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Sono Crepuscular
Com a cosmopolita cidade de Nova Iorque como pano de fundo, a famÃlia Manford refugia-se nas mais variadas formas de evasão para fugir ao tédio e ao vazio das suas vidas privilegiadas. No mundo da alta-sociedade a que pertencem, abundam o sexo, as drogas, a ânsia por dinheiro e poder, a atracção pelo oculto e pela espiritualidade new age. Nona é a filha mais nova e com apenas 19 anos ambiciona mais do que a busca de prazer imediato adoptada pela maioria dos jovens da sua idade. Numa época cuja prioridade é dada a relacionamentos superficiais, ela procura uma existência com sentido, algo que partilha com o meio-irmão, Jim. Mas a mãe de ambos, Pauline, tem da vida uma visão bastante mais utilitária e hedonista. A sua obsessão com as aparências vai forçá-los a assumir posições extremas e ditar irremediavelmente o futuro de todos.
Sono Crepuscular poderia ter sido escrito no século XXI. Mas, na verdade, a grande senhora das letras americanas, Edith Wharton, escreveu-o no inÃcio do século passado e retratou os loucos anos vinte em toda a sua duplicidade.
Sono Crepuscular poderia ter sido escrito no século XXI. Mas, na verdade, a grande senhora das letras americanas, Edith Wharton, escreveu-o no inÃcio do século passado e retratou os loucos anos vinte em toda a sua duplicidade.
302 pages
First published January 1, 1927
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2,037 people want to read
About the author
Edith Wharton
1,170Ìýbooks4,897ÌýfollowersEdith Wharton was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel, The Age of Innocence. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, in 1996. Her other well-known works are The House of Mirth, the novella Ethan Frome, and several notable ghost stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
July 13, 2020
The Roaring Twenties a time of complete change from Victorian and Edwardian eras, only two decades removed, the Great War catapulted moral values and customs at an exhilarated pace, what was shocking a few years previously became common practice, after the butchering of millions, the old ways seems disingenuous even hypocritical. The Lost Generation cared little for the ancient habits of their parents, and beliefs, was it not they that led to the trenches and the slaughterhouse? The young would never again take it seriously, live for the now tomorrow may never come, as death is around the corner...Twilight Sleep is a proper title for this book as most of the main characters are in a stupor, the upper crust are trying to hang on to the discarded conventions not very successfully , written and set in 1927 New York City. Mrs.Pauline Manford a leader in what is left of high society, apparently in her mid forties has a busy life with a full schedule of appointments, activities and latest causes she generously donates to , her perfect secretary Miss Bruss keeps a tight checklist and the affluent lady can afford to be generous. Trouble is the family of Mrs. Manford, especially her two children Nona 20, an active, intelligent, unmarried daughter but seeing a man with a wife obviously insecure, and easy going older son Jim, married to a silly , beautiful woman Lita, (he from her first marriage to Arthur Wyant, a hopeless lush) she a superb dancer, acts single, thinking of going to Hollywood, a scandalous move for the elite. The kids sometimes...make it often, cannot talk to their mother , no free minutes to spare would ruin her schedule, yet constantly being treated by spiritual healers, the latest found by her friends they highly recommend, however still quacks and she grows older . Dexter the bored second husband and wealthy lawyer of Pauline's, if I may be so informal has too many cases, he is rarely at dinner hates going to his wife's countless stuffy society parties, with a tinge of wanderlust. Edith Wharton is not in her element the 1920's, she a senior citizen doesn't understand the new Jazz Age, the novel in one chapter visits the legendary Cotton Club ( under a different name, an idiotic alias here indeed) . Pauline/Edith dislike the noisy colorful atmosphere, the crowded building and the lively shows with top black entertainers , owned by a gangster where drinks are plentiful, Prohibition what's that? Clearly Mrs.Wharton was a great writer, The Age of Innocence , The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome and I am sure numerous others, nonetheless every writer has failures ask Shakespeare, well a little late now.
August 31, 2020
I enjoyed this way more than THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. There, I said it.
August 14, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded down.
Twilight sleep is a drugged state induced in women to avoid pain during childbirth. It is a way to be removed from what is natural and real and placed instead into a foggy, numbed experience; and, metaphorically, that is the state of each of the characters in this novel. Not one of them operates in the real world, theirs is one of denial of reality and truth. They exist to fool one another and, even more sadly, to fool themselves.
I have never before read a Wharton that made me think of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but this one did. These shallow characters would fit right into his world. Lita Wyant and Nona Manford would have far too much in common with Daisy Buchanan and Gloria Gilbert. They could all sit about and pretend their lives have meaning. Scott and Zelda would make excellent guests to round out one of Pauline Manford’s celebrity show-off dinners.
A story of broken marriages, foolishly wasteful expenses of wealth, careless disregard for others, and the short-comings of privilege, Wharton transports you to the Jazz Age world, but I could not help feeling it was inferior somehow to all of her earlier works. It certainly lacked the kind of characterization that pulled me so completely into The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. So much here was meant to be laid between the lines, as shadowy as the people involved, but I somehow wanted Wharton to speak to me more clearly and allow me to see inside the motivations of some of the characters, particularly Arthur Wyant. Of course, her opaqueness allows us to draw our own conclusions, which might have been her entire intent, or perhaps she simply wanted us to realize that we were not meant to understand these people any better than they understood themselves.
As I finished reading, I reminded myself that I disliked Ethan Frome the first time I read it and ended by giving it four-stars the second time around. I suspect this is one of those novels that would benefit from an in depth discussion, and might earn itself a star that way…I’m also betting there would be a lot of varying takes on both what happens here and also who these people really are. But, with only myself to talk to, and not liking a single one of them in the least, I consign them all to the hell they have created and move on to Edith Wharton’s next endeavor.
Twilight sleep is a drugged state induced in women to avoid pain during childbirth. It is a way to be removed from what is natural and real and placed instead into a foggy, numbed experience; and, metaphorically, that is the state of each of the characters in this novel. Not one of them operates in the real world, theirs is one of denial of reality and truth. They exist to fool one another and, even more sadly, to fool themselves.
I have never before read a Wharton that made me think of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but this one did. These shallow characters would fit right into his world. Lita Wyant and Nona Manford would have far too much in common with Daisy Buchanan and Gloria Gilbert. They could all sit about and pretend their lives have meaning. Scott and Zelda would make excellent guests to round out one of Pauline Manford’s celebrity show-off dinners.
A story of broken marriages, foolishly wasteful expenses of wealth, careless disregard for others, and the short-comings of privilege, Wharton transports you to the Jazz Age world, but I could not help feeling it was inferior somehow to all of her earlier works. It certainly lacked the kind of characterization that pulled me so completely into The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. So much here was meant to be laid between the lines, as shadowy as the people involved, but I somehow wanted Wharton to speak to me more clearly and allow me to see inside the motivations of some of the characters, particularly Arthur Wyant. Of course, her opaqueness allows us to draw our own conclusions, which might have been her entire intent, or perhaps she simply wanted us to realize that we were not meant to understand these people any better than they understood themselves.
As I finished reading, I reminded myself that I disliked Ethan Frome the first time I read it and ended by giving it four-stars the second time around. I suspect this is one of those novels that would benefit from an in depth discussion, and might earn itself a star that way…I’m also betting there would be a lot of varying takes on both what happens here and also who these people really are. But, with only myself to talk to, and not liking a single one of them in the least, I consign them all to the hell they have created and move on to Edith Wharton’s next endeavor.
April 24, 2016
Se Jane Austen affermava di lavorare con un pennello su un piccolo pezzetto d’avorio, Edith Wharton, secondo me, avrebbe potuto affermare che lei lavorava, intagliava, lucidava, una gemma d’ambra magari con un insetto intrappolato al suo interno. L'ambra, secondo me, può benissimo rappresentare l'opera della scrittrice statunitense, in quanto può essere intesa come la società che "intrappola" il/la protagonista di uno dei suoi titoli.
I libri scritti dall’autrice americana sono dei veri piccoli gioielli, molto spesso brillanti certe volte un po� meno.
Il sonno del crepuscolo è uno degli ultimi romanzi scritti dalla Wharton.
Ambientato a New York nei ruggenti anni �20, il libro racconta le vicende di Pauline Manford e della sua famiglia.
Pauline Manford è una donna dell’alta borghesia newyorkese, molto sicura di sé che ha sempre i minuti contati; seguace di guru e guaritori, filantropa a tempo pieno le sue giornate sono sempre impegnate da “esercizi euritmici�, massaggi per il viso, meditazione, incontri e discorsi al Comitato per il controllo delle nascite e all’Associazione del Giorno delle Madri. Una donna per cui anche la Pasqua anticipata può diventare un problema.
Pauline è talmente impegnata da non avere tempo neanche per una chiacchierata con sua figlia Nona. Nona è la figlia che ha avuto dal suo secondo matrimonio con Dexter Manford. Il suo primo marito, Arthur (chiamato affettuosamente da tutta la famiglia Dossier A, nome con cui sono segnati gli appuntamenti nell’agenda di mrs. Manford) è l’ingannevole e alcolizzato padre di suo figlio Jim. Jim, è sposato con Lita, una giovane ragazza che sembra uscita dai libri di Fitzgerald, che passa da una festa all’altra e desidera sfondare a Hollywood; per realizzare questo suo desiderio sarebbe pronta anche a divorziare dal marito�
La trama del romanzo ruota attorno alla famiglia Manford, una famiglia allargata degli anni venti, che si lascia travolgere in un vortice frenetico di falsi interessi e d’attività tra le più disparate, futili, contraddittorie e dal tentativo di Pauline d'impedire il divorzio di suo figlio.
Ogni volta che leggo un romanzo di Edith rimango affascinata dalla sua capacità di fine ed acuta indagatrice della natura umana. Questo romanzo è un capolavoro di ironia e acume, che raffigura con disincanto l'inflessibile società newyorkese degli anni venti.
La Wharton dipinge così bene i suoi personaggi tanto da renderli reali, anche se magari sono poco approfonditi a livello psicologico (come in questo caso): dalla perfezionista e super impegnata Pauline a Nona, che prova a custodire i vecchi valori di lealtà e fedeltà nonostante la sua giovane età ; da Lita, l'apatica nuora, considerata una gran bellezza, che passa da una festa all'altra per fuggire dalla prigione che è diventata la sua vita a Dexter, sempre impegnato con il lavoro e in piena crisi di mezza età ; da Arthur, primo marito ormai in declino nella società newyorkese ad Amalasunta di San Fedele, la marchesa che carpisce prestiti e regali ai ricchi parenti americani minacciando di far sbarcare nella grande mela il suo figliolo dongiovanni, Michelangelo.
Il sonno del crepuscolo del titolo non è altro che lo stato fisico e mentale, fatto di feste, tradimenti, lavoro, denaro, ricerca della spiritualità , distacco emotivo, nel quale i personaggi si perdono per evitare di riflettere sul senso della vita che conducono, ma impedendosi così qualunque possibilità di raggiungere la vera felicità .
Twilight Sleep, è uno dei romanzi meno conosciuti della scrittrice americana e nonostante la trama racconti una vicenda molto semplice e all’apparenza superficiale, è un romanzo molto più “oscuro� di quello che possa sembrare. Il finale è avvolto nella nebbia: un’attrazione troppo grande, troppo pericolosa, un letto intatto, un urlo e uno sparo nella notte� la fine si può sentire arrivare dalle pagine precedenti e i dubbi del lettore rimangono irrisolti anche se quest’ultimo si fa un’idea di quello che è realmente accaduto.
Ho fatto fatica a chiudere il libro, perché la scrittura scorrevolissima della Wharton è sempre magnifica; anche in questo caso sono presenti, come in ogni suo libro, il suo inconfondibile stile e la sua capacità di raccontare con sottile e cinica ironia le rigide convenzioni, le ipocrisie e ogni sfumatura della buona società americana dei primi decenni del �900.
Un romanzo molto attuale, incredibilmente moderno, che fa molto riflettere sul matrimonio, sul denaro, sul divorzio e su tanti problemi che riguardano ancora la società , a dimostrazione che, dopo quasi un secolo, non è cambiato poi così tanto da allora.
Posso affermare che questo romanzo è stata l’ennesima dimostrazione che non mi stancherò mai di leggere un libro della Wharton.
[…] e quando i nervi dei ricchi vanno fuori giri il rimedio, piacevole del resto, e immediatamente prescritto è un viaggio.
I libri scritti dall’autrice americana sono dei veri piccoli gioielli, molto spesso brillanti certe volte un po� meno.
Il sonno del crepuscolo è uno degli ultimi romanzi scritti dalla Wharton.
Ambientato a New York nei ruggenti anni �20, il libro racconta le vicende di Pauline Manford e della sua famiglia.
Pauline Manford è una donna dell’alta borghesia newyorkese, molto sicura di sé che ha sempre i minuti contati; seguace di guru e guaritori, filantropa a tempo pieno le sue giornate sono sempre impegnate da “esercizi euritmici�, massaggi per il viso, meditazione, incontri e discorsi al Comitato per il controllo delle nascite e all’Associazione del Giorno delle Madri. Una donna per cui anche la Pasqua anticipata può diventare un problema.
Pauline è talmente impegnata da non avere tempo neanche per una chiacchierata con sua figlia Nona. Nona è la figlia che ha avuto dal suo secondo matrimonio con Dexter Manford. Il suo primo marito, Arthur (chiamato affettuosamente da tutta la famiglia Dossier A, nome con cui sono segnati gli appuntamenti nell’agenda di mrs. Manford) è l’ingannevole e alcolizzato padre di suo figlio Jim. Jim, è sposato con Lita, una giovane ragazza che sembra uscita dai libri di Fitzgerald, che passa da una festa all’altra e desidera sfondare a Hollywood; per realizzare questo suo desiderio sarebbe pronta anche a divorziare dal marito�
La trama del romanzo ruota attorno alla famiglia Manford, una famiglia allargata degli anni venti, che si lascia travolgere in un vortice frenetico di falsi interessi e d’attività tra le più disparate, futili, contraddittorie e dal tentativo di Pauline d'impedire il divorzio di suo figlio.
Ogni volta che leggo un romanzo di Edith rimango affascinata dalla sua capacità di fine ed acuta indagatrice della natura umana. Questo romanzo è un capolavoro di ironia e acume, che raffigura con disincanto l'inflessibile società newyorkese degli anni venti.
La Wharton dipinge così bene i suoi personaggi tanto da renderli reali, anche se magari sono poco approfonditi a livello psicologico (come in questo caso): dalla perfezionista e super impegnata Pauline a Nona, che prova a custodire i vecchi valori di lealtà e fedeltà nonostante la sua giovane età ; da Lita, l'apatica nuora, considerata una gran bellezza, che passa da una festa all'altra per fuggire dalla prigione che è diventata la sua vita a Dexter, sempre impegnato con il lavoro e in piena crisi di mezza età ; da Arthur, primo marito ormai in declino nella società newyorkese ad Amalasunta di San Fedele, la marchesa che carpisce prestiti e regali ai ricchi parenti americani minacciando di far sbarcare nella grande mela il suo figliolo dongiovanni, Michelangelo.
Il sonno del crepuscolo del titolo non è altro che lo stato fisico e mentale, fatto di feste, tradimenti, lavoro, denaro, ricerca della spiritualità , distacco emotivo, nel quale i personaggi si perdono per evitare di riflettere sul senso della vita che conducono, ma impedendosi così qualunque possibilità di raggiungere la vera felicità .
Twilight Sleep, è uno dei romanzi meno conosciuti della scrittrice americana e nonostante la trama racconti una vicenda molto semplice e all’apparenza superficiale, è un romanzo molto più “oscuro� di quello che possa sembrare. Il finale è avvolto nella nebbia: un’attrazione troppo grande, troppo pericolosa, un letto intatto, un urlo e uno sparo nella notte� la fine si può sentire arrivare dalle pagine precedenti e i dubbi del lettore rimangono irrisolti anche se quest’ultimo si fa un’idea di quello che è realmente accaduto.
Ho fatto fatica a chiudere il libro, perché la scrittura scorrevolissima della Wharton è sempre magnifica; anche in questo caso sono presenti, come in ogni suo libro, il suo inconfondibile stile e la sua capacità di raccontare con sottile e cinica ironia le rigide convenzioni, le ipocrisie e ogni sfumatura della buona società americana dei primi decenni del �900.
Un romanzo molto attuale, incredibilmente moderno, che fa molto riflettere sul matrimonio, sul denaro, sul divorzio e su tanti problemi che riguardano ancora la società , a dimostrazione che, dopo quasi un secolo, non è cambiato poi così tanto da allora.
Posso affermare che questo romanzo è stata l’ennesima dimostrazione che non mi stancherò mai di leggere un libro della Wharton.
[…] e quando i nervi dei ricchi vanno fuori giri il rimedio, piacevole del resto, e immediatamente prescritto è un viaggio.
November 29, 2017
Once again, GR 'poofs' my review. Why on earth don't they fix this glitch!!
Now in a nutshell, a very light read for a classic. I felt no attachment for any of the characters, other than Nona. It was a good look into the life of the elite, well-to-do, who think that most any problem can be solved by writing a (very large) check. The ending was absolutely crazy, and wildly entertaining. I did not expect it.
Some parts I found to be quite hum drum, especially relating to all of Pauline's 'rests' and 'cures'. But overall it was a fun read. I also learned about "Twilight Sleep" which I googled and discovered it was a method used on women giving birth way back when (quite horrifying really!) Of course it has another meaning in this book which I thought was how most of the characters got through their day-to-day life, never really seeing (or perhaps choosing not to see) what was going on right under their noses.
This will be a fun discussion for my live book club meeting in early December.
Now in a nutshell, a very light read for a classic. I felt no attachment for any of the characters, other than Nona. It was a good look into the life of the elite, well-to-do, who think that most any problem can be solved by writing a (very large) check. The ending was absolutely crazy, and wildly entertaining. I did not expect it.
Some parts I found to be quite hum drum, especially relating to all of Pauline's 'rests' and 'cures'. But overall it was a fun read. I also learned about "Twilight Sleep" which I googled and discovered it was a method used on women giving birth way back when (quite horrifying really!) Of course it has another meaning in this book which I thought was how most of the characters got through their day-to-day life, never really seeing (or perhaps choosing not to see) what was going on right under their noses.
This will be a fun discussion for my live book club meeting in early December.
May 24, 2023
Free download available at
Another masterpiece by Edith Wharton.
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
3* The House of Mirth
5* The Age of Innocence
4* Bunner Sisters
4* Ethan Frome
4* Summer
4* The Custom of the Country
3* The Reef
2* Madame de Treymes
3* The Quicksand
3* The House Of The Dead Hand
4* The Glimpses of the Moon
4* Afterward
3* Xingu
2* Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort
4* The Touchstone
3* Writing a War Story
3* A Motor-Flight Through France
3* The Shadow of a Doubt: A Play in Three Acts
4* Au temps de l'innocence
4* The Marne
4* A Son at the Front
4* Twilight Sleep
TR The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
TR The Writing of Fiction
TR The Buccaneers
TR The Fruit of the Tree
TR In Morocco
Another masterpiece by Edith Wharton.
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
3* The House of Mirth
5* The Age of Innocence
4* Bunner Sisters
4* Ethan Frome
4* Summer
4* The Custom of the Country
3* The Reef
2* Madame de Treymes
3* The Quicksand
3* The House Of The Dead Hand
4* The Glimpses of the Moon
4* Afterward
3* Xingu
2* Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort
4* The Touchstone
3* Writing a War Story
3* A Motor-Flight Through France
3* The Shadow of a Doubt: A Play in Three Acts
4* Au temps de l'innocence
4* The Marne
4* A Son at the Front
4* Twilight Sleep
TR The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
TR The Writing of Fiction
TR The Buccaneers
TR The Fruit of the Tree
TR In Morocco
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September 28, 2021[editado set. 2021]
Wharton nasce no ano de 1862. Em 40 anos escreve mais de 40 livros em que se incluem, para lá da ficção, temas como arquitetura, design de interiores ou viagens.
Em 1914, com o deflagrar da I Guerra Mundial, e a viver em França após se divorciar de Edward Robbins Wharton (1885-1913), Edith irá não só usar da sua posição e fortuna para montar toda uma rede humanitária - que permite a abertura de sanatórios, escolas ou abrigos para os refugiados-, como também marcar a sua presença na frente de guerra relatando a realidade ali vivida. Por isso mesmo, em 1916 recebe a Ordem Nacional da Legião de Honra (ordem máxima da nação francesa).
Em 1921 é a primeira mulher a receber o prémio Pulitzer de ficção com o livro "A Idade da Inocência", e em 1923 , em Yale, o doutoramento Honoris Causa, e a filiação à Academia Americana de Artes e Letras - American Academy of Arts and Letters.
[mais info.: edithwarthon.org]
Em Sono Crepuscular, estamos perante o enredo fragmentado (muito tÃpico em VirgÃnia Woolf, que Wharton abominava como"exibicionista") e que reflete a sociedade desarticulada do pós-Grande Guerra.
Nele, Wharton foca-se sobretudo em Mrs. Manford, rica matriarca nova iorquina descrita aos leitores, desde as primeiras páginas, como uma mulher com as mãos cheias: um marido a atravessar aquela estranha fase de meia idade; um filho, do primeiro casamento, cujo ritmo de trabalho lhe ocupa as 24 horas do dia; a jovem e rebelde Nona, filha do casal, a procurar fazer sentido da sua vida; uma Marchesa sanguessuga, e um casaréu que dá trabalho suficiente para uma equipa inteira de profissionais de um programa de decoração de interiores de um canal manhoso.
Bom, mas tudo está bem neste mundo de socielite, até que a realidade se abate finalmente sobre um lar em que todos se esforçam ao máximo por mascarar os seus sentimentos em prol de uma aparência socialmente aceitável.
Após um apaixonado, e um tanto trágico, clÃmax, e quando poderÃamos esperar ver alguma coisa mudar, a sempre atenta Pauline Manford, apressa-se a recompor a situação e, uma vez mais, a imagem desta grande famÃlia não é afetada pela doentia e muito moderna publicidade que os meios de comunicação são, já nesta altura, hábeis em vender.
"Sim, a vida voltaria a cair na rotina usual, naquela rotina tão agradável e tão propÃcia à azáfama (...) o descanso, quando em demasia, tornava -se tão cansativo..."
(p. 283)
Agora, e apesar das crÃticas dÃspares que sempre recebeu esta obra, não podemos ficar indiferentes à interessante temática que a escritora aborda em Sono Crepuscular. O apelidado "twilight sleep" a que a escritora se refere não é apenas sinónimo da técnica médica que lhe dá nome [1], mas do processo segundo o qual Pauline, e em menor grau os demais membros da famÃlia, adormece a sua consciência e a percepção da realidade para melhor a suportar.
Nessa busca de um estado de inconsciência, Pauline, fervorosa discÃpula da ciência moderna, do espiritualismo New Age, das drogas que adormecem o espÃrito ou revitalizam a carne não se escusará a esforços para que, como ela diz, nunca haja dor. Pauline, aliás, recusa as preocupações terminantemente: "Nunca permitiria que as preocupações me dominassem" (p.300) - dirá perante a filha convalescente de quem se despede para encetar uma longa viagem pelo globo. Pauline não acredita no sofrimento e, com a sua fortuna, tudo fará para o manter ao largo. E quem diz sofrimento e preocupação diz sentimentos, diz contradições, diz sujidade, diz pecado, diz, no fundo, a realidade humana.
"A tua mãe e as amigas dela gostariam de pegar no globo terrestre e ensiná-lo a dizer as orações e a lavar os dentes."
(p. 9)
Wharton faz-nos chegar uma mensagem profundamente moderna - aliás, a sua escrita e o seu pensamento são de uma contemporaneidade espantosa (a tradução respeita, nesse sentido, o original [2]) -, mensagem que nos diz que a vida é para ser vivida completamente, de forma plena e sensÃvel, não com os sentidos gaseados e adormecidos por panaceias várias, como aquelas a que Pauline tem a possibilidade de recorrer ou outras tão simples como aquelas a que nós diariamente recorremos, perdidos em mil e um pormenores insignificantes.
Publicado em 1927, Sono Crepuscular surpreendente por uma abordagem livre de preconceito, por uma tentativa de retratar uma classe de forma muito aproximada à descrição jornalÃstica, expondo a realidade do seu tempo de modo incisivo e satÃrico (coisa que nada esperava de uma ESCRITORA nascida em pleno século XIX!).
Perdoem o desabafo da minha parte quando digo que não há Austen ou Alcott que cheguem a este nÃvel de desprendimento e liberdade - não estando, claro, esquecida dos privilégios que uma fortuna como a de Wharton acarreta.
[1] esta expressão significa um estado de semiconsciência produzido pela administração de uma combinação injectável de duas drogas alcalóides, a escopolamina (com efeitos amnésicos) e a morfina, usada desde o inÃcio do século XX, e até à década de 60, para aliciar as dores do parto. Esta técnica, para além de pôr as parturientes nesse estado de "sono crepuscular", causava amnésia que as levava a "esquecer" o parto.
- desta edição de Sono Crepuscular
[2] PDF disponÃvel para consulta:
Wharton nasce no ano de 1862. Em 40 anos escreve mais de 40 livros em que se incluem, para lá da ficção, temas como arquitetura, design de interiores ou viagens.
Em 1914, com o deflagrar da I Guerra Mundial, e a viver em França após se divorciar de Edward Robbins Wharton (1885-1913), Edith irá não só usar da sua posição e fortuna para montar toda uma rede humanitária - que permite a abertura de sanatórios, escolas ou abrigos para os refugiados-, como também marcar a sua presença na frente de guerra relatando a realidade ali vivida. Por isso mesmo, em 1916 recebe a Ordem Nacional da Legião de Honra (ordem máxima da nação francesa).
Em 1921 é a primeira mulher a receber o prémio Pulitzer de ficção com o livro "A Idade da Inocência", e em 1923 , em Yale, o doutoramento Honoris Causa, e a filiação à Academia Americana de Artes e Letras - American Academy of Arts and Letters.
[mais info.: edithwarthon.org]
Em Sono Crepuscular, estamos perante o enredo fragmentado (muito tÃpico em VirgÃnia Woolf, que Wharton abominava como"exibicionista") e que reflete a sociedade desarticulada do pós-Grande Guerra.
Nele, Wharton foca-se sobretudo em Mrs. Manford, rica matriarca nova iorquina descrita aos leitores, desde as primeiras páginas, como uma mulher com as mãos cheias: um marido a atravessar aquela estranha fase de meia idade; um filho, do primeiro casamento, cujo ritmo de trabalho lhe ocupa as 24 horas do dia; a jovem e rebelde Nona, filha do casal, a procurar fazer sentido da sua vida; uma Marchesa sanguessuga, e um casaréu que dá trabalho suficiente para uma equipa inteira de profissionais de um programa de decoração de interiores de um canal manhoso.
Bom, mas tudo está bem neste mundo de socielite, até que a realidade se abate finalmente sobre um lar em que todos se esforçam ao máximo por mascarar os seus sentimentos em prol de uma aparência socialmente aceitável.
Após um apaixonado, e um tanto trágico, clÃmax, e quando poderÃamos esperar ver alguma coisa mudar, a sempre atenta Pauline Manford, apressa-se a recompor a situação e, uma vez mais, a imagem desta grande famÃlia não é afetada pela doentia e muito moderna publicidade que os meios de comunicação são, já nesta altura, hábeis em vender.
"Sim, a vida voltaria a cair na rotina usual, naquela rotina tão agradável e tão propÃcia à azáfama (...) o descanso, quando em demasia, tornava -se tão cansativo..."
(p. 283)
Agora, e apesar das crÃticas dÃspares que sempre recebeu esta obra, não podemos ficar indiferentes à interessante temática que a escritora aborda em Sono Crepuscular. O apelidado "twilight sleep" a que a escritora se refere não é apenas sinónimo da técnica médica que lhe dá nome [1], mas do processo segundo o qual Pauline, e em menor grau os demais membros da famÃlia, adormece a sua consciência e a percepção da realidade para melhor a suportar.
Nessa busca de um estado de inconsciência, Pauline, fervorosa discÃpula da ciência moderna, do espiritualismo New Age, das drogas que adormecem o espÃrito ou revitalizam a carne não se escusará a esforços para que, como ela diz, nunca haja dor. Pauline, aliás, recusa as preocupações terminantemente: "Nunca permitiria que as preocupações me dominassem" (p.300) - dirá perante a filha convalescente de quem se despede para encetar uma longa viagem pelo globo. Pauline não acredita no sofrimento e, com a sua fortuna, tudo fará para o manter ao largo. E quem diz sofrimento e preocupação diz sentimentos, diz contradições, diz sujidade, diz pecado, diz, no fundo, a realidade humana.
"A tua mãe e as amigas dela gostariam de pegar no globo terrestre e ensiná-lo a dizer as orações e a lavar os dentes."
(p. 9)
Wharton faz-nos chegar uma mensagem profundamente moderna - aliás, a sua escrita e o seu pensamento são de uma contemporaneidade espantosa (a tradução respeita, nesse sentido, o original [2]) -, mensagem que nos diz que a vida é para ser vivida completamente, de forma plena e sensÃvel, não com os sentidos gaseados e adormecidos por panaceias várias, como aquelas a que Pauline tem a possibilidade de recorrer ou outras tão simples como aquelas a que nós diariamente recorremos, perdidos em mil e um pormenores insignificantes.
Publicado em 1927, Sono Crepuscular surpreendente por uma abordagem livre de preconceito, por uma tentativa de retratar uma classe de forma muito aproximada à descrição jornalÃstica, expondo a realidade do seu tempo de modo incisivo e satÃrico (coisa que nada esperava de uma ESCRITORA nascida em pleno século XIX!).
Perdoem o desabafo da minha parte quando digo que não há Austen ou Alcott que cheguem a este nÃvel de desprendimento e liberdade - não estando, claro, esquecida dos privilégios que uma fortuna como a de Wharton acarreta.
[1] esta expressão significa um estado de semiconsciência produzido pela administração de uma combinação injectável de duas drogas alcalóides, a escopolamina (com efeitos amnésicos) e a morfina, usada desde o inÃcio do século XX, e até à década de 60, para aliciar as dores do parto. Esta técnica, para além de pôr as parturientes nesse estado de "sono crepuscular", causava amnésia que as levava a "esquecer" o parto.
- desta edição de Sono Crepuscular
[2] PDF disponÃvel para consulta:
December 13, 2017
What can I say about Edith Wharton's "Twilight Sleep"? Absolutely nothing. There is practically no plotline, and, if the story is meant to be character driven, these are paper thin cardboard cut-outs.
"Twilight Sleep" revolves around a family in the elite. Mrs Manford is the matriarch; a perfectionist who is involved in the social happenings, obsessed with the occult as a solution to her moral conundrums, and whose opinions are eclectic and self-opposing.
A lot of the humor of this book is meant to come from Mrs Manford's nerves; yet it falls short. Being neurotic isn't funny in itself, it needs a driving force. Being in charge of comitees both for and against childbirth gets old fast. It can't be the totality of the joke, it needs to create situations for humor, which it doesn't. Her fascination with the occult is simply dated and, though with potential, the author never seems to know what to do with this storyline.
Mr Manford's reaction to his wife's behaviour creates values dissonance and discomfort for the modern reader. His only role in the book appears to be to criticize his wife, and, later, unsurprisingly, he cheats on her, instead of attempting to communicate. I won't even mark this as a spoiler, it's so obvious. The book is written as if it were for him you are meant to have sympathy, since he is not morally culpable and only does it because his wife is "cold".
As for the couple's children, Nona is meant to be introspective, clever and respect-worthy. The same applies for her brother Jim, though he is described as lacking somewhat in ambition. In reality they both come off as pushovers with no personality, especially in regards to love. Jim's wife, Lita, symbol of the fastness of the roaring twenties, is written as loathesome. Though maybe she is, and all her actions aptly lead to nothing, at least she is the only character who attempts to do something with her life, even if it is to engage in empty self-indulgence to the maximum of her prowess. As for Nona's love interest, he doesn't even succeed in that.
In short, why did I rate this book with one star? It isn't because it's too morally offensive or that bad, it is simply because I feel I gained nothing (except maybe frustration) from the read. The author appears to be trying to show the emptiness of life in the twenties, the consumerism, the fast life and dilettantism, but she does so by writing a book that, in itself, is pointless. The characters aren't relatable, plot threads hang loose, and the ending comes from nowhere and is completely unbelievable. All of the conflicts that occur are stretched to a point of disbelief; everything could have been solved by rational conversation, instead of the irrational self-serving ramblings that the Manford clan seems to indulge in by skirting around every single important topic they should address.
"Twilight Sleep" revolves around a family in the elite. Mrs Manford is the matriarch; a perfectionist who is involved in the social happenings, obsessed with the occult as a solution to her moral conundrums, and whose opinions are eclectic and self-opposing.
A lot of the humor of this book is meant to come from Mrs Manford's nerves; yet it falls short. Being neurotic isn't funny in itself, it needs a driving force. Being in charge of comitees both for and against childbirth gets old fast. It can't be the totality of the joke, it needs to create situations for humor, which it doesn't. Her fascination with the occult is simply dated and, though with potential, the author never seems to know what to do with this storyline.
Mr Manford's reaction to his wife's behaviour creates values dissonance and discomfort for the modern reader. His only role in the book appears to be to criticize his wife, and, later, unsurprisingly, he cheats on her, instead of attempting to communicate. I won't even mark this as a spoiler, it's so obvious. The book is written as if it were for him you are meant to have sympathy, since he is not morally culpable and only does it because his wife is "cold".
As for the couple's children, Nona is meant to be introspective, clever and respect-worthy. The same applies for her brother Jim, though he is described as lacking somewhat in ambition. In reality they both come off as pushovers with no personality, especially in regards to love. Jim's wife, Lita, symbol of the fastness of the roaring twenties, is written as loathesome. Though maybe she is, and all her actions aptly lead to nothing, at least she is the only character who attempts to do something with her life, even if it is to engage in empty self-indulgence to the maximum of her prowess. As for Nona's love interest, he doesn't even succeed in that.
In short, why did I rate this book with one star? It isn't because it's too morally offensive or that bad, it is simply because I feel I gained nothing (except maybe frustration) from the read. The author appears to be trying to show the emptiness of life in the twenties, the consumerism, the fast life and dilettantism, but she does so by writing a book that, in itself, is pointless. The characters aren't relatable, plot threads hang loose, and the ending comes from nowhere and is completely unbelievable. All of the conflicts that occur are stretched to a point of disbelief; everything could have been solved by rational conversation, instead of the irrational self-serving ramblings that the Manford clan seems to indulge in by skirting around every single important topic they should address.
December 2, 2009
Oh, Edith Wharton, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Just started this book- interesting- more "Jazz Age" focused than we think of when we think Edith Wharton. Looking forward to giving full review when finished...
... so, now that we're done... hm.
The thing is, there's a reason that we associate Edith Wharton with American Victorianism more than Modernism (which is actually the time period in which she wrote)- why we associate her with Henry James more than, oh, I don't know, TS Elliot, or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Wharton is WAY more comfortable in an American Victorian setting in her novels than she is writing in her actual contemporary Modern time. (E.g. in 1920, at the beginning of the "Jazz Age", Wharton write _Age of Innocence_ about the 1870's). It's not that Wharton is nostalgic for times-gone-by, but you get the sense she understands it better, and is therefore better able to write about it, critique it, satirize it, etc. Part of it is her unease with the changing form of fiction itself, of course. She found Virginia Woolf distasteful, and seems to have avoided Gertrude Stein, etc. But part of it, it seems to me, that Wharton's strengths are in her satire of the "more genteel age", where she can expose the fissures and reveal the hypocrisies. But when writing about this "new" age, the Jazz Age, or Modernism, or, more accurately, the age after the Great War, you get the sense that Wharton is not clear what's to blame for the malaise of the American family, or who's the real victim. It was an interesting read, but it certainly wasn't among her best, and I'm not sure even she knew what to make of it.
... so, now that we're done... hm.
The thing is, there's a reason that we associate Edith Wharton with American Victorianism more than Modernism (which is actually the time period in which she wrote)- why we associate her with Henry James more than, oh, I don't know, TS Elliot, or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Wharton is WAY more comfortable in an American Victorian setting in her novels than she is writing in her actual contemporary Modern time. (E.g. in 1920, at the beginning of the "Jazz Age", Wharton write _Age of Innocence_ about the 1870's). It's not that Wharton is nostalgic for times-gone-by, but you get the sense she understands it better, and is therefore better able to write about it, critique it, satirize it, etc. Part of it is her unease with the changing form of fiction itself, of course. She found Virginia Woolf distasteful, and seems to have avoided Gertrude Stein, etc. But part of it, it seems to me, that Wharton's strengths are in her satire of the "more genteel age", where she can expose the fissures and reveal the hypocrisies. But when writing about this "new" age, the Jazz Age, or Modernism, or, more accurately, the age after the Great War, you get the sense that Wharton is not clear what's to blame for the malaise of the American family, or who's the real victim. It was an interesting read, but it certainly wasn't among her best, and I'm not sure even she knew what to make of it.
November 8, 2017
Oh, Edith Wharton. What happened here? You know I usually love you, but this was a hot mess. Pretty terrible. I can appreciate the overarching theme: rich, shallow, vapid people, looking for satisfaction and happiness in all the wrong places, always coming up short, not understanding why. (Just like the celebrities of today...pretty clueless for the most part.)
We read this for book club and all agreed that it was Not Good. I did learn a little about the medical procedure that was "twilight sleep", so there was redeeming educational value to be had. (Wow. I haven't watched them yet but there are clips of educational films on this topic and they look fascinating.) The book doesn't really delve into the topic, just mentions it by name once. I researched on my own. And evidently, the early feminists (suffragettes) were big proponents of women having the right to this "treatment". (Ooops, feminists!)
Can't say I recommend this book to anyone. Even if you are thinking what I did: "It's Edith Wharton! How bad could it be?" (It's even worse than that.) Just...don't.
We read this for book club and all agreed that it was Not Good. I did learn a little about the medical procedure that was "twilight sleep", so there was redeeming educational value to be had. (Wow. I haven't watched them yet but there are clips of educational films on this topic and they look fascinating.) The book doesn't really delve into the topic, just mentions it by name once. I researched on my own. And evidently, the early feminists (suffragettes) were big proponents of women having the right to this "treatment". (Ooops, feminists!)
Can't say I recommend this book to anyone. Even if you are thinking what I did: "It's Edith Wharton! How bad could it be?" (It's even worse than that.) Just...don't.
November 29, 2008
Well.....I read this book for a book club. It was a long, dull, and tedious task to finish this for me. I kept hoping that some type of a PLOT would emerge and whisk me away to no avail. It is never a good thing when you have checked how many pages you have left to read after chapter 2....and this book is not short! My edition had 374 pages...if you are counting.
To be fair...it seemed in a similar vein to Ethan Frome. It captures the dialogue and thinking of a particular time well. If you like Edith Wharton you might enjoy this book. If you have not enjoyed her work in the past, I would pass on this particular work.
To be fair...it seemed in a similar vein to Ethan Frome. It captures the dialogue and thinking of a particular time well. If you like Edith Wharton you might enjoy this book. If you have not enjoyed her work in the past, I would pass on this particular work.
October 20, 2019
Mona, the sensible, clear-headed nineteen year old, who sees and understands all, in reality. Not married, with no prospects, and no great desire to marry, she is wary of the institution that seems to be such an object of derision and fascination to Edith Wharton.
Lita, married to Mona's beloved half brother Jim, who is not only unsympathetic with early twentieth century New York society mores and morals, but is actively involved in being cast in "the movies", including publication on dreaded posters, and how could the family bear the humiliation?
Pauline, Mona's formidable mother, an American Candida, for whom all is best in this best of all worlds. She wills her world into existence, entertains Cardinals at her New York mansion, Italian contessas in her country estate, Cedarledge, and worries that neither her daughter, so cerebral and negative, nor her daughter in law, practically an orphan with a strange/estranged maiden aunt as her only guardian, understands the splendor of society, the joy of giving the perfect dinner party, the pleasure of having the perfect husband and children.
Edith Wharton's wonderfully critical eye on the manners and mores of a century ago are as sharp and entertaining as ever, alternately critical and loving, but always penetrating, into the essence of what mattered to that stratum of people at that time. And her portrayal of the females is what's interesting here -- the men are their supporting characters: Arthur, nicknamed by the children as "Exhibit A", Pauline's first husband, quietly divorced, and ever sad; Dexter, Pauline's current husband, partner in a law firm, brings home a salary to gild Pauline's inheritance, but whose tragic flaw is to be enamored and eventually seduced by the new breed of woman/human, vulgar and witless, represented by Lita; Jim, the hard-working and good natured first and only son, adored by his sister, criticized by his father as spineless, and despised by his flapper wife as dull and duty-bound; and finally Stan, the romantic interest of Mona, smart and witty, but unattainable, married to an icy society daughter whose household retains crystal and silver from past generations displayed in ancient vitrines.
This pageant of characters glides through the story, woven around the plush, velvet-draped city dwelling near Gramercy Square, and Cedarledge, with house and especially surrounding landscape wrought with love and detail that render it palpable. On a personal note, I was especially interested to read Wharton’s country estate descriptions, after having visited her own villa, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her attention to detail in both house and garden are Epicurian.
And the title, Twilight Sleep, warranted research, turning out to be a drug-induced state promoted for childbirth, a combination of narcotics and anesthesia, that made women not only not feel the pain, but forget that it ever happened, in the process of propagation of the species. Itself a wry and apt portrayal of a type of woman in gilded, early 20th century America.
Lita, married to Mona's beloved half brother Jim, who is not only unsympathetic with early twentieth century New York society mores and morals, but is actively involved in being cast in "the movies", including publication on dreaded posters, and how could the family bear the humiliation?
Pauline, Mona's formidable mother, an American Candida, for whom all is best in this best of all worlds. She wills her world into existence, entertains Cardinals at her New York mansion, Italian contessas in her country estate, Cedarledge, and worries that neither her daughter, so cerebral and negative, nor her daughter in law, practically an orphan with a strange/estranged maiden aunt as her only guardian, understands the splendor of society, the joy of giving the perfect dinner party, the pleasure of having the perfect husband and children.
Edith Wharton's wonderfully critical eye on the manners and mores of a century ago are as sharp and entertaining as ever, alternately critical and loving, but always penetrating, into the essence of what mattered to that stratum of people at that time. And her portrayal of the females is what's interesting here -- the men are their supporting characters: Arthur, nicknamed by the children as "Exhibit A", Pauline's first husband, quietly divorced, and ever sad; Dexter, Pauline's current husband, partner in a law firm, brings home a salary to gild Pauline's inheritance, but whose tragic flaw is to be enamored and eventually seduced by the new breed of woman/human, vulgar and witless, represented by Lita; Jim, the hard-working and good natured first and only son, adored by his sister, criticized by his father as spineless, and despised by his flapper wife as dull and duty-bound; and finally Stan, the romantic interest of Mona, smart and witty, but unattainable, married to an icy society daughter whose household retains crystal and silver from past generations displayed in ancient vitrines.
This pageant of characters glides through the story, woven around the plush, velvet-draped city dwelling near Gramercy Square, and Cedarledge, with house and especially surrounding landscape wrought with love and detail that render it palpable. On a personal note, I was especially interested to read Wharton’s country estate descriptions, after having visited her own villa, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her attention to detail in both house and garden are Epicurian.
And the title, Twilight Sleep, warranted research, turning out to be a drug-induced state promoted for childbirth, a combination of narcotics and anesthesia, that made women not only not feel the pain, but forget that it ever happened, in the process of propagation of the species. Itself a wry and apt portrayal of a type of woman in gilded, early 20th century America.
February 17, 2016
I had never read this Wharton novel, which was a bestseller in 1927 and has faded into (relative) obscurity, largely I think because of its apparent lightness. Wharton was a huge fan of Anita Loos' , and she borrowed some of its tactics here, targeting modern fads for emotional and physical self-improvement and recognizing a fickleness and hollowness in those superficial panaceas for spiritual ennui. When the narration follows matriarch Pauline whose Progressive Era causes feel just like her spiritualist fads (namely, haphazard and superficial), the free indirect discourse makes her constant denial and nagging feeling of dissatisfaction clear. Her daughter-in-law, gorgeous and whimsical flapper archetype Lita, seems entirely without interior life, cruel because self-involved, self-involved because wrapped up in the media culture of the movies and an endless cycle of seductive self-presentation. Lita's character is all smooth, glimmering surfaces, and men (like Pauline's husband Dexter) see only their own lost youth in the "April moonlight" she projects. This character is so sinister and shallow that it suggests that Wharton was very pessimistic about the direction of modern life. Indeed, she's most sympathetic with characters whose suffering signals that they are out of sync with this current--alcoholic former husband Arthur Wyant who searches for a way to express nobility in a world where those values are out of date and sardonic daughter Nona whose name suggests the increasingly nihilism and renunciation of her worldview. Nona's character, in stark contrast with Lita, is finely sketched, her own attempts to settle with an obscure suffering quite ethically keen even if its ends are unclear (what does it behoove her, or the group at large, to suffer for her family or to renounce her one love? She does both of these things, and Wharton seems sympathetic with these gestures, but they also seem self-annihilating. Very Jamesian in that way.)
The book begins like a rollicking screwball comedy and becomes darker and darker as it goes, as this centerless family ("the center cannot hold" -- W.B. Yeats) finds very little peace in their "twilight sleep." It doesn't surprise me that this did not become a canonical book because it's tonally so weird--light and almost slapstick in its version of the world's current trends and fads (very brought, parodic humor) and then increasingly grim in its psychological textures.
The book begins like a rollicking screwball comedy and becomes darker and darker as it goes, as this centerless family ("the center cannot hold" -- W.B. Yeats) finds very little peace in their "twilight sleep." It doesn't surprise me that this did not become a canonical book because it's tonally so weird--light and almost slapstick in its version of the world's current trends and fads (very brought, parodic humor) and then increasingly grim in its psychological textures.
April 12, 2021
Io e la Wharton abbiamo appena fatto pace! Scrittura meravigliosa, personaggi caratterizzati alla perfezione, con New York e l’aristocrazia degli anni 30 assolute protagoniste di questo romanzo.
Pauline rimarrà nel mio cuore per sempre: donna apparentemente sicura di sé ma fragile, che trova la sua realizzazione nella perfetta organizzazione del tempo. È però una donna che ha fortemente voluto e ottenuto il divorzio dal suo primo marito ma che allo stesso tempo non vuole relazionarsi con il dolore perché non sa farlo. Non è una donna che si fa abbattere, cerca sempre il lato positivo delle cose e la soluzione ad ogni problema.
Ovviamente i suoi metodi non possono essere condivisibili ma è il suo atteggiamento verso la vita che la rende attraente (del resto, per tutto il libro critica la figlia Nona per il suo modo così negativo di approcciarsi alla quotidianità ).
Ho come la sensazione che la Wharton non volesse mettere in buona luce nessuno dei suoi personaggi ma i difetti di Pauline mi hanno riempita di ammirazione nei suoi confronti.
E infine la ciliegina sulla torta, il finale! Sono ore che cerco recensioni o spiegazioni sul web perché l’autrice ne fa semplicemente un vago cenno. Il lettore si trova davanti ad una scena di pura azione di cui non si conosce lo svolgimento: gli elementi che vengono menzionati sono un assembramento familiare in una stanza da letto, due spari di pistola e un ferito. Tutto il resto viene lasciato all’immaginazione del lettore!
Ora ho davvero la Wharton nel cuore!
Pauline rimarrà nel mio cuore per sempre: donna apparentemente sicura di sé ma fragile, che trova la sua realizzazione nella perfetta organizzazione del tempo. È però una donna che ha fortemente voluto e ottenuto il divorzio dal suo primo marito ma che allo stesso tempo non vuole relazionarsi con il dolore perché non sa farlo. Non è una donna che si fa abbattere, cerca sempre il lato positivo delle cose e la soluzione ad ogni problema.
Ovviamente i suoi metodi non possono essere condivisibili ma è il suo atteggiamento verso la vita che la rende attraente (del resto, per tutto il libro critica la figlia Nona per il suo modo così negativo di approcciarsi alla quotidianità ).
Ho come la sensazione che la Wharton non volesse mettere in buona luce nessuno dei suoi personaggi ma i difetti di Pauline mi hanno riempita di ammirazione nei suoi confronti.
E infine la ciliegina sulla torta, il finale! Sono ore che cerco recensioni o spiegazioni sul web perché l’autrice ne fa semplicemente un vago cenno. Il lettore si trova davanti ad una scena di pura azione di cui non si conosce lo svolgimento: gli elementi che vengono menzionati sono un assembramento familiare in una stanza da letto, due spari di pistola e un ferito. Tutto il resto viene lasciato all’immaginazione del lettore!
Ora ho davvero la Wharton nel cuore!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2008
Either this book was really boring, or it was a very clever metaphor for the boring lives of the characters within. It never seemed to get to a point. I suppose I would have to read some other books of Wharton's to be able to decide.
I think one of the reasons for my impatience might be that I misread or misinterpreted the cover summary...I was under the impression that the characters were going to discover some actual drug that was going to liven up their lives/numb their blinding boredom and put them in the titular "twilight sleep". So I kept waiting for them to start talking about this drug, but instead they kept rambling on about pointless dinner parties, nights out dancing, redecorating their houses, seeing faith healers, and making speeches for contradictory causes. Ohhhhhhhh, I realized as I was about 3/4 of the way through...it's a METAPHORICAL drug. Doh.
Then there was the slogging through the inane reasonings of the mother Pauline and her incessant activities, and hearing about the teeth-grindingly maddening exploits and attitudes of the sister-in-law Lita...these characters were so unpleasant, it made me not want to pick up the book again every time I put it down (which were numerous). The climax, when it came out of the blue, seemed clumsy and contrived, and I'm still not really sure what actually happened. WAS Exhibit A the perpetrator in Lita's room? Eh--in the end, I don't really care.
I think one of the reasons for my impatience might be that I misread or misinterpreted the cover summary...I was under the impression that the characters were going to discover some actual drug that was going to liven up their lives/numb their blinding boredom and put them in the titular "twilight sleep". So I kept waiting for them to start talking about this drug, but instead they kept rambling on about pointless dinner parties, nights out dancing, redecorating their houses, seeing faith healers, and making speeches for contradictory causes. Ohhhhhhhh, I realized as I was about 3/4 of the way through...it's a METAPHORICAL drug. Doh.
Then there was the slogging through the inane reasonings of the mother Pauline and her incessant activities, and hearing about the teeth-grindingly maddening exploits and attitudes of the sister-in-law Lita...these characters were so unpleasant, it made me not want to pick up the book again every time I put it down (which were numerous). The climax, when it came out of the blue, seemed clumsy and contrived, and I'm still not really sure what actually happened. WAS Exhibit A the perpetrator in Lita's room? Eh--in the end, I don't really care.
January 7, 2010
Pauline Manford is a superlative New York hostess and do-gooder, organizing her causes and her social events with equal efficiency and panache, while taking care of herself by going to a series of self-help gurus. Her daughter-in-law Lita is a child of the Jazz Age, though, and her boredom with her marriage affects all of Pauline's family, until everything might come crashing down on them.
Compared to Wharton's earlier, greater novels, this is overplotted and undercharacterized; I often felt as though the plot was driving the characterization, rather than developing out of it. It's still interesting to see her look at New York society, but she seems out of her depth a bit, lapsing into satire rather than the subtly scathing criticism I love about her best books. I did enjoy the lampooning of the self-help culture Pauline is addicted to, and the flashes of sly humor, but I wish the characters had been deeper and more sympathetic.
Compared to Wharton's earlier, greater novels, this is overplotted and undercharacterized; I often felt as though the plot was driving the characterization, rather than developing out of it. It's still interesting to see her look at New York society, but she seems out of her depth a bit, lapsing into satire rather than the subtly scathing criticism I love about her best books. I did enjoy the lampooning of the self-help culture Pauline is addicted to, and the flashes of sly humor, but I wish the characters had been deeper and more sympathetic.
March 18, 2016
This book was so good. Deliciously nighttime soap opera-esque but with sophisticated, complex characters. I'd forgotten how much I love Edith Wharton's work. Although there were almost too many characters to juggle, I didn't want there to be an end to this book.
August 19, 2013
This is far from the best novel Wharton wrote, but it's also far from the worst. Wharton's use of "twilight sleep" (a kind of partial anesthesia given to women to help in childbirth; the woman remained conscious, but in a dreamlike state) as a metaphor for the moral failings (and afflictions) of the characters in the novel is ingenious. Wharton plays off of that metaphor, exploring in detail the implications of willful ignorance of the circumstances her characters find themselves in and, worse, the root causes of those circumstances (usually the characters' actions of lack of actions). The novel is also very easy to read and goes by quickly. However, the work does suffer from the busy-ness of its plot and from a lack of satirical focus. Where Wharton's best work is often leisurely plotted, allowing both reader and characters to reflect on the implications and effects of a character's state of mind or their actual or intended course of action, _Twilight Sleep_ has far too many characters doing far too many things in the service of the plot to allow for the kind of deep, searching meditation on mores and morals that Wharton excelled at. This, in turn, may be part of why Wharton's satirical focus in _Twilight Sleep_ is unfocused, and thus loses its effectiveness. In novels such as _The Custom of the Country_ or _The Age of Innocence_, the scathing satirical indictment is effective precisely because it is the single solitary thing that arises from the accumulation of the characters' dilemmas and the way they are required (or, more aptly, forced) to deal with them. Yet in this novel, the Wharton's satirical ire is aimed in two directions: the nouveaux riches and their purposeless lives (a common Wharton theme ever since _The Age of Innocence_); and modernity itself (that is, the noise, the crowds of common people, the technology, the slang, and, especially, the figure of the "flapper." This latter theme came to dominate much of Wharton's later writing, so its appearance in _Twilight Sleep_ is interesting because it is one of the first times she fully develops this preoccupation; but its inclusion in the novel also makes the work less biting and focused than it might have been.
September 23, 2011
One of my favorite authors, one of my favorite styles of fiction: pretty people with pretty problems. And in this case, a satire of pretty people with pretty problems.
Pauline is the typical over-scheduled, constantly in search of happiness and enlightenment society matron. Her day is so full of "eurythmic exercise," silent meditation, and meetings of the Birth Control Society and the American Motherhood Society that she can't even pencil in a quick chat with her daughter Nona. Nona is Pauline's daughter by her second husband Dexter. Her first husband, Arthur (affectionately called Exhibit A by the whole family), is the genteel and shabby alcoholic father of her son, Jim. Jim is married to Lita, a choice slightly beneath him, who has become a bored party girl.
This is a master class on how to write a book without a single likable character that is still entertaining and wonderful (take a lesson, Flaubert). Pauline is as modern as she is a product of her time. She could just as easily be a character in a novel that satirizes contemporary New York society with just the addition of a Blackberry. She moves from guru to guru and never finds happiness, pushing any bad event or unpleasantry down deep or way off to the side. Nona is almost likable, but she's nearly as bored and lost as Lita, who is just a monster. Jim is weak, Dexter is a boob, and Arthur is (accurate to the time and social class, but still reprehensible) an anti-Semite. It's all very glamorous and witty.
Pauline is the typical over-scheduled, constantly in search of happiness and enlightenment society matron. Her day is so full of "eurythmic exercise," silent meditation, and meetings of the Birth Control Society and the American Motherhood Society that she can't even pencil in a quick chat with her daughter Nona. Nona is Pauline's daughter by her second husband Dexter. Her first husband, Arthur (affectionately called Exhibit A by the whole family), is the genteel and shabby alcoholic father of her son, Jim. Jim is married to Lita, a choice slightly beneath him, who has become a bored party girl.
This is a master class on how to write a book without a single likable character that is still entertaining and wonderful (take a lesson, Flaubert). Pauline is as modern as she is a product of her time. She could just as easily be a character in a novel that satirizes contemporary New York society with just the addition of a Blackberry. She moves from guru to guru and never finds happiness, pushing any bad event or unpleasantry down deep or way off to the side. Nona is almost likable, but she's nearly as bored and lost as Lita, who is just a monster. Jim is weak, Dexter is a boob, and Arthur is (accurate to the time and social class, but still reprehensible) an anti-Semite. It's all very glamorous and witty.
September 3, 2015
Edith Wharton wrote three ‘jazz age� novels; Glimpses of the Moon, (1922) The Children (1928) and this one. I thought Glimpses of the Moon was readable but as a Wharton novel a bit frothy and insubstantial, but I really rather liked The Children. For me Twilight Sleep falls somewhere between the two, not just chronologically, it has far more substance than Glimpses of the Moon. It is a little slow to get going � but having settled into it I did enjoy it, although it is a long way away from the sheer unadulterated brilliance of some of her more famous novels, it still contains some superb writing. What Twilight Sleep does give us is a slightly satirical examination of the fatuous, empty lives of the young (and not so young) wealthy inhabitants of 1920s New York society. The characterisation is sharp and while I didn’t much like most of these characters (that never matters to me as reader though) I was fascinated by them.
Full review:
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August 20, 2011
This novel is not at all like the Wharton novels I love. That doesn't mean it's entirely bad or anything. But it does mean that it doesn't read at all like a Wharton novel. The style reminded me of some witty B&W film starring Myrna Loy or something, which is again not a bad thing, but also not especially something I want to read. I think I would have actually preferred a film version starring Myrna Loy. Also, for the record, this is the second book now that I've read because I thought it involved drug use (which is one of my research interests) but doesn't; "Twilight Sleep" does refer to the drug cocktail they used to give women in labor (apparently this had a eugenic intention, which is something I plan to look into!), but there's no description of that, and the title seems primarily to be a metaphor about how we're living our lives in a stupor, removed from really feelings and attachments. I wish I had been more attached to this book.
October 3, 2022
Quizá lo estoy valorando de forma precipitada, con el entusiasmo del momento, pero, ¿no se trata de eso, de emocionarse con lo que leemos? Quizá deberÃa dar un 4 o un 4.5, pero ¡qué más da! Lo que importa es decir que he disfrutado mucho este libro. Quizá mi entusiasmo deriva de lo inesperado que me resultaron ciertos aspectos, de lo pronto que me atrapó la ironÃa de la autora, de la evocación inevitable de la Edad de la Inocencia y mi lectura de esa otra novela hace casi 30 añosâ€�
Me ha sorprendido e interpelado la brutal vigencia de la crisis que viven los protagonistas y sus tensiones con el entorno que habitan, asà como la aguda mirada de Wharton. Por momentos parece que alguien usara la vida de ese primer cuarto del siglo XX para interpelarnos sobre este de nuestro siglo XXI. ¿Habrá imaginado Wharton que un siglo después seguirÃamos obsesionados por ese sueño crepuscular en nuevas formas? Probablemente.
Me ha sorprendido e interpelado la brutal vigencia de la crisis que viven los protagonistas y sus tensiones con el entorno que habitan, asà como la aguda mirada de Wharton. Por momentos parece que alguien usara la vida de ese primer cuarto del siglo XX para interpelarnos sobre este de nuestro siglo XXI. ¿Habrá imaginado Wharton que un siglo después seguirÃamos obsesionados por ese sueño crepuscular en nuevas formas? Probablemente.
January 30, 2016
Matriarch Pauline Manford is signed up for every committee there is and practices every Jazz Age New Age fad that comes along. Just imagine what a tizzy she would have been in if The Oprah had been around in the Twenties.
All these activities help Pauline conveniently not notice her husband's indecent obsession with their daughter-in-law. Daughter Nona has her own suspicions but says nothing because she's got her own soap opera to deal with, being in love with a married man who is in love with... well, I don't guess he's in love with anyone.
After a dramatic confrontation my ebook abruptly ends so I hope that's how the book is supposed to end or else I'm going to feel gypped.
The point of the story is.............
I'm giving it three stars because for some odd reason I found myself liking Pauline. Go figure.
All these activities help Pauline conveniently not notice her husband's indecent obsession with their daughter-in-law. Daughter Nona has her own suspicions but says nothing because she's got her own soap opera to deal with, being in love with a married man who is in love with... well, I don't guess he's in love with anyone.
After a dramatic confrontation my ebook abruptly ends so I hope that's how the book is supposed to end or else I'm going to feel gypped.
The point of the story is.............
I'm giving it three stars because for some odd reason I found myself liking Pauline. Go figure.
May 31, 2018
This jazz-era Wharton novel begins strong, and ends in the sort of a haze that the title refers to. Twilight Sleep was a form of tranquilizing regimen that allowed people to move through the 20's in a cloud, feeling content and unaffected by any external force. It is difficult to tell who the principle character of this novel is, as the story sort of revolves continuously around an established New York family. Themes of dancing, faddish spiritual indulgences, divorce and affairs thread through this work. It is evident that Wharton was trying something modern and quite different from her most popular stories and novels. I was captivated from the first page, but by the end I felt like I was trudging through a haze that made the experience feel more like trudging uphill than indulging in a good story.
December 26, 2007
A rather dated novel from the Jazz Age people running around having affairs, seeking spiritual "treatment", and spending like there's no tomorrow....wait that sounds like something from the last five years.
Wharton's female characters are spunky but the younger women are rendered through distasteful elderly eyes and with a certain amount of regret. Her matronly character Pauline is spot on though and the scenes of her negotiating with husband, children, servants really bring out Wharton's subtle satire. Too bad the men in the story come across as dolts or lechers. Anyone interested in early Modernist writers who were actually Victorian should check this novel out.
Wharton's female characters are spunky but the younger women are rendered through distasteful elderly eyes and with a certain amount of regret. Her matronly character Pauline is spot on though and the scenes of her negotiating with husband, children, servants really bring out Wharton's subtle satire. Too bad the men in the story come across as dolts or lechers. Anyone interested in early Modernist writers who were actually Victorian should check this novel out.
August 13, 2019
What a gem! Read this as part of a Stanford Continued Ed. class on Jazz Age fiction. While I had read MUCH of E. Wharton years ago this is one I had not read nor know she wrote. What wit and sarcasm but also poignancy about missed relationships and misunderstanding. This book despite being set in the mid 20s as it skewers the frenetic actions and obsessions of every latest "fad" by the protagonist has relevance to today's society and strivings of over-progammed children and adults searching to "fix" and control every aspect of their lives. Love the somewhat ambiguous ending. Memorable.
October 25, 2014
I've always been an Edith Wharton fan but had never heard of this book until I came upon it by accident. Now that I've read it I'm really glad I bought it and actually think it's one of Wharton's best novels. Wonderfully written, the book is so incredibly modern it sometimes gives the reader the impression it was written only a few years ago. As usual, Edith Wharton proves to be an astute (and fierce!) observer of human nature and I love the way she dissects her characters to reveal their deepest motivations. A fantastic read.
July 29, 2013
Slow starting, but picks up the pace towards the end of part two. Twilight Sleep seems a somewhat satirical look at the Jazz Age, sadly that could also apply to the here and now. I do not think I am a huge fan of satire, but it was very difficult to feel anything but annoyance towards pretty much all of the characters. For me, that made it a somewhat difficult read and will not make me run to another book from Edith Wharton.
October 30, 2008
Twilight sleep,an often neglected Wharton novel,takes place during the Jazz Age in America and offers a sampling of every 1920s fad: psychoanalysis,New Age spiritualism,self-help books,consumer science,drugs,plastic surgery,and eugenics...“from the treatment of the mentally deficient to the elucidation of the profoundest religious mysteries.�
February 12, 2009
Well, slightly biased, because Edith Wharton is my all-time favorite author, so basically anytime I find something of hers to read I'm giddy with joy and delight. The story rings true in every way, our society is still mad about consumerism, health fads and quackery, and outdoing the Jones. Kind of what got us into this mess that is 2009.
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