QUOTE: The Divided Conflict
of Edith Wharton's Summer
by CAROL WERSHOVEN -- WHEN Bernard Berenson complimented Edith Wharton on her latest
novel, Summer, and expressed admiration for its predominant male
character, Lawyer Royall, Wharton replied, "of course he's the book."l
Wharton's statement has been largely ignored by critics who view the book
as Charity Royall's story, and who classify Lawyer Royall as an old windbag,
a pompous drunkard, or worse. 2 The popular interpretation ignores not only
Royall's central position in the plot, but Royall's central role in the novel's subtle
and unfolding themes. For Summer is not just Wharton's variation on the
old seduced-and-abandoned theme; it is a story of two protagonists, both of
whom must come to terms with their destructive illusions in order to lead adult
lives.
The ability to "look life in the face, "3 to confront reality without flinching
or evasion, was, for Wharton, an essential quality in mature conduct. She
repeatedly traced the conflicts of characters faced with the choice of escape
through evasion or a more painful but adult recognition of things as they are.
In the majority of her novels, Wharton chronicles this conflict through the use
of an outsider heroine, one who exposes the reality ofsituation and selfin confrontation
with a weak male. This male figure, unable to face the truths the
heroine reveals, rejects her. Such is the pattern of Ellen Olenska and Newland
Archer in The Age of Innocence, of Lily Bart and Selden in The House of
Mirth, as well as of Wharton's lesser known novels. 4 What is unusual about
Summer is, as Wharton herself noted, that a man, Royall, is at the center of
the book, that the conflict between suffocating illusions and painful but
liberating reality is not expressed through Wharton's customary plot structure.
Thanks to www.richardarmitagecentral.com for making available a translation of a Polish interview with RA. He was asked about playing Francis Dolarhyde on 'Hannibal' Following is a quote from that interview(see link below)
"I think in fact 'Red Dragon' is a tragic love story....I've never played such a character and I will not ever again"
Following from fan Abby - adorable! Do a search to learn origins of the flowered crown meme...
See Poldark, ep 2 on PBS this Sunday...
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlmahs/index.htm
