Readers' Review: "Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-02-22/readers-review-ethan-frome-edith-wharton
Born into a life of wealth and privilege, American novelist Edith Wharton was known for her insider’s critiques of the upper class. But her 1911 novel, “Ethan Frome,” featured working-class characters who couldn’t have been more different from her usual subjects. The novel’s namesake is a poor farmer married to a domineering and sickly wife. When Ethan’s wife hires her young cousin as a housekeeper, Ethan falls hopelessly in love with her. The doomed romance set against a stark New England countryside became Wharton’s most widely-read novel. Join Diane and guests for a Readers’ Review of Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome.”
Guests
Meredith Goldsmith
professor of English, Ursinus College; vice president, The Edith Wharton Society
Lisa Page
president, PEN/Faulkner Foundation
John Pfordrescher
professor of English, Georgetown University
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Program Highlights
When Edith Wharton's novel "Ethan Frome" was first published in 1911, reviews were largely negative. Critics called the story cruel and violent and sales of the novel were dismal. Today, Edith Wharton's haunting tale of forbidden romance in a rural New England town is her most widely-read novel.
An Unusual Novel For Wharton
This was an unusual novel for Wharton. Her first novels, like "The House Of Mirth," are novels of "manners" and New York high society, said Goldsmith. But while living in New England, Wharton observed a lot of poverty. When living in Lenox, she found this story. She heard a story of a sledding accident in which one woman was killed and two others were severely injured, and she decided to use it as a germ for this novel, Goldsmith said. Wharton wanted to reverse the stereotypes of New Englanders that other writers had been perpetuating, which were a creation of a kinder, gentler, sanitized New England.
Wharton's Wealth
Wharton was very wealthy - one of the wealthiest women in New York in the mid-19th century. Her family came from the family from whom the term "keeping up with the Joneses" was coined, Goldsmith said. "Money is involved in this novel all the time," Pfordrescher said.
Relationships In The Book
Though Ethan's wife, Zeena, is essentially the villan of the story, she is also a little sympathetic, Page said. She sees the affection and love that is blossoming between Ethan and Mattie, a young girl who is sent to live with them who has nowhere else to go. "There's a struggle for dominance in this claustrophobic impoverished New England farmhouse where the two women and man sit all day, struggling against each other," Prordrescher said.
Wharton's Own Struggles
Wharton felt trapped in her marriage, Goldsmith said. She had suffered a breakdown, as had her husband, Teddy. The anonymous narrator of the novel is presumably male, Pfordrescher said, and seems to see the story from a very male perspective. "It would seem to me that there's a bit of Edith Wharton in all of her major characters, that I can see her in some ways as like Zeena because she had an unfaithful husband. I can see her as perhaps yearning to be the Mattie who would be sort of adored," Pfordrescher said.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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This is an incredibly vivid and moving book. I read it on a cold and snowy day last week and was so deeply affected that I don't know whether to thank you or curse you for the book choice! I'm hoping to recover enough to make it through your discussion.
"Ethan Frome" is on my Kindle as a free download. So when Diane announced the book as February's Reader' Review I was pleased to have the book so readily available. Prior to reading the book I had watched the performance of "Ethan Frome" on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. There is about 17 years between my watching the PBS performance and reading the book 2012. Reading the book made for a happy reunion. In addition, it made a wonderful bridge for what I remembered and a filler for the missing gaps. I now have an opinion of what the author Edith Wharton intended for her readers to know about the characters. The chapter of the book depicting the last "coasting" displayed the relationship between Mattie and Ethan as tender, intense, yet bounded. Despite the boundaries the relationship was yielding, romantic and stirred your imagination without becoming lewd and public. Finally, my views about the two women- Mattie & Zenna changed after reading the book. Yes, a recommeneded read.
I am a long time listener who is now living in the Middle East and I listen to the podcasts of your show. I read Ethan Frome when I heard it was going to be your next reader’s review. I had two questions and a comment for your guests: 1.) What is the significance of Edith Wharton’s choice to not disclose the gender of the narrator in the book? Mattie said she liked Ethan because he was nice to her, but Dennis was also nice to her. 2.) Why did she choose Ethan instead of Dennis when Dennis had a better future?
My comment; it is stated by the narrator that the cold weather was an external force affecting the inner lives of the characters, but I think the theme of disability is the external representation of inner turmoil of the characters. Some of us have inner turmoil but the world can’t see it. I think Wharton was using disability to show the readers the inner pain of these characters and of us all.
It may be worthwhile to bring to the attention of your listeners the fact that Ethan Frome was made into an opera in the 1950s by a modern composer, Douglas Allanbrook.
I happen to know this not because I'm an Edith Wharton fan, but because I am a friend of Allanbrook's son, John, who organized and conducted the recording of his father's opera several years ago.
Here's a link to the CD: http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/cds/07182.php
I read Ethan Frome as a teenager for high school and liked it then but really got so much more out of it as an adult. As a teen I thought it was soooo sad that Ethan and Maddie not escaping together. As an adult I realized life is so much more complicated.
Also, I think Zena relished in her role as caregiver after the accident. I could almost see her smirking as she took care of Maddie. She got the last laugh.
How is it we can say that young people are smart and then say they are not ready for the lessons taught by reading classic or contemporary literature. The idea of suicide has a possibility of tragic ending is realistic! Life does not always end "pretty" when you make foolish decisions. AND, young people will not like ALL authors...that's O.K. They can still learn even from that.
I find the idea that kids should read only things that matches their experience misguided. The purpose of literature is just that: to help us have access to experiences that we couldn't have, to imagine situations we couldn't imagine. But the beauty of it is that even in those unfamiliar (maybe depressing) experiences of fictional people, we can find a commonality. If we haven't experienced their pain and suffering yet, we will. Better to have some inkling of what is might be like.
It is absolutely essential for students to read classic and challenging literature for high school assignments. Without that exposure, most would never read such monuments to the printed word -- or any print, for that matter. Having a teacher guiding the reading, in fact TEACHING HOW to read such matter, may lead to elective, adult reading of great books.
On the other hand, teacher bragging rights have lead to presenting these pieces to younger and younger students, before they are mature enough to understand the concepts or characters: "My sixth-grade students read Julius Caesar!"
I read Ethan Frome in junior high (roughly 47 years ago)and loved it! I was and remain an avid reader, and did NOT find it depressing. I loved reading stories that were far from my very comfortable world. Children don't need protection from "depressing" literature. It's difficult to understand that point of view. Literature serves so many functions. It illuminates, educates, develops love for language and expression, and gives us a visceral experience of people and events that we would not be able to otherwise access. Fairy tales are pretty scary - children in ovens, babies falling out of cradles. Things don't always end well, but fairy tales are still told. Life is full of depressing events and unhappy endings. Reading provides opportunities for enlightenment, perspective and understanding of adverse events. Even more important, connection. How satisfying and wondrous to discover that a character so unlike oneself can have the very same feelings as the reader!
I have tead Ethan Frome 2 times. Once before seeing the movie with Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette + another well known actress as Zena. The day after watching the movie I read it again. Another author wrote a book entitled "Zena". I, personally, loved that book as well. It was like it gave closure to the pity(?) I felt for her and really enhanced my motto of: there are two sides to every story and THEN there is the truth. Edith Warton was a remarkable story teller. If you read her books at just the right time in your own life, they can have an impact on your own life's drama that we all carry with us on our journey here.....
This conversation about this book became a conversation considering if great literature, with arguably adult themes, should be taught to school age children. Many sanctimonious parents and teachers tout the incalcuable value of this.
As an adult I have great love for, and facility with, the examples mentioned; Wharton, Shakespeare , Dickens. I would like to advocate for my child self, however,and submit that I HATED being force fed and 'exposed' to this work as a child. I completely did not understand it, and I looking back felt as though I were in a concentration camp. The early exposure IN NO WAY influenced my adult perusal and appreciation for literature of this caliber
I have no doubt that many other children are , in fact, enriched by early literary experiences. I would like to see a future in which young children are more discernibly separated by maturity level and not force fed all the same diet, like cattle.
Oh my, I read this in High School. It most definitely made an impact on me since I remember it today (20+ years later). Like Charles Dickens, I think Wharton sees and underlining sadness in every choice we make. I think it was the first time I read a story and believed there can be no way out of a tragic life. Not a very encouraging message to a high school student :). Today, I know better.