Edith Wharton

Edith Newbold Wharton

An interesting comment on international tensions and stereotypes during Wharton's lifetime, €Madame de Treymes tells the story of an American man who works to marry his true love and win the respect of her traditional French aristocratic family.

With Illustrations

Madame de Treymes

An American in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, John Durham pays court to an old flame, Fanny Frisbee, now married to the dissolute Marquis de Malrive. Devoutly Catholic, Fanny’s husband is unlikely to grant her a divorce or relinquish custody of their young son, who is heir to the family title. When the Malrive family, urged by Fanny’s enigmatic sister-in-law, Madame de Treymes, agrees to a divorce, John must decide whether or not he will pursue a future with the woman he loves, but which forces her to give up her son. Contrasting the simplicity and practicality of John’s brownstone in New York with the decadence and beauty of the Saint-Germain district of Paris, Madame de Treymes intelligently examines the social role of women within two clashing cultures. The novella was inspired by Edith Wharton’s own entrance into Parisian society, and remains one of her best-loved works of fiction. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Madame De Treymes

Pixie J Stoner

Edith Wharton's "Madame de Treymes" is a remarkable example of the form. It is the story of the tactical defeat but moral victory of an honest and upstanding American in his struggle to win a wife from a tightly united but feudally minded French aristocratic family. He loses, but they cheat. . . . In a masterpiece of brevity, Wharton dramatizes the contrast between the two opposing forces: the simple and proper old brownstone New York, low in style but high in principle, and the achingly beautiful but decadent Saint-Germain district of Paris. The issue is seamlessly joined. Louis Auchincloss in the "Wall Street Journal," 2006

Madame de Treymes With Illustrations

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