Product Description

Edith Wharton's satiric anatomy of American society in the first decade of the twentieth century appeared in 1913; it both appalled and fascinated its first reviewers, and established her as a major novelist. The Saturday Review wrote that she had 'assembled as many detestable people as it is possible to pack between the covers of a six-hundred page novel', but concluded that the book was 'brilliantly written', and 'should be read as a parable'. It follows the career of Undine Spragg, recently arrived in New York from the midwest and determined to conquer high society. Glamorous, selfish, mercenary and manipulative, her principal assets are her striking beauty, her tenacity, and her father's money. With her sights set on an advantageous marriage, Undine pursues her schemes in a world of shifting values, where triumph is swiftly followed by dissullusion. Wharton was recreating an environment she knew intimately, and Undine's education for social success is chronicled in meticulous detail. The novel superbly captures the world of post-Civil War America, as ruthless in its social ambitions as in its business and politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40858 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Customer Reviews

Savage customs

Few social climbers are as surreally despicable as Edith Wharton's Undine Spragg, who doesn't care what happens to anyone else as long as she can shop and party. And "The Custom of the Country" is the perfect example of what such people do to the people around them. It's nauseating and brilliant, all at once.

Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, whose parents made a small-scale fortune and have moved to the glitzy world of New York. Undine wants the best of everything, more than her family can afford, but she thinks it's all worth it -- so she marries a besotted son of "old New York," but it doesn't take long for him to realize how incompatible they are.

And he doesn't realize that Undine is hiding a (then) shameful secret -- she was once married and quickly divorced from a vulgar businessman. In the present, Undine continues her quest for a life of pleasure, moving on to a French nobleman and getting just as dissatisfied with him. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is.

Undine Spragg may actually be one of the most despicable, selfish characters in all of classic literature -- she literally doesn't care about anyone but herself, or who she hurts. You'd think a book about someone like that would be dreary, but instead it's one long needle at the people like Undine, who care only for money, status and fun.

But it's also about the changing fortunes in late 19th-century America (and Europe). New money -- symbolized by Undine and her shrewd, megarich ex-hubby -- was squeezing out the old guard, who were never terribly rich to start with. Wharton's observations on their rise and decline have a sharp, biting edge. Although compared to the anti-heroine, the old traditions seem pretty innocent.

Lots of celebrity socialites could take a lesson from Undine's story: she's a snob of humble stock, thinks she's a great person, and utterly selfish -- if her husband shoots himself, that's great! She can marry again without the disgrace of a divorce! Yet in the end, you know that Undine will always be craving something more that she thinks will make her happy, but she will never find it.

The characters around Undine are usually nice, but blinded by her nymphlike beauty -- and even her parents, who know what she's like, are too beaten-down by her whining to resist. Only her ex-husband, Ralph Marvell, is really right for her -- not only is he obscenely rich and just as grasping as Undine, but he's smart enough to know what a monster she is.

"The Custom of the Country" is a wickedly barbed, brilliant piece of work, with one of the nastiest anti-heroines ever, and a great look at the rising tides of "new money." A must-read.

An unapologetic story of social demands
"The Custom of the Country" is hard and unflinching in its telling of Undine Spragg's relentless pursuit for fortune and fame in the early 20th century. Through Undine Spragg and her various loves, Ms Wharton articulates her thoughts on the effect of the New York society's customs on the expected roles of men and behaviours of women. Ms Wharton further shows that the same can be said of another country's society when she moves the story to Paris in the later part of the book.

In Undine Spragg, Ms Wharton has spared no punches in portraying her self-centred personality and thoughts, who according to her is a perfect example of the product of New York society's customs.

As with the "House of Mirth", very few of the characters in "The Custom of the Country" were given a reprieve from the fate that they seem destined to suffer. This cannot be brought across more starkly than in the scene where Undine's husband, Ralph Marvell, finally uncovers the full scale of her lies and deception. His subsequent mental breakdown is excruciating and highly emotive. Yet at the same time, there is an ethereal quality to the loss of his grip on reality, which makes for compelling and climatic reading.

Ms Wharton does not, for any moment, spare her reader any anguish and agony in the story of Undine Spragg and particularly that of Ralph Marvell. The rare moments of true tenderness and calm in the novel are often employed to sensitise one's feelings and deepen the pity, before a devastating blow is delivered. At such points, one cannot help but submit helplessly and almost unquestioningly to Ms Wharton's portrayal of her characters, and ultimately to her sublime story-telling.