It is certainly true that Wharton "<i>could</i> have made use of moving away from" Archer's perspective. She did not, though. What do you think she would have gotten out of it? I see some big disadvantages. May and the other conspirators are obviously off-limits. Aren't they?
But then I don't think that <i>Mirth</i> is equally claustrophobic, but rather less. <i>Innocence</i> is set thirty years earlier in a smaller, more aristocratic, narrower society. And of course Bart is trying to <i>join</i>, where Archer is securely in it, trapped. It is not clear to me, either, that <i>Mirth</i> has more "movement," but you may be using that term differently than I do.
If what you want is a story from the point of view of someone <i>like</i> May or Olenska, I can strongly recommend Wharton's short fiction. She writes about a wide range of people.
I was thinking shifting focus to Ellen could have been an interesting choice, especially as the novel progresses and her outsider status becomes more pronounced (of course not once she travels to Europe). May becomes off-limits once she becomes a conspirator, but prior to that I think there is the possibility of giving her more of the spotlight.
You make a great point about the New Yorks of Mirth and Innocence being very different. In regards to Bart, she is trying to join but she still never has any problem gaining access to the parties and gatherings of the elite until everything begins to fall apart towards the end. They both are about self-preservation within the confines of New York's upper class, and it felt as if Wharton made more use of the variety of characters in Mirth which she did less so with Innocence. That's a essentially what I meant by "movement," and also that Mirth has the significant section that escapes New York entirely.
Of course this is all could have been musings directed at a completed work, but wanted to give voice to thoughts on my mind to try and figure out why Innocence just didn't quite connect with me in the same way as Mirth did. It is an impressive novel nonetheless.
Thank you for the recommendation! I'm planning to read The Custom of the Country next but then I have been intrigued by her short fiction (there's a great Backlisted podcast episode on a collection of her short ghost stories).
Tremendous. I am so excited for this project
Thanks man! Gonna be interesting figuring out what to do with it, haha.
It is certainly true that Wharton "<i>could</i> have made use of moving away from" Archer's perspective. She did not, though. What do you think she would have gotten out of it? I see some big disadvantages. May and the other conspirators are obviously off-limits. Aren't they?
But then I don't think that <i>Mirth</i> is equally claustrophobic, but rather less. <i>Innocence</i> is set thirty years earlier in a smaller, more aristocratic, narrower society. And of course Bart is trying to <i>join</i>, where Archer is securely in it, trapped. It is not clear to me, either, that <i>Mirth</i> has more "movement," but you may be using that term differently than I do.
If what you want is a story from the point of view of someone <i>like</i> May or Olenska, I can strongly recommend Wharton's short fiction. She writes about a wide range of people.
I was thinking shifting focus to Ellen could have been an interesting choice, especially as the novel progresses and her outsider status becomes more pronounced (of course not once she travels to Europe). May becomes off-limits once she becomes a conspirator, but prior to that I think there is the possibility of giving her more of the spotlight.
You make a great point about the New Yorks of Mirth and Innocence being very different. In regards to Bart, she is trying to join but she still never has any problem gaining access to the parties and gatherings of the elite until everything begins to fall apart towards the end. They both are about self-preservation within the confines of New York's upper class, and it felt as if Wharton made more use of the variety of characters in Mirth which she did less so with Innocence. That's a essentially what I meant by "movement," and also that Mirth has the significant section that escapes New York entirely.
Of course this is all could have been musings directed at a completed work, but wanted to give voice to thoughts on my mind to try and figure out why Innocence just didn't quite connect with me in the same way as Mirth did. It is an impressive novel nonetheless.
Thank you for the recommendation! I'm planning to read The Custom of the Country next but then I have been intrigued by her short fiction (there's a great Backlisted podcast episode on a collection of her short ghost stories).
Don't use html in Substack comments, I guess. I wonder if there is another way to use italics.
I'm not seeing a way, which is annoying. Even copy/pasting italicized text from my post reverted it back to regular font here.