Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction
This essay examines the recurring motif of transgression in Edith Wharton’s short fiction, which demonstrates the author’s career-long development of an aesthetic that foregrounded the often unresolved conflict between individual morality and the morality of prevailing social convention. Although Wh...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media |
| Online Access: | http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/5994 |
| _version_ | 1818305651548356608 |
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| author | Michele Ware |
| author_facet | Michele Ware |
| author_sort | Michele Ware |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay examines the recurring motif of transgression in Edith Wharton’s short fiction, which demonstrates the author’s career-long development of an aesthetic that foregrounded the often unresolved conflict between individual morality and the morality of prevailing social convention. Although Wharton clearly explored transgression and its attendant issue of morality in her novels, it is in her short stories that she examines a wider range of morally and ethically challenging situations, particularly those involving sexual transgression—in fidelity, divorce, forbidden desire—and sexual morality. Focusing on two representative short stories—“The Long Run” (1912) and “Roman Fever” (1934)—this essay argues that in Wharton’s short fiction, we can see a fairly radical imagination at work, especially in stories like these, in which Wharton implicitly places value on transgression, aligning herself with those who defy convention, whatever the costs. Such a sensibility reflects Edith Wharton’s understanding that transgression was an essential step in the process of social change. These stories suggest that Wharton saw transgression as an unavoidable force, necessary for breaking out of whatever binds and stifles the human soul: social institutions, internalized and external expectations, custom. Yet in all of her stories of transgressive acts, there is always a return to a moral position, implied if not actual, and based on personal responsibility and ethics. These stories illustrate Wharton’s guides to ethical behavior: responsibility, awareness, knowledge--not appetite. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T06:29:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cc9ffdf4d41947dda9f3d051a1d5784a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2585-3538 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T06:29:59Z |
| publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
| publisher | School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media |
| spelling | doaj.art-cc9ffdf4d41947dda9f3d051a1d5784a2022-12-21T23:56:39ZengSchool of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GreeceEx-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media2585-35382017-12-0111506110.26262/exna.v1i1.59945434Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short FictionMichele WareThis essay examines the recurring motif of transgression in Edith Wharton’s short fiction, which demonstrates the author’s career-long development of an aesthetic that foregrounded the often unresolved conflict between individual morality and the morality of prevailing social convention. Although Wharton clearly explored transgression and its attendant issue of morality in her novels, it is in her short stories that she examines a wider range of morally and ethically challenging situations, particularly those involving sexual transgression—in fidelity, divorce, forbidden desire—and sexual morality. Focusing on two representative short stories—“The Long Run” (1912) and “Roman Fever” (1934)—this essay argues that in Wharton’s short fiction, we can see a fairly radical imagination at work, especially in stories like these, in which Wharton implicitly places value on transgression, aligning herself with those who defy convention, whatever the costs. Such a sensibility reflects Edith Wharton’s understanding that transgression was an essential step in the process of social change. These stories suggest that Wharton saw transgression as an unavoidable force, necessary for breaking out of whatever binds and stifles the human soul: social institutions, internalized and external expectations, custom. Yet in all of her stories of transgressive acts, there is always a return to a moral position, implied if not actual, and based on personal responsibility and ethics. These stories illustrate Wharton’s guides to ethical behavior: responsibility, awareness, knowledge--not appetite.http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/5994 |
| spellingShingle | Michele Ware Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media |
| title | Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction |
| title_full | Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction |
| title_fullStr | Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction |
| title_short | Morality, Ethics, and Transgression in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction |
| title_sort | morality ethics and transgression in edith wharton s short fiction |
| url | http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/ExCentric/article/view/5994 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT micheleware moralityethicsandtransgressioninedithwhartonsshortfiction |