The Age Of Innocence

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
by Edith Wharton

Award: Pulitzer Winner 1921

 Dates Read: January 23, 2007 & May 29, 2017

 The Age Of Innocence is yet another novel so good, I read it twice. Wharton, notably, was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Go, girl!
The Age Of Innocence tells the story of Newland Archer and recently engaged to the beautiful May Welland. His world is thrown upside down by the arrival of May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. Newly returned to America after separating from her husband, Countess Olenska shocks the New York aristocracy with her revealing clothes, carefree manners, and rumors of adultery. Because the Countess's family, headed by the powerful Mrs. Manson Mingott, have chosen to reintroduce her into good society, Archer and May feel it necessary to befriend her. Archer begins to appreciate her unconventional views on New York society, while becoming increasingly disillusioned with May and the world of artifice she has created through societal relations. After a declaration of love to the Countess, Archer ultimately decides to honor his commitment to his wife and spends 25 years with May, raising 3 children.

The most haunting scene of this novel, for me, is the ending where Newland has the impossible opportunity to see Ellen again in Paris after 26 years. He sends his son up to see her, while he remains downstairs and eventually leaves, deciding about their long ago, ill-fated romance "It's more real to me here than if I went up." There is so much truth in this sentiment - regardless of what happens upstairs, he will comparing and rating it to the past and the decision he made so long ago.

I loved this novel and as I get older, appreciate these novels of what was once considered the "Gilded-Age" of society even more. I also love the title's implications that what is deemed innocent on the outside is anything but on the inside and how stifling social decorum and expectations can be. I have no doubt I will revisit this novel again and again.

 Ranked #58 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels.

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