I've been pretty clear about my love of Wharton. Her writing always sparkles, and I've liked almost everything of hers I've read, even her short stories which I don't usually get along with. Old New York consists of four longish short stories (or shortish novellas), each set in the New York of a different decade, beginning with the 1840's and ending with the 1870's.

In the first story, "False Dawn," set in the 1840's, a young man, Lewis Raycie, is sent to Europe for a year by his wealthy philistine father to buy some Old Masters to fill out his father's art collection. While there Lewis meets a young art connoiseur John Ruskin who encourages him to buy some newly rediscovered early Italian Renaissance painters like Giotto and Piero della Francesca. Unfortunately, these were not artists known to or appreciated by New York society including Lewis's father. Lewis is disinherited of everything except these paintings. Who has the last laugh?

The second story, "The Old Maid," is one of Wharton's best-known stories, and probably my favorite in this collection. Young society matron Delia interferes to prevent her cousin Charlotte from marrying (because Charlotte had an illegitimate child which fact was unknown to her fiancée). Delia arranges things so that Charlotte can continue to have a relationship with her illegitimate daughter Trina, though no one else, including Trina, is aware that Charlotte is Trina's biological mother. As a young woman, Trina is caught between Delia, the society matron who adopted her, and Charlotte who she views as a somewhat dispensible "old maid," deserving only of pity.

The third story, "The Spark," set in the 1860's takes another look at the artistic pretensions of old New York society as it focuses on Hayley Delane's encounter during the Civil War with an iconic American poet. And the final story, "The Spark" again focuses on societal mores as all New York believes Lizzie Hazeldean is having an affair and is scandalized, when the true facts are much more complex.

Recommended.

4 stars ( )

53. Old New York by Edith Wharton
OPD: 1924
format: ebook (maybe 300 pages?)
acquired: September 1 read: Sep 3-28 time reading: 9:26, 1.9 mpp
rating: 4½
genre/style: Classic fiction theme: Wharton
locations: New York City and surrounds
about the author: 1862-1937. Born Edith Newbold Jones on West 23rd Street, New York City. Relocated permanently to France after 1911.

A collection of four novellas that each focuses on a different decade in the 1800's, and that each loosely ties into [The Age of Innocence] (which opens in the 1870's).

Themes are the stifling culture of New York's old elite inter-marrying families, where men control the money, and woman are dependent, and unsatisfied relationships characterize the best marriages. Wharton gives us humans within this culture. Overall, the stories benefit from that Wharton prose that makes everything easy and comfortable and interesting. Her writing catches us readers early. You're involved, characters crystallize before your eyes quickly, sometimes many all at once, each distinct. On the flip side, each story is very different, and most readers will probably find three stories pale before whatever they choose as their favorite. I liked The Old Maid the best, but actually think more about The Spark.

Each story:

[False Dawn] (The 'Forties) - Welcome back to Wharton. This opens with an assortment of rich characters standing on their airs in their Long Island vacation homes. A pair of misfit lovers grab our attention. We get art and Europe, egos and irony to go along with some compassionate warm and sad moments.

[The Old Maid] (The 'Fifites) - A married mother, Delia Ralston, takes care of her spinster sister, Charlotte Lovell and Charlotte's secret child. But Delia takes a few things from Charlotte along the way, including the reader's focus and curiosity. Delia is fascinating. A character study on cruel kindness, maybe.

[The Spark] (The 'Sixties) - A character study of a Civil War veteran. We have moved to the 1890's when veteran Hayley Delane's wife openly cheats on him. But he's a curiosity. Something happened to him during the war. He not only doesn't seem fazed by his wife's actions, but continues to embrace her, with no animosity. The word "queer" drops in there. It comes without clear indication, but it's there. Mainly I was interested in the impenetrabilty of Hayley.

[1325419::New Year's Day] (The 'Seventies) - A hotel fire outs the secret affair of a married woman, Lizzie Hazeldean. The story misleads the reader, creating a kind of mystery of who she really is, dropping a handful of unexpected breadcrumbs before laying out some strength of character and an explanation that not all readers will be comfortable with, including me.

2023
https://www.librarything.com/topic/351556#8243857 ( )

Comprising four novellas by Wharton, ONY depicts the codes and conduct of New York in inscrutable fashion as only Wharton can do. The one closest to my heart was NEW YEAR'S DAY, with a main character similar to Ellen Olenska in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, who faces ostracism from NY society for her scandalous suspected conduct of an illicit affair. Exquisite prose and insightful character studies. Thanks #whartonbuddyread for yet another Wharton wonder. ( )

I love Edith Wharton. I love her writing style, her insights, her understanding of the world of upper-crust New York (a world I can only ever get a glimpse of through the eyes of others), and her even deeper understanding of the human heart. I cannot say I am always fond of the short-story as a genre, but these novellas are really just short stories, and I enjoyed them every one.

In False Dawn, she shows us the ridiculous criteria on which the values of society are sometimes based and the injustice that can be heaped upon the head of a man who steps outside the norms others have set for him.

The Old Maid was my favorite in the book and the reason I elected a 5-star instead of a 4-star rating. This story, that deals with an illegitimate child and how the situation is handled by the mother and her cousin, is a perfect short story/novella for me. The subject matter is one we so seldom see addressed during this time, being as taboo a thing to speak of as to do. The ironies are myriad and the feelings of the two women are as sharp as broken glass.

Both The Spark and New Year's Day are interesting and well written. The latter particularly impressed me for its illustration of how things are not always what they seem to be and how often we think we know about someone from what we observe and have them pegged completely wrong.

As with all of her works, these have elements of tragedy that run through them like rising rivers. They swell and overflow and the characters themselves are at their mercy and stand no chance of stemming the waters. Perhaps growing up in Old New York, a privileged daughter of a very wealthy man, Edith Wharton was accustomed to others looking at her life and believing it perfect and blessed. Perhaps, from the inside, she saw how imperfect life could be regardless of the money or status one held. She certainly became a master at conveying that in her stories. Her ability to find the humanity in the midst of the oppressive societal conventions made her the first woman to win the Pulitizer Prize, a distinction she well deserved. ( )

Describing the same scene as in The age of innocence is Old New York. Four novellas. These four novellas of 70 - 90 pages each, was first published in 1924.

The four novellas are:

False dawn: the Forties
The old maid: the Fifties
The spark: the Sixties
New Year's Day: the Seventies

The four novellas were published in separate volumes in a boxed set, later often together in one volume. Not as suave as novellas by Henry James, but an entertaining story, nonetheless.

The first novella is about a father-son relationship that goes awry. A typical generation conflict in the scene of the new wealthy, the son is not just misunderstood by his father, but far ahead of his contemporaries. The second novella "The Old Maid" is considered the best, while the fourth story is widely considered the weakest. Personally, I felt the first and second were the best.

"Old New York" does not refer to the place name. These novellas are not specifically about old-time New York city. In American upper-class parlance "Old New York" refers to the upper crust oldest and wealthiest families "Old Money" families in New York, the Rockefellers of the 19th century.

Just like The age of innocence, these four novellas are about the moral values of these Old Families. It was a theme Henry James has often suggested her to write about.

It isn't entirely clear why Wharton suggests each novella belongs to a decade, the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Edith Wharton was born in 1862, so in a sense these stories are historical fiction. Not exactly written from her own experience, although the stories would be set in the time of her mother or grandmother's youth, a time she might still be sufficiently able to glean from first-hand narratives by contemporaries. Nothing suggests that the succession of these decades involves a development.

Of the four novellas two are about men, and two are about women. The two novellas about young men, "False dawn" and "The spark" are both about inspiration, a glimmer that lights up in the minds of these young men. In each case, this new idea is sparked by art, in "False Dawn" it is the art of the renaissance, itself an expression of a new way to viewing man, that sets the young man on a new path, breaking with the conventionalism of his father, while in "The spark" the young soldier is inspired by a chance meeting with the American poet, Walt Whitman.

The two novellas about women, "The old maid" and "New Year's Day" are about sacrifices that the two women make in social situations that are strongly disapproved of by society.

In my opinion, the two novellas about the women are better than the two novellas about the men, and I think the four novellas should be read as a quartet. With the exception of "The old maid" I would hardly believe the stories would carry much conviction. I also think that Old New York. Four novellas is stronger and more convincing than The age of innocence. The four novellas were published two years after the novel. They seem to be more focused and thematically stronger.

Not as suave as the novellas by Henry James, I think this collection is still worth while reading. ( )