Signet USA Wharton, E: The House of Mirth

The House of Mirth stands as the work that first established Edith Wharton's eminent literary reputation. In it she honed her acerbic style, and discovered her defining subject: the fashionable New York society in which she had been raised, and which held the power to debase both people and ideals. In this devastatingly accurate and finely wrought novel, the heroine is Lily Bart, a poor relation of a wealthy woman. Lily is beautiful, intelligent, and hopelessly addicted to the pleasures of the moneyed world of luxury and grace. But, ironically, it is her delicacy of taste and moral sensibility that render her unfit for survival in this world, and helpless against the vulgarity and greed that form the true foundation of its glittering social edifice. A brilliant portrayal of both human frailty and nobility, and a bitter attack on false social values, The House of Mirth has been hailed by Louis Auchincloss as "uniquely authentic among American novels of manners". ...