The Age of Innocence | Wharton and Old New York

This essay explores Wharton's nostalgic treatment of "Old New York" in The Age of Innocence. The excerpt contains numerous references to other works by the author, as well as quotes and passages from the novel.

In the following essay, Walton explores Wharton's nostalgic treatment of "Old New York" in The Age of Innocence.

Although Walter Berry prophesied that nobody else except themselves would be interested in the New York of her childhood, The Age of Innocence, 1920, was serialized in The Pictorial Review and was, almost inevitably, awarded the Pulitzer Prize and has become one of Edith Wharton's most widely read and admired works. It has all the ingredients of a historical best-seller, a richly detailed period setting, an emotional situation that the...

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