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Book Club Guide to The Age of Innocence

Book Club Guide

From the new Postscript to Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence:

From Europe, at the height of her career, Edith Wharton looked back on her native land with tenderness as well as irony. Like Ellen Olenska, she must have once wanted nothing more than to belong. Like Newland Archer, over a lifetime, she devoured works of anthropology and ethnology, looked, questioned, wondered; more than him, she put her own society under a magnifying glass
and beckoned others . . .

For contemplation or conversation:

1. How does Edith Wharton feel about “her” New York? Is she writing about a paradise or a hell? Both?
Is satire opposite to nostalgia or are they kin?

2. At first, Newland Archer disapproves of Ellen Olenska’s attitude toward New York society. At what point
does his own thinking change and how? What might have primed him for this transformation?

3. Does Newland Archer seek to marry May Welland because he loves her? What does he come to feel for Ellen and how does it change his understanding of love? Does Ellen love Newland? What does the story have to say about what it means to love someone?

4. What are the rewards and drawbacks of the clear social roles assigned to the people in Wharton’s world? What kind of rebellions are permissible? Who is an outsider and under what circumstances might they be invited into the fold?

5. Art and ritual loom large in these lives. How does art serve society? How does it prompt Newland and Ellen
to look beyond the lines? Does art have the same effect on the two of them?

6. What do you think Edith Wharton is trying to say about who holds power in this society with the character of Mrs. Manson Mingott? What about May Welland? Mrs. Archer and Mrs. Welland? What kind of influence do women exercise in comparison to the men?

7. Is Julius Beaufort a Bernie Madoff type? Why do you think someone like Ellen Olenska seems drawn to him? What does he represent to Newland Archer? What does his fate say about New York society?

8. Ellen Olenska returns to New York with the desire to belong. Did she fail? Is there anything she could have done differently that would have led to a different outcome? What is her attitude to power and how does she wield it?

Recommended Reading:

Edith Wharton
Hermione Lee

From a new Postscript to
The Age of Innocence:

From Europe, at the height of her career, Edith Wharton looked back on her native land with tenderness as well as irony. Like Ellen Olenska, she must have once wanted nothing more than to belong. Like Newland Archer, over a lifetime, she devoured works of anthropology and ethnology, looked, questioned, wondered; more than him, she put her own society under a magnifying glass and beckoned others . . .

For contemplation or conversation:

1. How does Edith Wharton feel about “her” New York? Is she writing about a paradise or a hell? Both? Is satire opposite to nostalgia or
are they kin?

2. At first, Newland Archer disapproves of Ellen Olenska’s attitude toward New York society. At what point does his own thinking change and how? What might have primed him for this transformation?

3. Does Newland Archer seek to marry May Welland because he loves her? What does he come to feel for Ellen and how does it change his understanding of love? Does Ellen love Newland? What does the story have to say about what it means to love someone?

4. What are the rewards and drawbacks of the clear social roles assigned to the people in Wharton’s world? What kind of rebellions are permissible? Who is an outsider and under what circumstances might they be invited into the fold?

5. Art and ritual loom large in these lives. How does art serve society? How does it prompt Newland and Ellen to look beyond the lines? Does art have the same effect on the two of them?

6. What do you think Edith Wharton is trying
to say about who holds power in this society with the character of Mrs. Manson Mingott? What about May Welland? Mrs. Archer and Mrs. Welland? What kind of influence do women exercise in comparison to the men?

7. Is Julius Beaufort a Bernie Madoff type?
Why do you think someone like Ellen Olenska seems drawn to him? What does he represent
to Newland Archer? What does his fate say about New York society?

8. Ellen Olenska returns to New York with the desire to belong. Did she fail? Is there any-
thing she could have done differently that would have led to a different outcome?
What is her attitude to power and how does
she wield it?

Recommended Reading:

Edith Wharton
Hermione Lee

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Book Club Guide to Daisy Miller & Four Meetings

Book Club Guide 

From the new Postscript to Henry James’s Daisy Miller & Four Meetings:

In the fall of 1877, then 34-year-old Henry entrusted the short story “Four Meetings” to the American magazine Scribner’s Monthly. The following spring, the novella-like “Daisy Miller” bloomed in the field of his imagination. First published in London’s Cornhill Magazine, this story seized the attention of readers on both sides of the Atlantic, giving rise to the popular conception of the “American girl.”

For contemplation or conversation:

1. Henry James originally titled his novella, Daisy Miller: A Study—what if it were titled Frederick Winterbourne: A Study? Does the reader learn more about the title character or the young gentleman
through whose eyes we are ostensibly seeing her?

2. What does Frederick Winterbourne want from Daisy Miller? What does she want from him? Do either’s intentions change across the time period described by the story?

3. To what extent is James writing about social class or about cultural differences? In Daisy Miller, we meet
a handful of Americans (the Millers; Winterbourne; his aunt, Mrs. Costello; his friend, Mrs. Walker; etc.)
who interact with one another, but do they belong to the same group or groups? What draws them
together? What divides them?

4. Flirting takes on an outsized importance in Daisy Miller—or does it? How do you think James himself
views flirting as distinct from the characters represented on the page?

5. Is the unnamed narrator of Four Meetings a good friend? Should he have intervened more forcefully to protect Miss Caroline Spencer or is he ahead of his time in offering her the independence of her own
judgement? Like Daisy Miller, is Caroline Spencer an ‘American girl’? What might that have meant in
James’s time? What would it mean now?

6. In relating Caroline Spencer’s experience of Europe, is James saying something about the American character? The European scene? Or just human nature?

7. In literary terms, do Daisy Miller and Four Meetings have satisfying endings? What do you think makes
these stories (especially Daisy Miller) popular? How else might they conclude?

Recommended Reading:

Henry James: The Imagination of Genius, A Biography
Fred Kaplan

Henry James: A Critical Biography
Rebecca West

Notes of a Son and Brother (in the public domain)
Henry James

From the new Postscript to
Daisy Miller & Four Meetings:

In the fall of 1877, then 34-year-old Henry entrusted the short story “Four Meetings” to the American magazine Scribner’s Monthly. The following spring, the novella-like “Daisy Miller” bloomed in the field of his imagination. First published in London’s Cornhill Magazine, this story seized the attention of readers on both sides of the Atlantic, giving rise to the popular conception of the “American girl.”

For contemplation or conversation:

1. Henry James originally titled his novella, Daisy Miller: A Study—what if it were titled Frederick Winterbourne: A Study? Does the reader learn more about the title character or the young gentleman through whose eyes we are ostensibly seeing her?

2. What does Frederick Winterbourne want from Daisy Miller? What does she want from him? Do either’s intentions change across the time period described by the story?

3. To what extent is James writing about social class or about cultural differences? In Daisy Miller, we meet a handful of Americans (the Millers; Winterbourne; his aunt, Mrs. Costello; his friend, Mrs. Walker; etc.) who interact with one another, but do they belong to the same group or groups? What draws them together? What divides them?

4. Flirting takes on an outsized importance in Daisy Miller—or does it? How do you think James himself views flirting as distinct from the characters represented on the page?

5. Is the unnamed narrator of Four Meetings a good friend? Should he have intervened more forcefully to protect Miss Caroline Spencer or is he ahead of his time in offering her the independence of her own judgement? Like Daisy Miller, is Caroline Spencer an ‘American girl’? What might that have meant in James’s time? What would it mean now?

6. In relating Caroline Spencer’s experience of Europe, is James saying something about the American character? The European scene? Or just human nature?

7. In literary terms, do Daisy Miller and Four Meetings have satisfying endings? What do you think makes these stories (especially Daisy Miller) popular? How else might they conclude?

Recommended Reading:

Henry James: The Imagination of Genius, A Biography
Fred Kaplan

Henry James: A Critical Biography
Rebecca West

Notes of a Son and Brother
(in the public domain)
Henry James

Read More Postcards
PDF Download
PDF Download
Read More Postcards

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