Wharton, Edith (1862 - 1937) | Monika Elbert (Essay Date March 1995)
MONIKA ELBERT (ESSAY DATE MARCH 1995)
SOURCE: Elbert, Monika. "The Transcendental Economy of Wharton's Gothic Mansions." American Transcendental Quarterly 9, no. 1 (March 1995): 51-67.
In the following essay, Elbert asserts that in her Gothic, domestic ghost stories, Wharton—like the Transcendentalists—offers an alternative to the perceived greed, corruption, and compulsion inherent in a capitalist society.
Ghosts, to make themselves manifest, require two conditions abhorrent to the modern mind: silence and continuity.
—Edith Wharton, Preface to The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton1
"Outside there," she thought, "skyscrapers, advertisements, telephones, wireless, airplanes, movies, motors, and all the rest of the twentieth century; and on the other side of the door something I can't explain, can't relate to them. Something as old as the world, as mysterious as life…."
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