Modern and Contemporary Literature

We will read and discuss Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (ISBN 978-0-14-313721-4). Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, 2022. Custom of the Country was originally published in 1913 in serial form. Sophia Cuppola wrote in the forward, “Until I read it I had never met a literary character quite like Undine Spragg, nor encountered such an in-depth portrait of a classic antiheroine. Wharton looks at what we desire and what ultimately satisfies us.” Wharton explores wealth in Old New York and France and skewers capitalist acquisitiveness. She uses compassion, frankness and humor in her satire, while unveiling the motivations and lack of self-awareness at the end of the gilded age. The climb to the top of the social ladder was not so different in its methods and aspirations as what is promoted today. It is no accident that Undine Spragg’s initials are U.S.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born Edith Newbold Jones. Her family is where we get “keeping up with the Joneses.” Living in both New York and France she was a keen observer of class and material ambition on both sides of the Atlantic. She had wealth and talent, but knew from her own complicated personal life that money and position did not necessarily bring happiness.

October 1: Book I, pages 3-89

October 15: Book II, pages 93-199

October 29: Book III, pages 203-277. Book IV, pages 281-315

November 12: Book V, pages 319-394