The New York Stories of Edith Wharton

by Edith Wharton, Roxana Robinson (Introduction)

Edith Wharton wrote about New York as only a native can. Her Manhattan is a city of well-appointed drawing rooms, hansoms and broughams, all-night cotillions, and resplendent Fifth Avenue flats. Bishops’ nieces mingle with bachelor industrialists; respectable wives turn into excellent mistresses. All are governed by a code of behavior as rigid as it is precarious. What fascinates Wharton are the points of weakness in the structure of Old New York: the artists and writers at its fringes, the free-love advocates testing its limits, the widows and divorcées struggling to hold their own.

The New York Stories of Edith Wharton gathers twenty stories of the city, written over the course of Wharton’s career. From her first published story, “Mrs. Manstey’s View,” to one of her last and most celebrated, “Roman Fever,” this new collection charts the growth of an American master and enriches our understanding of the central themes of her work, among them the meaning of marriage, the struggle for artistic integrity, the bonds between parent and child, and the plight of the aged.

Illuminated by Roxana Robinson’s Introduction, these stories showcase Wharton’s astonishing insight into the turbulent inner lives of the men and women caught up in a rapidly changing society.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, New York, American, 20th Century, Literary Fiction

488 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Edith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.

Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.

Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.

Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.

Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.

Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.

Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.

In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.

Reviews

[Kevin Ansbro · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
— Edith Wharton


In this collection of short stories, Edith Wharton ploughs a furrow through the milieu of high society in early twentieth-century New York.
I must confess that I didn’t immediately warm to her ornamented, yet judicious, prose and at the onset likened her writing style to Oscar Wilde with the brakes on.
Happily, fickle fool that I am, I quickly became attuned to the tempo of her penmanship and was won over with ease. Wharton writes with precision and aplomb. Style-wise, I would compare her to Leo Tolstoy.
For me though, her secret superpower is that she has a psychologist's understanding of the capriciousness of the human condition and a "Miss Marple" eye for the truth. She is as fond of a moralistic tale as Aesop and almost all of entitled humanity is here: socialites, artists, writers, snobs, altruists and dowagers (the incomparable Bette Davis sprung to mind on more than one occasion).

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the author's polished social commentaries. She allows her characters to live for themselves in our minds, while they're not afforded the same freedom in their fictional lives.

@Laysee, whose wonderful review beguiled me and drew me to the book in the first place, cleverly noted that Wharton’s craft involved 'never telling, but showing'. This is so true. The author very often leaves room for ambiguity, using allusion to contrive a symbiotic relationship with the reader where they have to share the workload and fill in the dots.
There are many wonderful stories here, some that I vaingloriously thought I could see straight through, only to be proved completely wrong (which I like). The only misgiving I have is that there isn't much here in the way of variety (this is not the Heinz 57 of short stories). It does become somewhat repetitive after a while.

But, with writing this good, how could I award it anything but five stars?
Thank you, @Laysee, for introducing me to Edith Wharton! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And thank you, @Cecily, for being my buddy reader.

Cecily's magnificent review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This New York Review Books edition collects twenty classic Edith Wharton (1862-1937) short stories spanning the entire range of her writing career and also includes a most informative twenty-two page Introduction by Roxana Robinson, providing biographical detail and extensive social and cultural context for her fiction.

Reading through this collection was really my first exposure to the author and I must say I was quite taken not only with the clarity of the language, the subtle ways in which she developments her men and women and the sharp, nuanced observations as they engage in social interactions, but also the sheer power of her telling, most especially the manner in which the stories end. No wonder Edith Wharton is one of the most anthologized of American authors and several pieces in this collection are considered among the greatest short stories every written. Below are my comments on three of my favorites along with some concluding remarks by Roxana Robinson:

MRS. MANSTEY'S VIEW
“The view from Mrs. Manstey’s window was not a striking one, but to her at least it was full of interest and beauty.” So begins this tale, the very first Edith Wharton short story to appear in print. And what a story! I suspect nearly all of us have encountered what Nietzsche described as the “improvers of mankind,” the unending stream of land developers who tear out trees, shrubs, flowers and anything else standing in the way of “progress" - and that’s progress in the sense of more buildings, more houses, more roads, more of everything that can, among other virtues, add to that supreme virtue – money making!

Anyway, old, lonely Mrs. Manstey (her husband died and her daughter moved far away) is confronted with Mrs. Black’s plan to build a new multi-story extension thus blotting out the beautiful view Mrs. Manstey has enjoyed over the past many years at her window at the rear of her third floor apartment. The meeting and confrontation of Mrs. Manstey with Mrs. Black is so telling about the American economic mindset.

I’m sure the dynamics of money vs. community interests, including value placed on something as uneconomical as beauty and aesthetic appreciation has played itself out thousands of time since the publication of this short story. And what does Mrs. Manstey actually do to combat the extension? Never underestimate a lonely, old lady who is about to lose her one last connection to life and beauty!



THE REMBRANDT
A tale of conflicting values, where the unnamed narrator, one of the top purchasers for a leading New York museum, is forced to make hard decisions. Here he is during his first visit to the apartment of a Mrs. Fontage, an older lady desperately in need of money, considering selling her beloved Rembrandt picture: “The critical moment was upon me. To escape the challenge of Mrs. Fontage’s brilliant composure I turned once more to the picture. If my courage needed reinforcement, the picture amply furnished it. Looking at that lamentable canvas seemed the surest way of gathering strength to denounce it; but behind me, all the while, I felt Mrs. Fontage’s shuddering pride drawn up in a final effort of self-defense. I hated myself for my sentimental perversion of the situation. Reason argued that it was more cruel to deceive Mrs. Fontage than to tell her the truth; but that merely proved the inferiority of reason to instinct in situations involving any concession to the emotions.”

Mrs. Fontage is but one person in the equation. There is also Eleanor Copt, his cousin who introduced him to this lady in the first place, Eleanor’s rich friend and last but hardly least, Crozier, a key member of the museum’s influential committee. One of the most sophisticated stories you will ever read about weighing human emotions on one side and individual financial responsibility on the other.



ROMAN FEVER
A conversation between two lifelong friends, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, both older widows, both joining their daughters on holiday, as they sit outside on a terrace overlooking the city of Rome. At one point, Edith Wharton writes: “Yes; being the Slade’s widow was a dullish business after that. In living up to such a husband all her faculties had been engaged: now she has only her daughter to live up to, for the son who seemed to have inherited his father’s gifts had died suddenly in boyhood.”

Turns out, Mrs. Slade has something of an ax to grind, that is, she has a decided tendency to play the game of one-upmanship and she simply can’t check herself in establishing her superiority over her friend Mrs. Ansley. I wouldn’t want to say anything further about the story (it is simply too wonderful to spoil a reader's own experience); rather, I will note the more I read, the more I was pulled in. And the ending – no question, this must be one of the strongest ending sentences a short story writer has ever penned. Wow! What a phenomenal punch!



As a special tribute to Roxana Robinson's extraordinary Introduction, I’ll conclude with two of her quotes:

“She was deeply committed to the concept of a moral order, though she recognized the complexities implied by its rule. She used the world into which she was born – the inner circle of Old New York – to create her own unique and individual landscape, as all great writers do. Wharton’s characters are flawed and struggling, weak and noble, loving and heartless. Her New York is diverse, precise, and entirely her own. It is a place of beauty, complication, and authenticity.”

“The twenty stories collected here show Edith Wharton’s world as she knew it. They show the crystalline brilliance of her literary style; they show the intellectual reach and complexity of her mind. The show the courage, depth, and compassion of her heart. They show her to be one of our greatest short-story writers.”

[Kimber Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have again ventured into the Gilded Age of New York in the company of Edith Wharton, where Hansom cabs abound and high society ideals are the tight corsets that hold the upscale world together.
This collection of short stories was a joy to read and I won’t spoil the journey by delving into each tale. Instead, dear readers, I’ll highlight two of my favorites and leave the rest to you.

Mrs. Manstey’s View
"The view from Mrs. Manstey’s window was not a striking one, but to her at least it was full of interest and beauty."
A lovely scene is a wonderous thing, but when it is the only pleasure in one’s life and that bliss is suddenly threatened, you might need to hold on to your bonnet! Sweet Mrs. Manstey stole my heart, and I ached to reach into the pages to help her. I cheered when she stood up for herself and kept my fingers crossed that she would win the day. Winning, however, isn’t always what we imagine it to be…

The Rembrandt
"You’re so artistic," my cousin Eleanor Copt began.
"Of all Eleanor’s exordiums, it is the one I most dread. When she tells me I’m so clever I know this is merely the preamble to inviting me to meet the last literary obscurity of the moment…"
When our narrator’s cousin, Eleanor Copt, invites him to visit one of her latest causes - Mrs. Fontage, who has a Rembrandt in need of evaluation - the museum curator has little choice but to comply with the demands of his irrepressible relative.
"Eleanor is out in all weathers: the elements are as powerless against her as man… "
This amusing tale had me smiling from ear to ear as our soft-hearted narrator desperately scrambles to manage his cousin while trying to avoid offending Mrs. Fontage with his estimate of her painting. All attempts to delicately extricate himself are futile, and he digs himself a doozy of a hole…

Wharton’s writing is cinematic, her humor is on point, and while her stories are often bittersweet, I devoured them to the last crumb. I urge you to peek behind the curtain of New York’s crème de la crème. You’re sure to be entertained.

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty sparkling stories, shining a critical, satirical eye on NY society relationships in the first third of the 20th century. Wharton is an engaging storyteller who doesn’t over-explain or give trite, tidy, predictable endings. Eight 5*, seven 4*, and five 3*. There are similarities of themes and style, including echoes of Wilde. See my ‘Write Your Own Wharton’ HERE, which includes a brief bio.

Reviews, Ratings & Quotes

Hidden for brevity. Plot spoilers are nested in another spoiler tag.

Mrs Manstey’s View, 5*

“The view surrounded and shaped her life as the sea does a lonely island.”

An understated gem about finding and defending beauty where others don't even look. Mrs Manstey is an impoverished widow who rarely leaves her lodgings, but loves her “view in which the most optimistic eye would at first have failed to discover anything admirable”. Rear Window came to mind.

* “Patches of earth showed through the snow, like ink-spots spread on a sheet of white blotting paper.”
* “Wet and radiant, the blue reappeared through torn rags of cloud.”
* “The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered in the west.”

That Good May Come, 3*

An unengaging start to an exploration of ends and means: doing something bad so “that good may come”. Can dishonourably earned money be purified by being spent on higher things, or are those things, and their creator, tainted?

I preferred the writing and imagery to the story of two youngish men, trying to make it as writers, one supporting a widowed mother and teenage sister. The contrast of purity versus commerce is heightened by money being needed for a confirmation dress.

* “The raw, sunless daylight, mellowed by the jeweled opacity of stained-glass windows, fell with a caressing brilliance across the aisles, streaming the clustered shafts with heraldic emblazonments of gules and azure and leaving the intervening spaces swathed in a velvety dusk.”

The Portrait, 4*

Should a portrait be the ideal (“rose-water pastels”) or warts and all? Lillo infamously does the latter, but struggles with a known crook, who is idolised by his ever-present daughter. Should he paint what he sees, or what she sees? The disconnect between portrait and reality reminded me of Dorian Grey, despite no magical-realism.

* “Other painters do the surface - he does the depths; they paint the ripples on the pond, he drags the bottom.”
* “In the spreading light of reassurance that made her eyes like rainy dawn, I saw, with terrible distinctness, the rout of her disbanded hopes.”

A Cup of Cold Water, 5*

Exquisite, affectionate attention to the minutiae of NY society: a waspish examination of attitudes to money and marriage, wrapped a moral tale that is beautiful, tragic, and hopeful, without being sentimental.

Woburn is a modest young man with expensive tastes and high ambitions. He embezzles to pursue a high society marriage - a society he doesn’t really seem to approve of. Redemption comes by sacrificially helping another.

* “Lamps... blinked Narcissus-like at their watery images in the hollows of the sidewalk.”
* “Poverty might make a man fascinating; but a settled income was the best evidence of stability of character, If there was anything in heredity, how could a nice girl trust a man whose parents had been careless enough to leave him unprovided for?” (Lady Bracknell could have said that.)
* “Her ideas had the brilliant bloom and audacious irrelevance of those tropical orchids which strike root in air.”
* “The Freemasonry of failure” among the people on the street.
* “A waiter who had the melancholy air of being the last survivor of an exterminated race.”

A Journey, 5*

“The hours dragged on in a dreary inoccupation.”

A claustrophobic story of a literal and metaphorical journey. A couple are crushed by: illness transforming their recent marriage; the physical confines of a sleeper train; the need to be polite to well-intentioned strangers; and by terror of what's to come. The ambiguous ending was welcome release.

* “Their imperceptible estrangement… the conductivity between them was broken”, as if separated by a pane of glass.
* A teacher “forced innutritious facts upon reluctant children”.
* Newlyweds start with “prodigal confidence in an exhaustless future”.
* “There were moments, indeed, when warm gushes of pity swept away her instinctive resentment.”

The Rembrandt, 4*

An art-related dilemma about valuing a Rembrandt, belonging to an impoverished woman. Professional honesty versus natural compassion, and the likely consequences of each.

The plot is mostly predictable, but Mrs Fontage is a glorious, self-composed, imposing creation: the story is a joy.

* The “beneficent despotism” of a cousin for whom “none of the ready-made virtues ever had fitted”.
* “The silence seemed to shape itself into a receptacle for my verdict.”
* “One glance at his glossy exterior conveyed the assurance that his morals were as immaculate as his complexion and his linen.”

The Other Two, 4*

The social and personal problems of a partner's multiple exes: the effect they had in the past, and the ongoing effect on your life together. It’s very civilised, but turns almost to farce.

The wife admits to being 35. (“Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years” Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest (my review here). She has two previous husbands, both living, one of whom is the father of her daughter. The story juggles feminist and traditional themes, reflecting the social changes of the time (1904).

The story arc is like a humorous interpretation of the 1969 Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief:


* “New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue.” Like one of Wilde’s contrary quips.
* “She was ‘as easy as an old shoe’ - a shoe that too many feet had worn.”
* “She reminded him of a juggler tossing knives; but the knives were blunt.”
* “Occupying a chair in his usual provisional way.”

The Quicksand, 4*

“She wears the newest thing in ethics.”

A dilemma about the power of money, comfort, and the gutter press to beguile and corrupt, and whether one can appease by applying rose-tinted spectacles, preventing others making similar mistakes, and/or through philanthropy.

It has a moral without being moralistic: be true to yourself, eschew “the habit of luxury”, and find comfort in beauty, rather than riches.

* “Her friends were not always worthy of the chairs they sat in.”
* “The depressing drawing room. It was the kind of room in which no member of the family is likely to be found except after dinner or after death. The chairs and tables looked like the poor relations who had repaid their upkeep by a long career of grudging usefulness: they seemed banded together against intruders in a sullen conspiracy of discomfort.”
* “She could drug anxiety with a picture as some women can soothe it with a bonnet.”

The Dilettante, 3*

The title suggests a charming rogue, but the man is more of a Pick-Up Artist. He enjoys casual relationships, based on untruths, and trains his subjects to his whims.

“He had developed a science of evasion in which the woman of the moment became a mere implement of the game.”
Focus on how cold and clinical every word bar the fillers is.

The finale’s unexpected inversion of societal norms is worthy of Wilde. His presumed pure fianceé is shocked that he (untruthfully) claims his intimate relationships were never consummated. Instead, she wants a man with a past. They are equally dishonest, so maybe they deserve each other?

The Reckoning, 4*

“The ceremony was an unimportant concession to social prejudice; now the door of divorce stood open, no marriage need be an imprisonment.”

A very modern couple preach the gospel of “fidelity to oneself” over conventional ties to a spouse. But theory is easier than practice, and trying to turn “disobedience into a law” inevitably elevates a petard.

* “All the audacities were artistic… a teacher who pronounced marriage immoral was somehow as distinguished as a painter who depicted purple grass and a green sky.”
* “It was a room with which she had never been able to establish a closer relation than that between a traveler and a railway station.”
* “No girl knows how to take care of herself - till it’s too late.”
* “Her husband’s personality seemed to be closing gradually in on her, obscuring the sky and cutting off the air, till she felt herself shut up among the decaying bodies of her starved hopes.”
* “If marriage was the slow life-long acquittal of a debt contracted in ignorance, then marriage was a crime against human nature.”
* “She was the pre-destined victim of the code she had devised.”
* “The day was radiant, metallic: one of those searching American days so calculated to reveal the shortcomings of our street-cleaning and the excesses of our architecture. The streets looked bare and hideous; everything stared and glittered.”

Expiation, 3*

A dull plot, with witty, incisive social observations: the perils being misunderstood by an sympathetic spouse; the significance of how one enters a room; literary success achieved via controversy, censure, and perhaps rivalry; and a duller subplot about a new chancery window.

Mrs Fetherel’s mission is to expose “the hollowness of social conventions” via her novel with the scandalous title, “Fast and Loose” (also the title of a story Wharton wrote, aged 15). Her doting uncle (a bishop and fellow writer) feels it his duty to have words with her.

* “The bishop always entered a room well; but, when unannounced, or preceded by a Low Church butler who gave him his surname, his appearance lacked the impressiveness conferred on it by the due specification of his diocesan dignity.”
* “Paula Fetherel would have been very pretty if she hadn’t looked so like a moral axiom in a copy-book hand.”
* “Mrs Clinch once more brought the plebeian aroma of heated tram-cars and muddy street-crossings into the violet-scented atmosphere of her cousin's drawing-room.”
* “The misunderstood wife whose husband persists in understanding her… what she most suffered from was this fatuous approval.”
* “Mrs Fetherel’s relations with her husband were complicated by an irrepressible tendency to be fond of him.”

The Pot-Boiler, 5*

“Why can’t a man do two kinds of work - one to please himself and the other to boil the pot?”

Is it better to prostitute one’s talent, or have no talent to sacrifice?

I wasn’t instantly enamoured of this story, and reading the cod Yiddish? accent of the art dealer annoyed me. But I was won over by the impoverished artists, torn between staying true to their ideals and the need to heat and eat by painting “ladies in syrup… with marshmallow children against their knees”, to fit the fashion. There’s love, rivalry, and bitter irony.

* One “Produced bad art in the service of the loftiest of convictions.” The other stands accused: “You’ve sold your talent… You did it deliberately… And you’re not ashamed.”
* “There was always a kind of biblical breadth in the expression of her emotions, and to-day she suggested a text from Isaiah.”

His Father’s Son, 5*

Mason Grew is a successful, self-made man who lives vicariously through the professional and social success of his son, followed via newspaper columns. “He was what Mr Grew had dreamed of being.” He also lives in the past, with memories and mementos of his late wife. The lines blur. The first twist is predictable, the second, left me wondering what was true and what was fiction.

* “The sleep of conjugal indifference.”
* “Mrs Grew slept in the Wingfield Cemetery, under a life-size theological virtue of her own choosing.”

Full Circle, 4*

Is it preferable to be poor and brilliant, or lauded for mediocrity? A man's first novel means "his success began to submerge him", unlike his friend, a superior writer, who remains “unpardonably, irremediably poor”. Guilt, face-saving, and empathy twist and writhe.

The title is a bit of a give-away, but it’s an excellent exploration of friendship, the perils of pride, and the difficulty of juggling artistic integrity with the need to boil the pot. The successful writer, having failed to pass on the destitute writer’s manuscript, guiltily hires him to reply to his burdensome fan mail. His second book is not as popular, he’s upset by the response, and ashamed for his friend/secretary to see negative letters. So he writes a few...

* “A shining sanctuary where his great porcelain bath proffered its renovating flood.” He no longer needed to “identify one’s soap and nailbrush among the promiscuous implements of ablution”.
* “His new relation to his correspondents had the glow of a love-affair unchilled by the contingency of marriage.”

Autres Temps…, 5*

A brilliant, heart-wrenching encapsulation of changing attitudes to marriage and divorce, comparing the experiences of mother and daughter.

After divorce, Mrs Lidcote went into voluntary exile in Europe. She returns to NY, anxious about the wedding of her divorced daughter, Leila. The mother doesn’t know her place in the new order: her daughter is not shamed, so doesn’t need support. Worse, a shabby mother is an embarrassment in Leila’s elevated social circles. Mrs Lidcote begins to resent her own lost years, and wonder if it’s too late. Two people appear sympathetic to her predicaments: one tells tactful untruths to veil painful reality; the other is selfishly, subtly manipulative, using duplicity disguised as concern.

* “The past was bad enough, but the present and future were worse, because they were less comprehensible.”
* “Having so signally failed to be of use to Leila in other ways, she would at least serve her as a warning.”
* “Their relation seemed as comfortable as their furniture and as respectable as their balance at the bank.”

The Long Run, 3*

“Love is deeper than friendship, but friendship is a good deal wider.”

What’s the difference between friendship and love, and should one imperil one’s place in society, or “play the game”, with everyone knowing, but turning a blind eye?

This is a first-person narration (two, really), unlike the others here. A man returns to NY, after a dozen years away, renewing friendships with a friend from university and a former muse.

There were some great one-liners, but as a story, it lacked something. Or perhaps I’d overdosed on Wharton.

* “He hugged the empty vessel of our friendship without perceiving that the last drop of its essence was dry.”
* “Most people are just that to us: pictures, furniture, the inanimate accessories of our little island-area of sensation.”
* “How we sneer at women for wanting the thing that gives them half their attraction” (a home and a little luxury).
* “One way to find out whether a risk is worth taking is not to take it” and see what happens in the long run.
* “Her gray dress was handsome but ineffective.”
* “Even Mrs Cumnor’s door-knobs had tact and didn’t tell”, so it’s easy to slip away.
* “The quality of a love may be tested by the amount of friendship it contains.”

After Holbein, 5*

“A rather remarkable man… only intermittently.”

I thought this was going to be horror, with echoes of Jekyll and Hyde, but it takes a different turn: poignant, heartbreaking, beautiful. It’s a glimpse into failing minds, cushioned by old retainers, devotedly playing along. Not just white lies, but golden ones. Reality is as slippery for the reader as the protagonists. The situation is worse for the one who has some awareness of what's slipping away.

* “He had reached the time of life when Alps and cathedrals become as transient as flowers.”

Diagnosis, 5*

On 3 June 2017, my husband was on London Bridge, as a terrorist drove a van into people, came towards him, then swerved away. Two days later, I read this story, and was grateful he escaped untouched - and heartbroken for those who did not.

Death can be sudden and unexpected. Or not. Don't be so afraid of dying that you stop living. Seize the day. All the days. Be kind and grateful.

An ageing bachelor's ill-health, makes him unable to enjoy life as he used to. Unlike Ebenezer Le Page who “died alive” (see my review here), Paul Dorrance lives as if dead. Matters are exacerbated by his being too trusting of his doctors, rather like Bunbury in The Importance of Being Earnest (my review here), who "seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians."

Assuming he will die, he marries his “faded” mistress, for whom he long ago “ceased to feel anything but a friendly tenderness”, so he will have someone to care for him, unaware that she knows the diagnosis was wrong, but didn’t want to be left on the shelf.

* “The very qualities which had made her a perfect mistress… made her… a perfect wife for a man cut off from everything but the contemplation of his own end.”
* “He knew no more how to prepare for the return to life than he had for the leaving of it.”
* “She was a woman for a sentimental parenthesis, not for the pitiless continuity of marriage.”

Pomegranate Seed, 4*

The final twist puts it in a different genre (think of pomegranate seeds in Greek myth). However, it was du Maurier’s Rebecca that came firmly to mind, and though du Maurier was younger than Wharton, her novel was published in 1928, three years before this. Here, a heartbroken widower and father has been married for a year to a new wife, to whom he is devoted. But there is one troubling thing that he won’t discuss: occasional letters, in grey envelopes, with distinctive handwriting.

* “Her passionate need to feel herself the sovereign even of his past.”
* “He began to make conversation with an assumption of ease that was more oppressive than his silence.”
* “She’s everywhere in this house, and the closer to him because to everyone else she’s become invisible.”

Roman Fever, 3*

“These two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope.”

Two middle-aged widows, who’ve been intimate since a chance encounter in Rome as children, and lived opposite each other for their early married years, meet again in Rome. They compare lives and daughters out loud and in their minds. How little they really know each other. Small irritations aggravate envy and and expose secrets. The final sentence packs a punch.

* “Contemplating it [view] in silence, with a sort of diffused serenity which might have been borrowed from the spring effulgence of the Roman skies.”
* Sunset “filling her troubled eyes with the tranquilizing magic of the hour.”


Buddies

My first buddy read, prompted by Laysee’s review, here. See Kevin’s review here.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars.
I have been reading these stories in between novels. When I read short stories, especially these by Edith Wharton, I prefer not to read them all consecutively, so they don't blur together.

Edith Wharton is a perfect example of a timeless writer, although she is writing about a specific time. She writes about Old New York with its high class society, a society she was a member of. She doesn't mind poking a little fun at them. She sees these " high browed" people of society- she sees their prejudices, their expectations and their weaknesses.
She writes memorable characters in these stories. Mrs. Manstey, in the first story, " Mrs. Manstey's View", was a woman who had so little in her life, but the view from her window was enough to sustain her. Mrs. Fetherell, the author who writes a book that is considered "a pretty book", feels this as an embarrassment. But after the book is denounced, it becomes a huge success. The author rivalry in this book was pretty humorous. Mrs. Lidcote, who is ostracized by "her" society because of a past misdeed. The two women in "Roman Fever", who supposedly are lifelong friends, hold secrets and animosity between them. These are a few of the people she characterized beautifully. She has a way of writing that makes every person you encounter in these pages real and authentic.
Overall, I enjoyed all the stories in the collection, with some more than others.
Lines I appreciated and reread:
"....but the week at sea had given her too much time to think of things and had left her too long alone with the past."
" it was as if he hugged the empty vessel of our friendship without perceiving that the last drop of its essence was dry.:
" The contrast between the soulless roar of New York, its devouring blaze of light, the oppression of its congested traffic, congested houses, lives, minds and this veiled sanctuary she called home, always stirred her profoundly."

As stated, Edith Wharton is a superb writer!!

[Laysee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New York Stories of Edith Wharton is a collection of twenty stories par excellence written from 1891 to 1934 that offers an incisive and unsparing social commentary on Old New York. An introduction by Roxanna Robinson acquaints us with Wharton’s life among the privileged and fashionable upper crust of society, its suffocating Puritan values, the conflict she felt between the formal restraint of an insular world and her quest for freedom of thought and ideas, her unfulfilling marriage and eventual divorce. In this collection of stories, Wharton drew richly from the lessons of life forged in the crucible of her bitter-sweet experiences in New York and later Europe.

Each story is a gem in its own right and exceedingly well told. Wharton's prose is vivid and powerful. It has a searching quality that throws light on human intent and motivation, often times hidden even from her characters. Themes touch on the world of artists/writers (idealism versus pragmatism); the complexities of love and pain; marriage, adultery, and the consequences of divorce (a social expunction of sorts); the plight of women both privileged and impoverished; the struggles between nobility and hypocrisy. The subtleties of human behavior are thrust into the open with the surest touch of irony and humor. The ending of each story packs a punch and a few had me wanting to punch the air in jubilation.

Below are brief reviews of the stories I found impressive.

Roman Fever
This is potent story about jealousy and viciousness women are capable of when they are in love with the same man. Two widows who had known each other since girlhood, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ashley, are having lunch on the terrace of a lovely restaurant in Rome. We were told that "these two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope." Mrs. Slade has an old score to settle with Mrs. Ashley whom she thinks was once in love with her fiancé and later husband. She confronts her unsuspecting friend in the most spiteful and vindictive fashion. Oh, you have to read the brilliant ending. It is the most satisfying I have ever come across in any short story.

After Holbein
This is a funny but sad story of an old man and old woman struggling to keep up appearances of being socially active and important. Mr. Anson Warley is a pale, white-haired, stiff-limbed man in perfect evening clothes and prides himself on being present "only at the right houses... (with) the right people - the right setting - the right wines". Mrs. Evelina Jasper is once NY's "leading hostess" and she still holds dinners, albeit imaginary ones, in a "tiara askew on her purple wig". To Mrs. Jaspar’s dinner invitations, Warley’s scornful response is "Mr Warley declines the boredom." How do old folks maintain social respectability when health and wealth have failed them? Hilarity is mingled with sadness when we witness how the servants collude in the circus of pretense that helps the aging poor maintain their respectability. One cold winter’s night, however, dinner at Mrs. Jaspar’s is extra special.

A Cup of Cold Water
This is a moving story about the temptations of hankering after high society and the moral cost of such a pursuit. Woburn, a bank cashier, has embezzled company funds in a desperate bid to court and impress a wealthy young lady. He is about to board a ship for Canada before his theft is discovered and dreading the impending exile, he spends a night at a hotel. However, he hears a woman in the next room crying and intervenes in time before she kills herself over an indiscretion. The ending is not what I expected but it left me with moist eyes.

The Rembrandt
This is a story about truth versus compassion in the world of art. A museum curator is invited to a brown stone house belonging to Mrs. Fontage that has seen better days. His task is to put a value on a painting thought to be a Rembrandt, an heirloom of the once splendidly cultured and well connected family. The painting holds romantic memories for the old dame and it is obvious that selling it is an extremely painful last option. The curator is caught in a bind: "Reason argued that it was more cruel to deceive Mrs. Fontage than to tell her the truth; but that merely proved the inferiority of reason to instinct in situations involving any concessions to the emotions." How should the curator uphold the integrity of his profession? At what price is human decency? Another poignant story that carries the same theme is The Portrait.

Full Circle
This is a story about the perils of publishing and the anguish authors experience on account of their readers' response to their books. It also reveals that a truly great book may not be appreciated by the vast non-discerning majority with under-developed literary sense. On the other hand, a book that is well received and sells well may not have literary merit. How then does an author judge the value of his creative work? Geoffrey Betton writes a successful debut novel and grows smug from the adulation of his fans. Duncan Vyse, a Havard schoolmate of Betton, did not get published and might have if Betton had remembered to send Vyse's very credible manuscript to a publisher friend. Struggling with poverty, Vyse becomes Betton's secretary with the responsibility of writing replies to his fan mail and is given a free hand to reply to discourage further correspondence. Betton's second book, however, fails to impress and his fan mail drops. Both Vyse and Betton try to protect their self-interest: Vyse his job and Betton his face. Their respective “solution” to this unpleasant quandary is hilarious and sobering at the same time.

I have to thank Glenn Russell whose excellent review alerted me to this outstanding collection of short stories. It will be highly valued by Wharton fans. Five indisputably brilliant stars.

[Tsung · Rating 4 out of 5]

No-it was always the same thing, over and over and over again-the same vague gush of adjectives, the same incorrigible tendency to estimate his effort according to each writer’s personal preferences, instead of regarding it as a work of art, a thing to be measured by fixed standards!

So goes another of my reviews….

This is an interesting collection of 20 short stories from Edith Wharton, spanning a long period from 1893 to 1934. Her style and content is consistent throughout the years and it is hard to tell which time period the stories are from. Wharton is a terrific writer. The stories are fairly complex yet she is able to handle the content with sensitivity and adroitness. My only complaint is that some themes and situations were far removed and failed to resonate. Those themes would probably have been more relevant at the time.

where for a moment one can abandon one’s self to the illusion that New York humanity is a shade less unstable than its bricks and mortar.

The stories are all set in New York. But while one might expect a vivid picture of the city at the turn of the 19th century, we only get furtive snapshots of the physical side of New York. After somewhat brief descriptions, we are ushered into the inner sanctum of upper crust New York society. The stories are very much more about the culture and societal norms, also more of high society rather than something out of The Five Points.

Certain themes feature prominently. There were themes concerning marital relationships: marriage, divorce, remarriage, infidelity, affairs. There were family relationships, especially failed ones. Her characters often suffer hurts and disappointments, leading on to a strong desire for redemption. Deception is another recurring theme, whether deceiving one-self or others. Many of her stories have twists at the end, some predictable and some unexpected. But all the endings come with a heavy dose of irony.

My favourite story was not one of the more well known ones, Diagnosis. How would you live your life if you knew you had a terminal illness? For Paul Dorrance, it was to marry his soulmate, Eleanor, who happened to be married to someone else. More interestingly, is what would you then do if you subsequently found out that you did not have a terminal illness? Respect to Paul, in that he remains faithful by not responding to a girl who expresses interest in him.

Only now, at the foot of the stairs, did he see the future facing him, and understand he knew no more how to prepare for the return to life than he had for the leaving it….

”I wonder why I was so scared of dying,” he thought; then the truth flashed on him. “Why you fool, you’ve been dead all the time. That first diagnosis was the true one. Only they put it on the physical plane by mistake….”

There is another twist to the story, but the story was compelling enough, even without it.

And some brief notes about some of the other stories.

Mrs Manstey’s View. A personal triumph or self-deception, one which has little impact on the real world.
The Protrait. Seemed a bit metaphorical. A portrait artist who reveals inner traits like a special mirror. A daughter seeking redemption for her father.
A Journey. How disease may alter a person and his/her relationships. In the end, practicalities outlast the sentimental.
The Rembrandt. This is one of a minority of stories with a feel good outcome.
The Reckoning. A husband leaves his remarried wife for a younger woman. A new self-centred marriage ethic.
Expiation. Could this be Wharton’s own experiences as a writer?
The Pot-Boiler. Kate chooses the less talented Mungold who makes more money than Stanwell, whom she accuses of prostituting his art. But just who is selling out?
His Father’s Son. Self effacing father living vicariously through his son.
Autre Temps. Like a companion peace to Father’s Son. Mrs Lidcote projects her own failures on to her daughter, who has a very different view.
After Holbein. Duality and self-deception.
Roman Fever. Catfight! Rrroowwr!!!

Thanks to Laysee for the recommendation. Cecily has an amusing and perspicacious post “Write Your Own Wharton”.

[Negin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have known better. Short stories are usually not my cup of tea. In all fairness, I got a Kindle sample and the first story in this collection of twenty, was good. I figured that based on that sample, the rest of the stories would be good also. Well, other than the first story, I didn’t care for any of them. The ones that I did care for, ended all too abruptly.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be good for people who love Wharton & are interested in the development of her craft. Some of the stories presented here are rather uneven & disappointing; I love her best when she dwells on searing emotional pain, as in Autres Temps..., which I like best out of this collection. Several of the others here are also fine enough, but more than a few smack too much of an O. Henryish kind of predictability and pat ending. As a collection, it isn't outstanding, but I didn't want to give it a 3, somehow.

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Edith Wharton. I have said before that I consider her one of the great American writers, on a level with Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I like her novels better than her short stories but there are some good ones in this book. She was at her best when writing about New York as she does here with these stories.

[Reenie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really good. Anthologies of stories are always going to be somewhat patchy - not every story is as much to one's taste as the others, but this set of stories had quite a few that really struck me, and in general, I really like the way that Wharton writes - definitely will be seeking out her novels soon.

That said, her style is definitely not going to be good for everyone - in the introduction, Roxana Robinson describes uses the phrase 'crystalline brilliance', which tells you most of what you need to know. It's measured, formal, and quite precise... perhaps frosty, and emotions are carefully tucked away and have, to some extent, to be ferreted out. Which really is the point, of course - these are stories of New York high society in the turn of the century: the formal manners you'd see in Austen's high society coupled with all the strict Calvinism of Presbyterians. And odd place, but definitely an interesting one.

A bunch of the stories stood out in particular - That Good May Come, to start with, for the ethical questions it left you hanging with, the Journey, for the eeriness of the writing (it really conjures up a strange and scary world), the Other Two, because it's quietly hilarious (third husband of a woman finds himself unable to keep from running into her first two husbands... the concept doesn't even need to be a time when divorce was far more complicated than it is now to be great fun), and After Holbein for its gentle macabre story that Makes Strokes Fun, to single out a few.

My absolute favourite story, though, and one that I actually kept on pausing during reading to savour and prolong the enjoyment, was the Dilettante. Powerful, kinda upsetting, and very affecting tale of one hell of a fucked up relationship, an epiphany that probably doesn't really get all the way through into the protagonist's skull, and a set of character sketches that rivals some of the Dubliners stories (e.g. a Painful Case, which has some similarities to this one, and is probably my favourite of those stories. Go figure).

So yes. Really, really good.

[JacquiWine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The twenty pieces included here span the period from 1891 to 1934, virtually the whole of Edith Wharton’s career as a writer. Several are in the style of Wharton’s great society novels, exploring the tensions between restraint and passion, sincerity and hypocrisy, respectability and disgrace. In short, they are sharp, nuanced and incisive. Here we see life as it was in the upper echelons of New York society with its traditional social mores and codes, frequently stifling freedom of action in favour of compliance and conformity.

To read my review, please visit:

https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking at it objectively it's hard to imagine how stories about, mostly privileged, people in New York and their small personal problems in the early part of the 20th century, can be relevant to anyone in 2022.

But Wharton writes with insight about people with all their shortcomings and faults but also their courage and stoicism, it's not always relevant with todays eyes, but it's nearly always interesting.

The writing style is complex and rich but also at times convoluted and can feel archaic in places, English is not my first language, but i read +100 books a year in English and this is by far the book where i had to look up most words.

Selected stories:

mrs, Manstey’s view - 5 stars - a small masterpiece about finding value in small things and the willingness to fight for them
A cup of cold water - 4 Stars - a story about the possibility for redemption
The Rembrant - 4. stars - A story about compassion and doing the right thing
The Pot boiler - 5 stars - Are talented people obliged to strive for better
Autres Temp - 4. stars - A bittersweet story about parents becoming redundant and needless
Diagnosis - 5 stars - A story about seezing the day, but also about turning the tables
Roman Fever - 5 stars - A story about setting the story straight

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A WORK IN PROGRESS —> FINALLY COMPLETED

For me personally, this has been a labour of love which has spanned eight years. Having read the final story from this collection (Roman Fever) in 2015 and five additional stories in 2018, I wouldn’t recommend spreading them quite so thin. However, each of the stories begs (and deserves) to be savoured and pondered, and so I am pleased that I chose to read the remainder at the rate of only three or four per month this year (rather than cramming them all into one month).

More than any of Edith Wharton’s novels, this collection has elevated my esteem for her skill with words, her ability to handle an impressive diversity of themes, and her insight into both human nature and the spiritual realm. Hence, it is with a sense of both accomplishment and relief that today I have added my final notes and comments. It is my hope that you too might be inspired to explore some of Wharton’s shorter works.

Mrs. Manstey’s View (22/02/23)
That Good May Come (23/02/23) ★★★★★
The Rembrandt (22/02/23) ★★★★
The Portrait (12/01/23)
A Cup of Cold Water (24/01/23)
A Journey (11/01/23) ★★★★★
The Other Two (02/12/18)
The Quicksand (02/12/18)
The Dilettante (02/12/18)
The Reckoning (02/12/18)
Expiation (02/12/18)
The Pot-Boiler (29/03/23) ★★★★
His Father’s Son (30/03/23)
Full Circle (30/03/23)
Autres Temps (27/04/23) ★★★★
The Long Run (28/04/23) ★★★★★
After Holbein (21/04/23) ★★★★
Diagnosis (29/05/23) ★★★★★
Pomegranate Seed (31/05/23) ★★★★★
Roman Fever (25/04/15)
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Mrs. Manstey’s View (22/02/23)
Mrs. Manstey’s real friends were the denizens of the yards, the hyacinths, the magnolia, the green parrot, the maid who fed the cats, the doctor who studied late behind his mustard-colored curtains; and the confidant of her tenderer musings was the church-spire floating in the sunset.

That Good May Come ★★★★★ (23/02/23)
… you spoke just now of the biblical axiom that good can’t come out of evil; well, no generalization of that sort is final. It seems to me, on the contrary, that this good can come out of evil; that having done evil once it may become impossible to do it again. One ill act may become the strongest rampart one can build against further ill-doing. It divides things, it classifies them. It may be the means of lifting one forever out of the region of quibbles and compromises and moral subtleties …

A Cup of Cold Water (24/01/23)
The desire to see Miss Talcott had driven Woburn to the Gildermeres; but once in the ball-room he made no effort to find her. The people about him seemed more like strangers than those he had passed in the street. He stood in the doorway, studying the petty manoeuvres of the women and the resigned amenities of their partners. Was it possible that these were his friends? These mincing women, all paint and dye and whalebone, these apathetic men who looked as much alike as the figures that children cut out of a folded sheet of paper? Was it to live among such puppets that he had sold his soul? What had any of these people done that was noble, exceptional, distinguished? Who knew them by name even, except their tradesmen and the society reporters? Who were they, that they should sit in judgment on him?

A Journey ★★★★★ (11/01/23)
Through her sleep she felt the impetuous rush of the train. It seemed to be life itself that was sweeping her on with headlong inexorable force — sweeping her into darkness and terror, and the awe of unknown days. — Now all at once everything was still — not a sound, not a pulsation… She was dead in her turn, and lay beside him with smooth upstaring face. How quiet it was!

The Pot-Boiler ★★★★ (29/03/23)
… he devoted himself to the portrayal of the other sex, painting ladies in syrup, as Arran said, with marsh-mallow children leaning against their knees. He was as quick as a dressmaker at catching new ideas, and the style of his pictures changed as rapidly as that of the fashion-plates.
Mr. Mungold, in fact, deemed it a part of his professional duty to study his sitters in their home-life; and as this life was chiefly led in the homes of others, he was too busy dining out and going to the opera to mingle much with his colleagues.

Autres Temps ★★★★ (27/04/23)
Native New Yorker Mrs. Lidcote has lived alone abroad for eighteen years since having been “cut” by Society following her divorce. She now returns to New York out of concern for her daughter, who has recently divorced her first husband and married again. Mrs. Lidcote struggles to reconcile her own attitudes with the opinion of a friend and suitor of hers and the behaviour of her daughter following her mother’s unexpected — and untimely — reappearance in the city.
… now where is there a corner for me? Where indeed in this crowded, topsy-turvey world, with its headlong changes and helter-skelter readjustments, its new tolerances and indifferences and accommodations, was there room for a character fashioned by slower sterner processes and a life broken under their inexorable pressure? And then, in a flash, she viewed the chaos from a new angle, and order seemed to move upon the void. If the old processes were changed, her case was changed with them; she, too, was a part of the general readjustment, a tiny fragment of the new pattern worked out in bolder freer harmonies. Since her daughter had no penalty to pay, was not she herself released by the same stroke?

The Long Run ★★★★★ (28/04/23)
She summed it all up, you know, when she said that one way of finding out whether a risk is worth taking is not to take it, and then to see what one becomes in the long run, and draw one’s inferences. The long run — well, we’ve run it, she and I. I know what I’ve become, but that’s nothing to the misery of knowing what she’s become.

After Holbein ★★★★ (21/04/23)
I have mixed feelings about this story, poking fun as it does at two elderly people who totter through their days, plagued by the deterioration of body and mind. Considering the time in which the story was written, it seems necessary to forgive the attitude of the author. But, as is often the case with Edith Wharton, she redeems herself in the final paragraphs with an ending which shocks the reader into considering a completely different perspective. So, what began as a one-star story (in my opinion) earns a hearty four stars!
… someone had told him that Mrs. Jaspar couldn’t understand...was a little hurt...said it couldn’t be true that he always had another engagement the nights she asked him... TRUE? Is the truth what she wants? All right! Then the next time I get a Mrs. Jaspar requests the pleasure I’ll answer it with a Mr. Warley declines the boredom. Think she’ll understand that, eh? And the phrase became a catchword in his little set that winter. Mr. Warley declines the boredom.

Diagnosis ★★★★★ (29/05/23)
Edith Wharton’s brilliance at its best! This short story, more than any other I have read, deserves to have become a novel, or at the very least, a novella. It is by far the most thought-provoking story in the entire collection — perhaps even the most thought-provoking story that I have ever read. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I have read it twice, reviewed my notes and highlights numerous times, thought about it, “slept on” it, and still I cannot simplify the message of this story. It is many-faceted, dealing with a variety of issues — how one can live life to the fullest; how to approach one’s own death; the folly of making assumptions and jumping to conclusions instead of seeking the truth; honest and open communication as an essential ingredient of human relationships; a warning against acting out of pity for others or oneself — these are a few topics which come to mind. If I had to distill all of this into one important message, perhaps it would be “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Pomegranate Seed ★★★★★ (31/05/23)
Another Wharton masterpiece, this story opens with a sense of foreboding, setting the stage perfectly for a shadowy and mysterious tale.
Charlotte Ashby paused on her doorstep. Dark had descended on the brilliancy of the March afternoon, and the grinding rasping street life of the city was at its highest. … It was the hour when, in the first months of her marriage to Kenneth Ashby, she had most liked to return to that quiet house in a street long since deserted by business and fashion. … And now, in the last months, everything was changed, and she always wavered on the doorstep and had to force herself to enter.
If you are a fan of ghost stories, then you will love this one!




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[Sarah Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

She rocks. Some of these stories are so painful to read, proving the fact that Edith Wharton is scarier than most horror novelists. Her language is unparalleled.

[Josh Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edith Wharton’s “House of Mirth” made an indelible mark on me when I first read it many years ago and Lily Bart still remains in my consciousness as a poignant character that I feel strongly for.

This collection is my first encounter with Wharton’s short stories and I am not surprised to find many female characters who, like Lily Bart, invited readers to ponder to what extent they were victims of the societal mores of their times.

Keeping in mind that Wharton did not originally write them for the purpose of this collection which was put together posthumously, it is not surprising that I found them to be quite checkered and uneven in tone and even quality.

While the city at the turn of the century formed the backdrop of of these stories, and unconventional marriages and the taboo surrounding divorce feature in most if not all of the 20 stories, I wished I had read them in their original collections at the various stages of Wharton’s writing career for a more even feel.

Nonetheless, here are some of the more memorable pieces whose characters stayed with me beyond the page.

The first story, “Mrs Manstey’s View”, about a lonely old widow for whom the last vestige of aesthetic enjoyment is threatened, left me feeling bereft and in complete empathy with her.

I was also caught up in the whirlwind of emotions felt by the wife of a sick husband and the mounting tension as her circumstances change dramatically onboard a sleeper in “A Journey”, underscoring the status and identity of women as dependents.

In “After Holbein”, a swinging bachelor who is loathe to give up his partying ways even though he is way past his prime finds an unlikely refuge in the home of a hostess whose parties he used to abhor and avoid. This story is a revealing look at the frivolity and decay of the elite social scene.

The brilliant closer to this collection, “Roman Fever”, brings a decades-long jealousy and hatred to a head between two widowed women when they revisit Rome with their daughters. Its very effective buildup and the jaw-dropping ending was especially entertaining.

Not so for “Pomegranate Seed”, unfortunately, even though it had me hooked with the mystery of a series of strange letters that threaten a couple’s second marriage. The “abrupt” ending baffled me until I saw that it was a totally different sort of story from what I was expecting because it was originally published in a another themed collection (a case in point on the lack of cohesion I observed earlier).

Despite the uneven feel of the stories, it is no doubt that Edith Wharton was an astute chronicler of her times with her unflinching social commentary.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Contains the stories:

Mrs. Manstey's View -
That Good May Come -
The Portrait -
A Cup of Cold Water -
A Journey -
The Rembrandt -
The Other Two -
The Quicksand -
The Dilettante -
The Reckoning -
Expiation -
The Pot-Boiler -
His Father's Son -
Full Circle -
Autres Temps -
The Long Run -
After Holbein -
Diagnosis -
Pomegranate Seed - 3/5 - letters, oh we get letters...
Roman Fever -

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a beautiful writer. These do tend to be on the bleak side, focusing on all the small and large agonies of trying to relate to other people: how to preserve someone else’s feelings and how to honor your own; how to be known truly and the horrors of being truly seen; how to exist in society without losing your sense of self. And though most of her stories are in a minor key, there’s always a subtle bounce of humor or bemusement at what ridiculous creatures we all are.

[Cherylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wharton was a bit of a badass for her time.

[v · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories stretches from the beginning to the ending of Edith Wharton's career, so it gives a nice summation of her short fiction as a reflection of New York and of her own literary development. After the first several stories, we certainly find Wharton flourishing on her own and finding the subject matter (high society, tradition and progress, and artistry) she's most celebrated for.

What I came to feel, though, was that Wharton's multitudinous strengths as a storyteller often cannot see her to the end of a story. From the first paragraph, she typically builds up a tremendous trove of detail, insight, and wit, and by the middle of a story it all ties together in a poignant conundrum. Often that conundrum is social or ethical and sometimes it is personal, but we get a splendid sense of what is at stake for her characters and why. But then... too often, Wharton fumbles. The conflicts become convoluted, the characters grow diffuse, or worst of all (and most commonly), she lays out a final scene where her characters explain to each other what the reader already figured out several pages ago and they rummage around in the details of it and then suddenly the story is over. There are exceptions, for sure.

Here's an example that I've simplified a bit:
In "Autre Temps..." we meet Mrs. Lidcote on the deck of a steamer pulling into New York Harbor. She was "cut" from New York society many years ago because of her scandalous divorce and remarriage, so she's lived in a sort of exile in Europe. Now she's returning to help her daughter, Leila, who has just divorced and remarried. She did the same thing that Mrs. Lidcote was ostracized for -- and to Mrs. Lidcote's astonishment, everyone seems perfectly okay with it! The times have really changed that much, have they? "Indeed!" her good friend Mr. Ide assures her.
She is getting used to this idea -- excited even -- as she visits her daughter and new son-in-law on the eve of a big party where many of the "old" generation will be in enthusiastic attendance. It's very important that the party go well for Leila's future, and that success is all but guaranteed.
But then, strange comments from her daughter and cousin make something painfully clear: the world has changed for the new generation, but everything has stayed the same for hers. Society, old and young, will accept Leila, but only if they can continue to shun her mother. Mrs. Lidcote privately puts it all together and doesn't protest when her family quietly nudges her to stay in her room during the big party.
This would make for a great ending to a great short story. But Wharton writes a final concluding scene. Mrs. Lidcote is leaving for Europe when Mr. Ide appears. A very indirect conversation between them finally comes around to Mrs. Lidcote explicitly stating what just happened to her and Mr. Ide questioning if it was really as she thought. She lays out all the evidence we've just read and still he thinks she must be wrong. A shadow of a doubt creeps into Mrs. Lidcote's mind, so she proposes to drop in on someone in society just before she leaves. Of course, Mr. Ide gives some pat excuses as to why that isn't such a good idea. The story ends with her silent acceptance of Mr. Ide's hypocrisy.
This last scene adds nothing significant to the story because it merely repeats on a painfully obvious level what has already happened. Mrs. Lidcote's musings (one of which closes out my review) are fascinating but needed an entirely different scene for a home. Indeed, the conclusion detracts from the story by making Mrs. Lidcote's tragic situation into something senseless, obvious, and pathetic.
I couldn't tell you how many of the stories in this book play out this way, no matter how splendidly they start and develop.

So, much as I enjoyed her vision of New York high society and respected her gifts as a writer (I've only read one of her novels and will settle in to some others soon), this collection repeatedly aggravated me.

"...traditions that have lost their meaning are the hardest of all to destroy."

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

DE las veinte historias de este volumen The New York Stories of Edith Wharton he leído las siguientes cinco:

De su 1ª colección The Greater Inclination (1899):
“A Journey” (1899)
De su colección The Descent of Man and Other Stories (1904)
“The Dilettante” (Harper’s magazine, December 1903)
De su colección Certain People (1930):
“After Holbein” (Saturday Evening Post, May 5, 1928)
De su colección Human Nature (1933):
“Diagnosis” (November 1930)
Initially uncollected story:
“The Roman Fever” (Liberty magazine, November 10, 1934)

En este ciclo de lectura de Wharton (agosto-diciembre 2024), también he leído otras dos historias no incluidas en el volumen The New York Stories of Edith Wharton. Estas son:

De su colección Tales of Men and Ghosts (1910)
“Afterward” (Century magazine, January 1910)
De su colección Human Nature (1933):
“The Day of the Funeral” (January 1933)

De las siete, me han parecido sobresalientes las más tardías: “Diagnosis”, “The Day of the Funeral” y “The Roman Fever”, que está muy bien trabajada con un final impactante y efectivo a la O. Henry. De las otras, sólo puedo destacar "Afterward", una historia de lo sobrenatural que leí en el volumen Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural.

"The Dilettante" me pareció una historia confusa, muy femenina por lo retorcido de la narración y los diálogos de los personajes.

"After Holbein" es la única de las siete que he leído en español en el volume II de Cuentos Completos de la editorial Páginas de Espuma. No me gustó. De hecho me ha hecho detestar las historias de la sociedad neoyorquina. Quizás deba leerla en inglés.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the quality of these stories varies (sometimes the dialogue seems completely stilted, but perhaps this just a 21st century ear listening to a voice from the 19th), Wharton is generally fantastic at depicting the psychology of her characters, and how little they know of themselves and their companions. She is particularly good at drawing out the roles of money and class and gender in New York society, which can rarely be spoken of but are hanging ever present over the characters, like evil weather. There's no joy here, but if you enjoy chagrin, woe, and remorse, as I do, you are in for an extremely reserved but quietly furious good time.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this vision that I was going to read this in Washington Square Park and imagine being in Olde New York. But it's rained the whole time I was reading it, so a no go there. I love Edith Wharton and I love New York, but if you don't, this will probably be a bit tiring.

[Ami Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love a trip to Wharton or James' New York... short stories are easy for a short read, or longer if you have a morning to kill. Love the twist Wharton always has to her stories. The last line of this collection is a good one.

[Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Edith Wharton but many of the stories in here didn't seem like her best work. Favorites were: A Cup of Cold Water, The Quicksand, The Rembrandt, After Holbein, Pomegranate Seed, and Roman Fever.

[Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, the final story, "Roman Fever", is the very best short story I have ever read. Full stop.

The rest of the collection is EXCELLENT.

[J. Merwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Edith Wharton and her spy glass into the souls of the '400' in 19th - early 20th c. New York. Just finished 'New Years Day' in an old edition that first in your hand and has larger than average type. What a joy to read...Instead of glamorizing the already splendid lives and environments of these rich folks, she meticulously describes their difficult relationships, affairs and tragedies all caught in a web of restrictive behavioral norms - societal/financial and romantic. Her language is beautiful, simple and devastating.

[John Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is 20 absolute bangers from an unrivaled short story writer.

[Samuel Hud Gardella · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5 🌟
Edith you rock but there’s only so much of the short story formula I can take

[Laïla Daza Belloso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feminist stories that really make you think!