Edith Wharton's Relationship to German Literature: a Study In
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Maria Novella Mercuri Edith Wharton’s relationship to German literature: a study in creative affinity Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of German University College London University of London 1998 ProQuest Number: U643467 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U643467 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Wharton’s cultural relationship to Germany has so far remained neglected. The vastness of her reading in this subject is well documented and mentioned in various critical works, but the subtle and creative use she makes of her readings of German authors has so far been largely overlooked. Moreover, there are interpretatively revealing affinities between Wharton’s work and the German novel tradition. This thesis is, then, less a study in demonstrable influence than in creative overlap. By far the most important German influence on Wharton’s life and work is Goethe’s. Her great admiration for Goethe is evident from the numerous references to his works recurring in her fiction and letters throughout her life. Goethe was a constant and shaping influence in Wharton’s existence and her philosophy of life owes much to his. He also constitutes a literary antecedent for her writing as the highest representative of the classical Bildungsroman tradition.. Chapter I therefore studies the relationship of some of Wharton’s most important novels to seminal German texts such as the Lehrjahre and theWander]ahre and toFaust. Moreover, this chapter tries to situate Wharton’s fiction in terms not only of the Bildungsroman but also of other literary genres such as the historical novel, romance, the naturalistic novel and the novel of manners, in order to highlight Wharton’s original use of them. The exploration of her use of romance and of elements of fantastic literature is continued in Chapter II, where a comparison of Wharton’sThe Valley of Decision and Schiller'sDer Geisterseher brings out likenesses of characterization and narrative technique. In Chapter III Wharton’s most important novels are read alongside Fontane’s, in order to highlight stylistic and thematic affinities between the two authors. This chapter focuses in particular on their treatment of the problem of the condition of women at the end of the 19th century, which leads Wharton and Fontane both to the criticism of a specific society, and to a wider philosophical consideration of the relationship between convention and morality, society and the individual, socialisation and personal freedom. In relation to these thematic concerns, the similarities between Wharton’s work and Thomas Mann’s are also considered. Finally, constituents and techniques of narrative in Wharton and Fontane are analysed by means of narratological tools as illustrated in the theoretical studies of Gérard Genette. Acknowledgements I am fortunate enough to owe gratitude to many people for the help they gave me in various ways during the time I spent on this thesis. First of all, to my husband Andrew, without whose continuous moral (and material) support this work might not have been written. Next, to our baby son Edwin, the most important chapter o f my Bildungsroman, who provides the quotidian joy that sustains life. I would also like to thank my supervisor Martin Swales, firstly for believing in this project, and secondly for being always his supporting and stimulating self. I also owe thanks to my parents, to my brother and to my sisters, who always shared my love o f books and ideas, and in particular to my mother, for bringing Wharton’s fiction to my attention many years ago. Thanks also to all the friends who, over the years, discussed with me some o f the ideas contained in this thesis, read parts o f it and gave me encouragement. I am grateful to Dr. Penelope Vita-Finzi and to Dr. Jacqueline Vickers, two Wharton specialists who advised me at crucial moments - the beginning and the end - o f this enterprise. Finally, I wish to thank the British Academy, the Institute o f Germanic Studies, the British Library, the library o f University College London and that o f the University o f London. To all, my thanks. Dedicated to Andrew and Edwin Rasta and to the memory of Francesco Alfonso Maria Mercuri (1965- 1997) Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................... 11 1. Goethean legacies in some of Wharton’s novels....................................... 21 1.1. The Valley of Decision {1902) 21 1.1.1. Plot .........................................................................................................25 1.1.2. Characterization ...................................................................................... 26 1.1.3. Wharton's historical determinism............................................................... 31 1.2. The House o f Mirth {1905) 36 1.3. The Fruit o f the Tree (1907) 45 1.4. The Age o f Innocence {1920) 62 1.5. Hudson River Bracketed (1929) andThe Gods Arrive (1932) 76 2. A comparative reading of Wharton’sThe Valley o f Decision and Schiller’s Der Geisterseher .............................................................................. 94 3. Wharton’s New York fiction and Fontane’s Berlin novels................. 104 3.1. The hvo cities .......................................................................................................104 3.2. Colonial antecedents of Fontane and Wharton.................................................... 107 3.3. The New York novels .......................................................................................... 108 3.4. The changing role of women in the New York novels.......................................... 114 3.5. The Berlin novels .................................................................................................117 3.6. The woman question in the Berlin novels ............................................................ 127 3.7. A study ofIrrungen^ Wirrungen and The Age of Innocence ............................... 151 3.7.1. The central situation ..............................................................................151 3.7.2. Setting and time span ............................................................................152 3.7.3. Construction ...................................................... 153 3.7.4. The female characters ............................................................................161 3.8. Techniques in Wharton and Fontane .................................................................. 171 3.8.1. Narrative ..............................................................................................171 3.8.2. Conversation as a mode of socio-psychological characterization.............. 190 7 3.9. Wharton and Mann. Thematic overlapThe inCustom of the Country and Buddenbrooks .................................................................................................................... 197 3.10. Summary.......................................................................................................................... 203 C on clu sion.................................................................................................................... 210 Notes ...................................................................................................................211 Chapter One 211 Chapter Two .........................................................................................................215 Chapter Three ........................................... :..........................................................216 Bibliography .................................................................................................218 Primary sources .....................................................................................................218 Secondary sources .................................................................................................220 References The source of quotations from Fontane’s literary works is given as a page reference in brackets after each quotation. The edition referred to is the appropriate volume of the Nymphenburger Ausgabe (Theodor Fontane, Samtliche Werke, ed. by Ernest Groh, Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, München, 1959-). Because there is no available standard edition of the works of Edith Wharton, I have, wherever appropriate, quoted from the Virago reprints or other editions, as indicated in the bibliography. The page reference given after each quotation is preceded by the initials of the title and always refers to the edition used, which is mentioned in brackets in the bibliography after the original Scribner’s or Appleton edition. Thus for example (FT, 624) stands for p. 624 of the Virago edition ofThe Fruit o f the Tree. Similarly, as far as secondary sources are concerned, quotations are followed by the year of publication of the edition or translation I used, by the year of publication of the original text (in square