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.ABOUT THE
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