Expiation

by Edith Wharton

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Classics

34 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2013

About the author

Edith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.

Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.

Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.

Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.

Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.

Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.

Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.

In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.

Reviews

[Chrissie]

****************

The Old Maid: The 'Fifties 5 stars
Bunner Sisters 4 stars
Roman Fever 4 stars
Summer 4 stars
Xingu 3 stars
The House of Mirth 3 stars
The Age of Innocence 1 star
Ethan Frome 1 star

Autres Temps TBR
The Last Asset TBR
Expiation TBR

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun short story to read; I couldn't help but think that Wharton was unleashing just a little venom on the publishing world that might have given her some grief.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny little story of two writers with large egos helping each other to get what they want.

[Gila Gila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fangs are gentile, being Wharton, but Expiation is a sharply satiric bite at the publishing industry and what it takes for a book to sell. The 3 related authors in the story, without a single meaningful word put to paper between them, wallow in the desperation of their shared cause: success as a writer. At one point, the wonderfully named Mrs. Clinch responds to the thought that books will 'stand or fall on their own merits':
"Bosh! That view is as extinct as the post-chaise ...it belongs to the time when people read books. Nobody does that now ... at first they read the reviews; now they read only the publishers' extracts from them."
Nobody does that now, either, but this was published in Cosmopolitan in 1903! My, how things have changed not one whit. Expiation is also rife with the sort of sweetly delivered snipes which ripple through comedies of the 30s and 40s - think "The Women" -:
"Mrs. Fetherel lifted a tragic eye to her cousin. "You don't know, Bella, how often I've envied you since I began to write. I used to wonder sometimes--you won't mind my saying so?--why, with all your cleverness, you hadn't taken up some more exciting subject than natural history; but I see now how wise you were. Whatever happens, you will never be denounced by the press!"
"Is that what you're afraid of?" asked Mrs. Clinch, as she grasped the bulging umbrella which rested against her chair. "My dear, if I had ever had the good luck to be denounced by the press, my brougham would be waiting at the door for me at this very moment, and I shouldn't have to ruin this umbrella by using it in the rain."