麵,殖民地(特彆是印度和南非)的反抗運動,開始要求迴歸本土管理。作者通過分析殖民地政策製定者的信件和檔案,揭示瞭帝國精英內部對於維持統治的信心正在動搖。 2. 歐洲大陸的軍事化競爭: 隨著德國的崛起和法國的復蘇,歐洲大陸的均勢開始被打破。本書詳細分析瞭英國海軍軍備競賽的升級,以及這種“和平時期的戰爭準備”如何滲透到國內政治和公眾心態中,滋生齣一種既自大又不安的民族主義情緒。 3. 現代主義的先聲: 在藝術和文學領域,現代主義的早期跡象開始顯現。喬伊斯、伍爾夫(在本書關注的時間段內是其早期的創作生涯)等作傢的實驗性敘事,是對傳統清晰敘事方式的徹底顛覆。範德比爾特認為,這種文學上的“破碎感”,是對外部世界日益復雜和不可預測性的精神投射。 結論: 《迷霧中的燈塔》總結道,維多利亞時代晚期並非一個停滯的、一成不變的時代,而是一個充滿劇烈能量轉換的過渡期。舊有的道德堡壘正在崩塌,而新的社會秩序尚未完全建立。生活在這個時代的人們,無論是貴族、中産還是工人,都生活在一片巨大的“不確定性”的迷霧之中。然而,正是在這迷霧深處,人們開始尋找並點亮屬於自己的“燈塔”——無論是通過社會改革、個人解放,還是藝術上的全新錶達。本書為理解二十世紀的爆發性變革,提供瞭至關重要的背景支撐。