Crucial Instances

by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton's classic 1901 short story collection. Included are: "The Duchess at Prayer," "The Angel at the Grave," "The Recovery," "Copy: A Dialogue," "The Rembrandt," "The Moving Finger," and "The Confessional."

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Classic Literature, Audiobook, 20th Century, Historical Fiction

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

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

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan 27, 245pm ~~ Review asap.

Jan 28, 845am ~~ Back in 2016 I read Wharton's story Xingu, and told myself I would read more of her work Someday. Well, 2023 is the year of Edith Wharton's Someday.

I was reminded late last year of her work and set up a list of ten titles, a mix of short stories and novels that sounded appealing. So here we are with the first book on the list, Crucial Instances, a collection of seven short stories from 1901.

As with any short story collection some were favorites and others were not. While I appreciated the skill involved in the first and final stories (The Duchess At Prayer and The Confessional), I did not like them as well as the others. In the first I kenw what was going to happen before it ever did and that is not always fun. I simply could never get interested in the final story. That happens and is no reflection on anything other than my mood at the moment of trying to read a certain tale.

So seven take away two is five, and in those five the reader experiences the crucial instances when the characters in the stories realize their life needs to change, is about to change, or has already changed in ways they have been unaware of.

I think my favorite was The Rembrandt (themes relating to art and literature are common in this collection) which tells what happens to a painting owned by an elderly lady. I also liked The Angel At The Grave, the story of a woman who spends her life devoted to the memory of a man the world seems to have forgotten.

January is always my 'little bit of this little bit of that' month in reading. I like to sample titles from the various piles or lists I have planned to read during the year. This first one from the Edith Wharton list reminded me that I will be spending time with quality. She had an elegant style of writing, something that does not show up very often in modern work. I am already looking forward to our next meeting!

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Wharton. The stories each have an Italian connection and revolve around a difficult decision (hence the tital). Each is beautifully written, but most go nowhere.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He was the oldest man I had ever seen; so sucked back into the past that he seemed more like a memory than a living being." from THE DUCHESS AT PRAYER ... Edith Wharton cannot be resisted, for the love of English!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Crucial Instances” is the second collection of short fiction from Edith Wharton and was published on March 30th of 1901. This book consists of six works of short fiction, and one dialogue, most of which had been published previously in magazines, but there is also a previously unpublished story, “The Confessional”, included as well. The contents included the following:

“The Duchess at Prayer” – Published originally in “Scribner’s Magazine” in August of 1900. An old man who works at an estate no longer frequented by the Duke, relates the story of how the Duchess’ statue changed. It is a story that he heard from his grandmother, who witnessed the event. The story has a very gothic feel and could easily have been written by Edgar Allen Poe.

“The Angel at the Grave” – Published originally in “Scribner’s Magazine” in February of 1901. Paulina decides to preserve her grandfather’s papers and the facts surrounding his greatness and in that endeavour she devotes her life. Eventually she decides to publish a biography of his life, but when it is at last complete the publisher informs her that his fame has faded and will not publish it. She feels that her life has been wasted, when a young man visits her and is interested in her father’s papers for an entirely different reason.

“The Recovery” – Published originally in “Harper’s Magazine” in February of 1901. Kensington is a celebrated American painter in certain circles. But is he really a good artist, or is it hype by those who think they know art. When he gets a chance to have his paintings shown in Europe, there is an opportunity to see the old masters as well as see how others view his art.

“Copy: A Dialogue” – Published originally in “Scribner’s Magazine in June of 1900. Mrs. Ambrose Dale - a successful writer at the top of her form, and Mr. Paul Ventnor – a successful poet who is now retired, become reacquainted after a long time. They were once lovers, and each has kept the letters they received from the other, and both have done so for a similar reason.

“The Rembrandt” – Published originally in “Hearst’s International-Cosmopolitan” in August of 1900. A wonderful story, in which the narrator is in charge of finding pieces of art for a museum. He is approached by his cousin to look at an unsigned Rembrandt which is owned by Mrs. Fontage, a woman who is near destitute. He realizes immediately that it is not worth anything, but can’t break her heart and tells her that it is worth $1,000. When Mr. Jefferson Rose, a young man who is far from rich, talks to him about buying the piece he warns him that it isn’t actually worth anything, but Mr. Rose is still willing to go ahead with it because he likes the painting and wants to help Mrs. Fontage. He can’t allow Mr. Rose to waste his money either, so he buys the piece for the museum, knowing that the person who would be most likely to question it, Mr. Crozier, is away. When Mr. Crozier returns after six months, there are other pieces which the narrator believes Crozier will focus on, but Crozier is aware of the “Rembrandt” and comes to talk to him about it.

“The Moving Finger” – Published originally in “Harper’s Magazine” in March of 1901. This story reminds one of “The Picture of Dorian Grey”, though with a few differences. Here we have a man, Ralph Grancy who remarries after a failed marriage a woman whom he loves very deeply. A friend, Claydon, paints her picture so well that Mr. Grancy is very taken with it. When Mrs. Graney dies, Mr. Grancy first goes away for several years, but when he returns he has Claydon alter the picture to bring his wife closer to what she would look like if she were still alive.

“The Confessional” – First published in this volume. This is the longest story in the volume, and it is told by an Italian priest, Don Egidio, who has come to America and is telling the story of a great friend of his to the narrator. The story includes the tale of why Don Egidio came to America, as well as why his friend also came.

This is a great collection of stories, from those with a bit of a horror feel, to ones which just make the reader feel good. This collection is even better than her first collection, and that is not an easy task. This one earns its five stars.

[Elena Câdă · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dont understand what clicks with me and what doesnt with Wharton. But ll investigate further since on my 3rd try I find an improvement

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

FIRST LINE REVIEW: "Have you ever questioned the long shuttered front of an old Italian house, that motionless mask, smooth, mute, equivocal as the face of a priest behind which buzz the secrets of the confessional?" If you have, then you'll understand and enjoy the stories in this collection. They all seem to explore the stories that lie behind and underneath the masks that their characters wear. And once again, Wharton does a fascinating job of slowly peeling back and revealing the "secrets of the confessional."

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wharton is consistently readable even when she’s not particularly interesting.

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second collection of Edith Wharton short stories that I read and I can say that my impressions are similar to the ones made by the first. There are some very nice moments, some mediocre and some completely indifferent. Inside the collection there are three stories on painting that, to my knowledge, were within the author's interests. The first of these, The Recovery, is the story of an American painter who, having experienced considerable success in his home country, tries to do the same in Europe, but there he finds that things are different, which causes him to rethink his ideas about art. An excellent story of artistic seeking that incorporates the author's perceptions and makes a comparison between the two artistic worlds of Europe and the US. The second of these stories did not impress me, while the third, The Moving Finger, is quite good as the story of the portrait of a dead woman who becomes overly emotional reminds something of similar Gothic stories.

What really impressed me, though, is the first and last short story that are taking place in Italy. The Duchess at Player is a mysterious story of a married Italian woman who, due to her husband's frequent absence, often resorted to prayer in a chapel, which led to various suspicions. When her husband unexpectedly arrives to place a statue inside the chapel, her reaction is very strange and what follows becomes part of a local legend centered on that statue. Amazing story, written in a very beautiful way that creates an atmosphere of mystery reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe and still exists even after the end of reading as the reader is called upon to draw his own conclusions. The second Italian story is a story of a marital dispute against the background of an uprising in Lombardy, where a priest is called to intervene in an unconventional way. It's also a very good story in which the author makes a comparison between love for country and love for a woman, with the end being at the reader's judgement.

So, in general, it's an interesting collection of short stories, some of which are particularly memorable.

Η δεύτερη συλλογή διηγημάτων της Edith Wharton που διαβάζω και μπορώ να πω ότι οι εντυπώσεις μου είναι παρόμοιες με αυτές που μου προκάλεσε η πρώτη. Υπάρχουν μερικές πολύ ωραίες στιγμές, μερικές μέτριες και κάποιες εντελώς αδιάφορες. Μέσα στη συλλογή υπάρχουν τρεις ιστορίες με θέμα την ζωγραφική, που από όσο γνωρίζω ήταν μέσα στα ενδιαφέροντα της συγγραφέως. Η πρώτη από αυτές, το The Recovery, είναι η ιστορία ενός Αμερικανού ζωγράφου που αφού έχει γνωρίσει σημαντική επιτυχία στη χώρα του προσπαθεί να κάνει το ίδιο στην Ευρώπη αλλά εκεί διαπιστώνει ότι τα πράγματα είναι διαφορετικά, κάτι που τον κάνει να αναθεωρήσει τις ιδέες του για την τέχνη. Μία εξαιρετική ιστορία καλλιτεχνικής αναζήτησης που περιλαμβάνει τις αντιλήψεις της συγγραφέως και κάνει μία σύγκριση ανάμεσα στους δύο καλλιτεχνικούς κόσμους της Ευρώπης και των ΗΠΑ. Το δεύτερο από αυτά τα διηγήματα δεν με εντυπωσίασε ενώ το τρίτο, το The Moving Finger, είναι αρκετά καλό καθώς η ιστορία του πορτρέτου μιας νεκρής γυναίκας που αποκτά υπερβολική συναισθηματική αξία θυμίζει κάτι από αντίστοιχες γοτθικές ιστορίες.

Αυτά που πραγματικά με εντυπωσίασαν, όμως, είναι το πρώτο και το τελευταίο διήγημα που διαδραματίζονται στην Ιταλία. Το The Duchess at Player είναι μία μυστηριώδης ιστορία μιας παντρεμένης Ιταλίδας που λόγω της συχνής απουσίας του συζύγου της καταφεύγει συχνά στην προσευχή σε ένα παρεκκλήσι, κάτι που προκαλεί διάφορες υποψίες. Όταν ο σύζυγός της εντελώς απρόσμενα έρχεται να τοποθετήσει ένα άγαλμα μέσα στο παρεκκλήσι η αντίδρασή της είναι πολύ περίεργη και όσα ακολουθούν γίνονται μέρος ενός τόπου ενός τοπικού θρύλου με επίκεντρο το συγκεκριμένο άγαλμα. Εκπληκτική ιστορία, γραμμένη με έναν πολύ όμορφο τρόπο που δημιουργ��ί μία ατμόσφαιρα μυστηρίου που θυμίζει κάτι από Edgar Allan Poe και εξακολουθεί να υπάρχει ακόμα και μετά το τέλος της ανάγνωσης καθώς ο αναγνώστης καλείται να βγάλει τα δικά του συμπεράσματα. Η δεύτερη ιταλική ιστορία είναι μία ιστορία συζυγικής αμφισβήτησης με φόντο μία εξέγερση στην Λομβαρδία, όπου ένας ιερέας καλείται να επέμβει με αντισυμβατικό τρόπο. Μία επίσης πολύ καλή ιστορία στην οποία η συγγραφέας κάνει μία αντιπαραβολή μεταξύ της αγάπης για την πατρίδα και του έρωτα για μία γυναίκα, με το τέλος να είναι πάλι στην κρίση του αναγνώστη.

Οπότε γενικότερα είναι μία ενδιαφέρουσα συλλογή διηγημάτων που κάποια από αυτά είναι ιδιαίτερα αξιομνημόνευτα.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wharton shows her wide range of talents in this collection. There is one "Dialogue" or play, several written in third person, several in first person, written from a man's point of view and some from a woman's. All of them are carefully crafted to show a particular attitude or character or scene in great detail. There are also a few ghost stories, or at least they have some slight supernatural element in them.
A good collection from a great writer.

[Umi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading early Wharton has been interesting so far. These collections seem to be a bit all over the place and while that's not bad and definitely sort of to be expected approaching someone who was just starting to get published and maybe hadn't not found but established a voice, it makes it difficult to say something definitive about the collections as a whole other than something like, 'She was trying a lot of things to greater or lesser effect.'

Run on sentences aside (few of which you'll find in these collections btw), I am uncertain that the short story was really the format for our pal Ms. Wharton, as it can reduce her reveals to melodrama and not give her much chance to build them up or weave in other elements. Partially by virtue of its format does The Touchstone achieve this, others in this collection come close.

It must be said one of the triumphs of Wharton's writing is that she does not try to write too far from her surroundings. She makes no attempt to be 'relatable' or disguise the circumstances whence she's come but documents them with acuity.

Have also begun tracking the artists who appear in her writing as those in 'The Recovery' here and the portrait painters smattered about other texts. Not sure what to make of it yet but intrigued to see what crops up further.

Also I'm glad Venice is the one Italian place I've happened to visit because boy does she like to set things there.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories show solid, quality work from Wharton. I'm unsure if I could pinpoint a connecting thread through them, but I enjoyed each one. The first story, The Duchess at Prayer, is the most haunting for me. It could have been included with her Tales of Men and Ghosts and fit right in.

I have to say that I still like her, and most, novels more than short stories. Just the time I'm getting to know characters and understand what is happening, bam, a short story is over.

[Ad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wharton's second short story collection, consisting of 7 stories. Two of them I didn't like: "Copy" is a slim affair about two elderly writers who were once lovers and discover they have both kept the love letters of the other. "The Confessional" is a novelette mainly set in Italy about the war of independence from Austria; a young countess has an Austrian officer as lover, her freedom-fighting husband takes the place of the priest to hear her confession but declares her innocent. Count and priest later end up in the United States. There was too much history and politics in this story to like it.

The other 5 stories are all first-rate. "The Duchess at Prayer" is a gothic legend about another count and his adulterous countess, but here the revenge taken by the husband is so cruel that the face on a marble statue changes into "frozen horror."

"The Angel at the Grave" depicts and intellectual woman whose grandfather was famous as one of the American Transcendentalists. Since his death she keeps his house and papers in order and acts as a guide to visitors. But as time goes by she realizes that her grandfather is no longer the famous man he once was and that her life has been wasted... but then a young man visits her and shows interest in her grandfather’s papers for an entirely different reason - will they be able to restore his fame?

"The Recovery" is about a celebrated American painter, who when he for the first time visits the large museums in Paris, realizes how insignificant and countrified his art is. But he is still young and hopes to make a "recovery." A story about cultural differences.

"The Moving Finger" is about a husband who has a somewhat idealized portrait made of his beloved wife - after her death, when years have passed, he asks the painter to retouch the painting to make her older so that they keep the same age. The painter does his bidding only unwillingly, and at the end of the story we understand why.

"The Rembrandt" (perhaps the best story in the collection) is about a museum director in New York who has to evaluate an unsigned "Rembrandt" kept by a distressed gentlewomen. To help her, he ends up buying the painting which is not worth a dime for $1,000 - what will the reaction of his museum colleagues be?

Read more about Edith Wharton on my website: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/20...

[Kayla Randolph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was rather surprised that all of these stories were Wharton's! I honestly felt a bit disappointed overall, but I'll break it down.

1. The Duchess at Prayer: Very gothic, which I liked, but the ending could’ve packed more of a punch
2. The Angel at the Grave: I was really interested when reading this one! The ending was so wholesome that I refuse to see the possible foreboding that is (isn't!) present.
3. The Recovery: Are we supposed to be glad he thinks his paintings are now bad and that he wants to improve? Also, will Claudia stay with him in Paris? Very unclear of what the takeaway is.
4. "Copy:" A Dialogue: Why couldn’t they make a memoir of both their letters and ensure it wouldn’t be published until after both their and his wife’s deaths?! Burning them seems sacrilege!
5. The Rembrandt: Is it supposed to be a joke? Like "Haha, you end up with this terrible painting"? Or is the implication that it’s real and that’s why it’s a reward? Or is it just a funny reward for a good deed? I was left very confused.
6. The Moving Finger: My favorite! It was very reminiscent of Poe except with a less dark ending.
7. The Confessional: This story was not worth its length nor its position as the final story in the collection.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish- · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of short stories written by Edith Wharton.
It was okay, I love Edith Wharton, but this was not a hit for me.

I think the thing I love about Whartons writing so much is her ability to paint a scene, to lay out characters and unfold them. This is not something you can always do with such short stories.

The Duchess at Prayer
A haunting story reminiscent of The Picture of Dorian Grey.

The Angel at the Grave
Not sure about this one, nothing really happens. Paulina Anson agrees to help a man interested in her grandfathers works, but we never really learn much about either.

The Recovery
The story of an artists self realization.

Copy
A reunion of lovers

The Rembrandt
A desperate woman to sell a painting

The Morning Finger
Reverse Picture of Dorian grey?

The Confession part 1
The Confession part 2
The confessions of Don Egidio

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened on Librivox.

Boy I wish I had made comments about these stories to myself or recorded this less than a month after I finished it (and another Edith short story collection in the meantime...). It was probably good? I don't remember hating it...

[Kathy Nealen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story collection. Some appealed to me; some did not.

[Laura Leilani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple enjoyable stories and a couple that did not connect with me. Her writing is brilliant as always but I wouldn’t say these are examples of her best work. Just my opinion.

[MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy Wharton’s writing, but this was not the best example of her work.

[Haoyan Do · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it would be more suitably titled "Crucial Exploration" rather than "Crucial Instances". I like everything Wharton wrote, almost indiscriminately, even if when she's exploring different possibilities with her writing in her "Crucial Instances". Some people say "Crucial Instances" are better than her first short story collection "The Greater Inclination", but I have no interest in ranking her books or her collections. It has Wharton's signature beauty of language and that's all I care about. The first story about a praying duchess is a little Gothic like. The "Dialogue" reminds me of George Bernard Shaw--and if Wharton continue in the direction of witty banter, she might have become another Shaw. However why does she want to be a second Shaw when she can become a first Wharton? The story about moving finger is very much a ghost story and it is not difficult to see that she only dabbled a little bit in the supernatural direction. Both the first story and the last story, both about Italians, ask the readers to draw her own conclusions. The author only presents a part of the story and leaves the rest to the readers' imagination. It could be the author's exploration in such kind of stories to see how well they turn out, how readers like them etc.

[Dave Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cannot say I really enjoyed this book. This is a collection of stories where a 'crucial instance' changes the course of events. The best stories I was just getting into the story and characters when it ended. The worst I found mostly forgettable and unfortunately, I found the the first story was one of the weakest, which probably didn't help my enjoyment of the book. In the end it was okay but I cannot say I would recommend it to anyone.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

These early stories clearly show the direction future author. They are not among the best of Wharton, but have the nascent voice that was to mark her work. If you a new to Wharton, this is not the best place to start for while they give us a hint of what was to come, they clearly are not on the same level as her later works.

[LauraT · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Cinque Giornate di Milano" and the "Fatti del 48" (Do you know that still in Italian saying "it's happening a 48" means that there's a real chaos?) seen by an america Writer. Lovely

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories.

[Asyoulikeit · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best ones for me are:'the duchess at prayer', 'the recovery' and 'copy: a dialogue'