Dec 21, 2009

The House of Mirth | What Do I Read Next?

Wharton’s novel The Custom of the Country (1913) can be considered a companion piece to The House of Mirth. The novel chronicles the rise of Undine Spragg, a ruthless Midwesterner, up New York’s social ladder. Unlike Lily Bart, Undine cares nothing about the people she harms as she attempts to achieve wealth and social standing.

Wharton’s autobiography A Backward Glance was published in 1934, three years before the author’s death.

According to scholar Linda Wagner-Martin, Wharton took as a literary model the titular heroine of Henry James’s...