Age of Innocence

<p>Edith Wharton (1862-1937) wrote carefully structured fiction that probed the psychological and social elements guiding the behavior of her characters. Her portrayals of upper-class New Yorkers were unrivaled. <i>The Age of Innocence</i> for which Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize in 1920 is one of her most memorable novels.<br>At the heart of the story are three people whose entangled lives are deeply affected by the tyrannical and rigid requirements of high society. Newland Archer a restrained young attorney is engaged to the lovely May Welland but falls in love with May's beautiful and unconventional cousin Countess Ellen Olenska. Despite his fear of a dull marriage to May Archer goes through with the ceremony -- persuaded by his own sense of honor family and societal pressures. He continues to see Ellen after the marriage but his dreams of living a passionate life ultimately cease.<br>The novel's lucid and penetrating prose style vivid characterization and its rendering of the social history of an era have long made it a favorite with readers and critics alike.