Afterword: "Talking Against Time" in The Age of Innocence

IF 0.1 0 LITERATURE, AMERICAN
F.D.A. Wegener
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Abstract

Abstract:In The Writing of Fiction, Edith Wharton argues that "the attempt to produce on the reader the effect of the passage of time" is one of the "central difficulties" confronting any novelist. In none of her own works of fiction is that difficulty resolved more successfully than in The Age of Innocence. This study demonstrates the extent to which an awareness of time occupies the core of Wharton's novel: time as it elapses, and time as it shapes the experiences of her characters. In old New York of the 1870s, people are strictly constrained by myriad inviolable routines and rituals, forced to be perpetually mindful of clock and calendar. The suspicion that their world is in the process of being gradually but irreversibly altered is pivotally captured when several characters, envisioning future inventions like the telephone, are said to be "talking against time"—a then-familiar but seldom elucidated colloquialism. Her own response to the acceleration of the social and technological changes that overtook old New York illustrates how Wharton, too, may be said to be "talking against time" in her later critical and autobiographical prose.
后记:《纯真年代》中的“与时间对抗”
摘要:伊迪丝·沃顿在《小说写作》一书中指出,“试图让读者感受到时间流逝的影响”是小说家面临的“核心难题”之一。在她自己的小说作品中,没有一部比《纯真年代》更成功地解决了这个难题。这项研究表明,时间意识在多大程度上占据了沃顿小说的核心:时间流逝,时间塑造了她笔下人物的经历。在19世纪70年代的老纽约,人们受到无数不可侵犯的惯例和仪式的严格约束,被迫永远注意时钟和日历。他们的世界正处于逐渐但不可逆转的改变过程中,当几个人物设想未来的发明,如电话,据说是“与时间交谈”时,这种怀疑就被关键地抓住了——这是一种当时很熟悉但很少被阐明的口语。在她后来的评论和自传体散文中,她自己对超越旧纽约的社会和技术变革的加速的反应也表明,沃顿也可以说是在“与时间赛跑”。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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Edith Wharton Review
Edith Wharton Review LITERATURE, AMERICAN-
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