Memorial Boxes and Guarded Interiors: Edith Wharton and Material Culture (Studies in American Literary Realism and Naturalism)

In Edith Wharton’s works, references to architecture, interior decoration, painting, sculpture, and fashion abound. As these essays demonstrate, art and objects are for Wharton evidence of cultural belief and reflect the values, assumptions, and customs of the burgeoning consumer culture in which she lived and about which she wrote. Furthermore, her meditations about issues of architecture, design, and decoration serve as important commentaries on her vision of the literary arts. In __The Decoration of Houses__ she notes that furniture and bric-à-brac are often crowded into a room in order to compensate for a "lack of architectural composition in the treatment of the walls," and that unless an ornamental object "adequately expresses an artistic conception" it is better removed from the room. These aesthetic standards apply equally to her construction of narratives and are evidence of a sensibility that counters typical understandings of Wharton as a novelist of manners and place her instead as an important figure in the development of American literary modernism. Essays in this collection address issues such as parallels between her characters and the houses they occupy; dress as a metaphor for the flux of critical fashion; the marketing of Wharton's work to a growing female readership ; her relationship to mass culture industries such as advertising, theater, and cinema; the tableaux vivant both as set piece and as fictional strategy; the representation of female bodies as objets d’art; and her characters’ attempts at self-definition through the acquisition and consumption of material goods. All of Wharton’s major novels—__The House of Mirth, The Fruit of the Tree, Ethan Frome, The Custom of the Country, Summer, The Age of Innocence,__ and __Twilight Sleep__—as well as her short stories, criticism, and essays are explored. Gary Totten is Assistant Professor of English at North Dakota State University. His essays on Wharton and her contemporaries have appeared in American Indian Quarterly, American Literary Realism, College Literature, Dreiser Studies, and MELUS . American Writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937) Once Wrote In Harper's That She Wanted To Penetrate ... The Carefully Guarded Interior[s] Of Her Past Memories And Fashion Them Into A Little Memorial Like The Boxes Formed Of Exotic Shells Which Sailors Used To Fabricate Between Voyages. For Totten (english, North Dakota State U.) This Statement Is A Striking Reminder Of The Connections Between Material Objects And Cultural Meanings In Wharton's Life And Work. He Presents 11 Essays That Explore These Connections In A Variety Of Ways. Topics Include Critical Linkages Of Wharton To Materiality As A Means To Keep Her Outside The Canonical, Resistance To Commodification In The House Of Mirth, The Creation Of The Disposable Object And Wharton's Characters' Fears Of Their Disposability, Wharton's Ideas About The Use Of Museum Space In The Age Of Innocence, And The Effect Of Technology On Domestic Space In The Fruit Of The Tree. Introduction : Edith Wharton And Material Culture / Gary Totten -- Presence And Professionalism : The Critical Reception Of Edith Wharton / Lyn Bennett -- No Innocence In This Age : Edith Wharton's Commercialization And Commodification / Jamie Barlowe -- Materializing The Word : The Woman Writer And The Struggle For Authority In Mr. Jones / Jacqueline Wilson-jordan -- Picturing Lily : Body Art In The House Of Mirth / Emily J. Orlando -- Building The Female Body : Modern Technology And Techniques At Work In Twilight Sleep / Deborah J. Zak -- Fashioning An Aesthetics Of Consumption In The House Of Mirth / Jennifer Shepherd -- The Futile And The Dingy : Wasting And Being Wasted In The House Of Mirth / J. Michael Duvall -- The Bachelor Girl And The Body Politic : The Built Environment, Self-possession, And The Never-married Woman In The House Of Mirth / Linda S. Watts -- Use Unknown : Edith Wharton, The Museum Space, And The Writer's Work / Karin Roffman -- The Machine In The Home : Women And Technology In The Fruit Of The Tree / Gary Totten -- Undine Spragg, The Mirror And The Lamp In The Custom Of The Country / Carol Baker Sapora. Edited By Gary Totten. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [287]-301) And Index. In Edith Wharton’s works, references to architecture, interior decoration, painting, sculpture, and fashion abound. As these essays demonstrate, art and objects are for Wharton evidence of cultural belief and reflect the values, assumptions, and customs of the burgeoning consumer culture in which she lived and about which she wrote. Furthermore, her meditations about issues of architecture, design, and decoration serve as important commentaries on her vision of the literary arts. In The Decoration of Houses she notes that furniture and bric-à-brac are often crowded into a room in order to compensate for a "lack of architectural composition in the treatment of the walls," and that unless an ornamental object "adequately expresses an artistic conception" it is better removed from the room. These aesthetic standards apply equally to her construction of narratives and are evidence of a sensibility that counters typical understandings of Wharton as a novelist of manners and place her instead as an important figure in the development of American literary modernism. Essays in this collection address issues such as parallels between her characters and the houses they occupy; dress as a metaphor for the flux of critical fashion; the marketing of Wharton's work to a growing female readership ; her relationship to mass culture industries such as advertising, theater, and cinema; the tableaux vivant both as set piece and as fictional strategy; the representation of female bodies as objets d’art; and her characters’ attempts at self-definition through the acquisition and consumption of material goods. All of Wharton’s major novels— The House of Mirth, The Fruit of the Tree, Ethan Frome, The Custom of the Country, Summer, The Age of Innocence, and Twilight Sleep —as well as her short stories, criticism, and essays are explored. Gary Totten is Assistant Professor of English at North Dakota State University. His essays on Wharton and her contemporaries have appeared in American Indian Quarterly, American Literary Realism, College Literature, Dreiser Studies, and MELUS .