The Age of Innocence

It is a well-known dilemma in literature: a man between two women. If he chooses the one he loves, he loses family, reputation, wealth. If he makes a "reasonable" choice, he loses the love of his life. Edith Wharton traces some forty years in the life of Newland Archer, a wealthy New York lawyer: how he vacillates, doubts, suffers, and how he ultimately lets circumstances decide his life. In the process, she discusses opposing positions: for example, that love and passion can be dangerous forces, with the power to disrupt social order. On the other hand, however, she lays out in great detail and with relish the dubious nature of that order. With the caveat that not everyone is made for a life of freedom. The majority of her female characters, for example, are not. Gröls Classics - English Edition