On “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton *****

Another work about the hypocrisy and shallowness of New York high society in the Gilded Age. This time the main character is Newland Archer, a young man born into wealth who is tired of the stodginess and predictability of the New York scene and its close-minded and often superficial morality. He is engaged to May Welland, but as the novel opens he finds himself drawn to her cousin Ellen Olenska, a gal of uncertain means who married a rich European count and who has left him and returned to New York. She is, as such, due to be shunned by most, but Archer shows her favor and gets her integrated into the New York society, despite being a near divorcee (she never does actually divorce the man).

Men, in turn, are drawn to her and spend much time with her. Archer is himself drawn to her as well, and she to him. But Archer is engaged, and when given the chance to break off the engagement, as his soon-to-be wife suspects his heart lies elsewhere, he insists that is not the case and goes through with the marriage—ahead of schedule. And then the dalliances with Olenska begin and continue.

I cannot much stand Archer. He is a rogue. And the more he falls “in love” with Olenska, the more respect for him I lose. I have a hard time seeing what Ellen sees in him. He seems a desperate man, one so certain of what he wants that he schemes various ways to desert his devoted but dull and dull-thinking wife. Olenska represents both a debauched old Europe and new ways of thinking, and Archer wants that.

May is not without knowledge of what's going on, and she schemes various ways to keep her husband.

Spoilers from here: Eventually May becomes a mom, which puts a death knell on Archer's plans to run away. Ellen, though she “loves” Archer seems to be doing her best, in the later parts of the novel, to stay away from him out of duty to her cousin, even as Archer continues to thrust himself at her.

Who are we to sympathize with? One feels like Archer is supposed to represent some new and better and more genuine way of thinking, but if that is actually better, it seems awfully selfish. Ellen, by contrast, comes across as a decent but flawed woman. May, to me, seems the genuine hero. Like all three characters, she's trapped by and in the moorings of the society of her day, but even so, she does her best to be loyal. Archer eventually succumbs also, becoming a family man and giving up his dream of Ellen. In the end, after his wife dies, while he is still relatively young (fifty-seven), he returns to Europe and has a chance to reunite with Ellen. There's a passage where the narrator says that Ellen is waiting for him and has been. Since most of the novel is from Archer's point of view, it's a bit uncertain whether this is his viewpoint or a third-person omniscient voice intruding (as it does from time to time). The important thing, however, is that Archer opts not to pursue her. He's “old fashioned.” He can't have his great love. Or maybe, he has it—because he notes that he'd rather have the dream and memories than the reality, which of course may not prove to be as great. But if that is an omniscient narrator, Archer is once more focusing on his own wishes and desires more than any other person's needs.