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The mystery of how a wealthy New York socialite became a major American novelist is brilliantly explored in this fascinating critical biography, widely considered to be the most perceptive introduction to Edith Wharton's life and work. This new edition includes two chapters: one on Lily Bart and the lethal stereotypes of women on the nineteenth-century stage, and another on the way Wharton's own sensual awakening led from the frozen austerity of Ethan Frome to the lyricism and tempered happiness of Summer. Everyone who admires Wharton's novels or enjoys the films made from them will want to experience this superb biography.
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Reviews
"Fields powerful reading is richly seductive and melodic, but careful as well: she deftly shifts intonation slightly between Wharton and Wolff so that the reader never confuses the two. In the end, she reads a satisfying and scholarly portrait of the woman as artist."
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"Every eminent scholar relies upon A Feast of Words as the definitive psychological interpretation of Edith Wharton's life and work. Its importance has been phenomenal."
Kristin Olson Lauer, coauthor of Edith Wharton: An Annotated Secondary Bibliography