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A review by readingoverbreathing
A Backward Glance by Louis Auchincloss, Edith Wharton
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Be it the series of Gilded Age fashion that was covered on the Dressed podcast, my recent dabbling in The Gilded Age TV show, or the Sargent exhibition I attended at the MFA back in November, the Gilded Age has really been on my mind lately, and thus, naturally, Edith Wharton as well. I stumbled upon a used copy of this, her memoir, at the height of this interest and was eager to learn a little more about one of my all-time favorite authors.
I was naturally most looking forward to Edith's account of her childhood and early adulthood, growing up in one of the richest families in America in one of its most glamorous periods. And the Newport and New York scenes certainly did not disappoint — Edith's memories unfold in a blur of parties, faces, and especially clothes, for which she has a vivid recollection. I ate up every last detail.
But around the time of her marriage, the book shifted a bit and became much more focused on the people and places she interacted with in her adulthood. A lot of this was utterly fascinating — I had no idea how well-connected she was with so many of the famous figures of her day. And who, of course, can grow tired of her descriptions of traipsing around Europe?
However, it felt to me like any sense of Edith herself was very much in the background of all of this. I do understand that she was writing from a place of highlighting the important people and events in her life, rather than focusing on herself, but I just wish I could have seen more of her emerge in these pages. I felt like I got to know Henry James better than I did Edith.
The author of the introduction at the beginning of this edition points out that Edith hardly even alludes to her unhappy marriage and especially to her divorce, or even her husband at all, really, all of which must have made up a significant aspect of her adult experience, but which she only ever briefly mentions in passing. While I can understand all her unhappy reasons for avoiding this, it was still an obvious gap that created a slight sense of distrust for me as a reader.
Overall, though, this truly is a fascinating, extremely well-written look not only into the world of one of America's best writers, but into life in the early twentieth century from one of the most cosmopolitan women of the time. From start to finish, despite some dips and turns, I absolutely adored this as a reading experience. I wish all of my favorite authors had a memoir as detailed as this!
I was naturally most looking forward to Edith's account of her childhood and early adulthood, growing up in one of the richest families in America in one of its most glamorous periods. And the Newport and New York scenes certainly did not disappoint — Edith's memories unfold in a blur of parties, faces, and especially clothes, for which she has a vivid recollection. I ate up every last detail.
But around the time of her marriage, the book shifted a bit and became much more focused on the people and places she interacted with in her adulthood. A lot of this was utterly fascinating — I had no idea how well-connected she was with so many of the famous figures of her day. And who, of course, can grow tired of her descriptions of traipsing around Europe?
However, it felt to me like any sense of Edith herself was very much in the background of all of this. I do understand that she was writing from a place of highlighting the important people and events in her life, rather than focusing on herself, but I just wish I could have seen more of her emerge in these pages. I felt like I got to know Henry James better than I did Edith.
The author of the introduction at the beginning of this edition points out that Edith hardly even alludes to her unhappy marriage and especially to her divorce, or even her husband at all, really, all of which must have made up a significant aspect of her adult experience, but which she only ever briefly mentions in passing. While I can understand all her unhappy reasons for avoiding this, it was still an obvious gap that created a slight sense of distrust for me as a reader.
Overall, though, this truly is a fascinating, extremely well-written look not only into the world of one of America's best writers, but into life in the early twentieth century from one of the most cosmopolitan women of the time. From start to finish, despite some dips and turns, I absolutely adored this as a reading experience. I wish all of my favorite authors had a memoir as detailed as this!