|
Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and the opulent country houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novel creates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called 'a society of irresponsible pleasure-seekers' with a precision comparable to that of Proust. Her brilliant and complex characterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty and dependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to a decorative object, becomes an incisive commentary on the nature and status of women in that society.
|
