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4.0 out of 5 stars
Short stuff, Feb 4 2008
In a way, Edith Wharton was at her best in her novellas -- her stories are lean, taut and emotionally striking.
And the novellas "Ethan Frome, Summer, Bunner Sisters" brings together three of her most powerful novellas, elongated short stories that explore love, morality, betrayal, the conventions of the time in women's live, and poverty. They're not just fascinating, but beautifully written.
"The Bunner Sisters" is one of Wharton's darkest stories, in which two timid sisters run a small, failing shop together. When Ann Eliza gives Evalina a gifts, they both become involved with the mysterious man, Ramy, who sold it to her. Ann Eliza attempts to sacrifice money and happiness for her sister's happiness, but neither knows what Ramy is hiding from them, or how it will destroy their lives.
"Ethan Frome" is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.
"Summer" shocked the 1917 public, with its frank-for-its-time look at a young woman's sexual awakening. It takes place in the New England village of North Dormer, where the young librarian Charity lives. But when Charity falls in love with an upper-class young rake named Lucius, she finds herself pregnant and unmarried -- a destructive combination in the 1900s. There's only one respectable way out.
Edith Wharton gave unvarnished looks at social conventions throughout her career -- she doesn't judge, she just tells it how it was, whether she's talking about the Roaring 20s or the uptight Victorian era. Divorce was almost unthinkable, affairs scandalous if revealed, and women had the cards stacked against them in matters of love, marriage and sex.
So her works are even better when you set them in context, full of characters who were totally unlike her. Some were male, some timid and naive, some potentially disgraced, and some completely broken by society's dictates. Few of her characters are much like Wharton, but she gets inside their heads and makes them entirely believable.
Wharton's formal, often poetic writing style makes these stories all the richer. They're rich with light, smells, sounds and the swirl of nature, even in a city. But it's offset by the starkness of her stories -- if she took a hard look at hypocrises and social conventions, she didn't flinch from showing what happened to those that transgressed. It's realistic, but a bit depressing.
These three novellas are not easy reading -- each one is a powerful, harrowing story wrapped in Wharton's beautiful prose. Magnificent, but difficult.
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