Wharton
As part of my program of having a look at classic fiction, I've been reading Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. I just got to the end of part one, and I plan to renew it tomorrow, rather than return it to the city library. The characterization seems sharply defined, and the confrontation between the allegorically named Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska near the end of part one is quite dramatic, revealing both characters more sharply than before. I think the height of excellence in plot is to be at the same time surprising and inevitable, and Wharton has managed it.
In the opening of part two, I was amused to see an account of the persistence of archery as a sport for young ladies, when lawn-tennis is still considered a bit too vigorous. Kipling gives a very similar account in "Cupid's Arrows," included in his Plain Tales from the Hills, set in British India.
In the opening of part two, I was amused to see an account of the persistence of archery as a sport for young ladies, when lawn-tennis is still considered a bit too vigorous. Kipling gives a very similar account in "Cupid's Arrows," included in his Plain Tales from the Hills, set in British India.