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The Bucaneers
Wharton's final novel (completed by Marion Mainwaring after the author's death in 1937) revolves around American and British society in the 1870s. Told in large part through the eyes of American debutantes, the story portrays innocent, wide-eyed, almost ethereal girls who turn into socially conscious women with financial worries--unrecognizable even to themselves. The beginning sections quickly catch the listener's attention, with lush descriptions of rooms, clothes, and the heights of feminine beauty. We enter a world of intrigue: secrets, characters with past relationships that could prove fatal, and competition taken to its limits. Its literary value notwithstanding, this book might appeal to soap opera and romance fans. For more attentive listeners, it quickly becomes disconcerting as more and more characters with awkward British-sounding names are added. It's increasingly difficult to recall who's who without backing up the tape. Most libraries can pass on this one.-- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News", New York
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
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About the author
Edith Wharton
1,184听books4,904听followersEdith 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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March 27, 2017
"First, the Romans had come. Then the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. Then the Danes terrorized England for three centuries. Norman pirates took the country over in 1066. Five centuries later Turks raided the Thames and took prisoners to sell in the Libyan slave-market鈥� But never had there been any phenomenon to match this鈥� 鈥� this 鈥榠nvasion of England by American women and their chiefs of commissariat, the silent American men鈥欌€�"
This is by no means a high seas adventure story and you won鈥檛 find any swashbuckling pirates within these pages. What you will find is a delightful and wholly absorbing story about a group of 鈥榥ew rich鈥� young ladies and their struggle to attain social status and suitable husbands in the complex society of 1870鈥檚 New York. Annabel St. George, her sister Virginia, Lizzy and Mabel Elmsworth, and Conchita Closson will find that they just don鈥檛 quite fit into the highest of social circles. Rather than vacationing at the fashionable Newport, they find themselves strolling the verandahs of the apparently less exclusive Saratoga 鈥� much to the dismay of their overly ambitious and scheming mothers.
Thank goodness for the likes of Miss Laura Testvalley who has been hired as governess to Annabel, or Nan. Miss Testvalley is a godsend indeed 鈥� more than just a teacher of letters, manners and music, she will help Nan navigate the tricky and unmerciful currents of her society. Nan is not your ordinary social ladder-climbing young woman. She is romantic and clever and has hopes and dreams beyond that of a marriage made simply with the goal of achieving rank and wealth. I do believe Miss Testvalley sees her own reflection in the young eyes of Nan. Miss Testvalley鈥檚 background and link to an impoverished family may not match that of Nan鈥檚 upbringing, but in those things that matter most in life 鈥� those of the mind and of the heart 鈥� Miss Testvalley is a true champion. I simply adored her steadfast affection and support of Nan and her well-being.
Now, when one doesn鈥檛 quite succeed amongst the fierce competition of young ladies in New York society, there is one solution 鈥� England. At a time when many of the British aristocracy still upheld their titles and legacy but lacked the funds to sufficiently maintain their lands and other holdings, new money from overseas was perhaps just the ticket to preserving such heritage. And now behold 鈥榯he buccaneers鈥� 鈥� our young ladies from New York. Can they 鈥� and their superficial mothers 鈥� achieve what they intensely desire in this country? There now exists a whole new set of rules and customs to which they must conform. Nan finds herself in love with the land and the sense of history which it invokes. Maybe finally this is a place in which she can find true happiness.
"It was not the atmosphere of London but of England which had gradually filled her veins and penetrated to her heart. She thought of the thinness of the mental and moral air in her own home: the noisy quarrels about nothing, the paltry preoccupations, her mother鈥檚 feverish interest in the fashions and follies of a society which had always ignored her. At least life in England had a background, layers and layers of rich deep background, of history, poetry, old traditional observances, beautiful houses, beautiful landscapes, beautiful ancient buildings, palaces, churches, cathedrals. Would it not be possible, in some mysterious way, to create for oneself a life out of all this richness, a life which would somehow make up for the poverty of one鈥檚 personal lot?"
But what is a girl to do when presented with the attentions of Guy Thwarte 鈥� landholder and heir to Honourslove, a place towards which Nan feels herself somehow immediately attached, or the Duke of Tintagel 鈥� owner of the romantic and historical castle of Tintagel, a place steeped in the legends of King Arthur. How this plays out, you will have to find out for yourself! You will most likely root for Nan with as much devotion as did I and Miss Testvalley. You will nod in agreement with Edith Wharton鈥檚 subtle and witty scorn towards the customs and demands of both the New York upper crust as well as the British aristocracy. You will fall in love with the elegant prose which Wharton displays so flawlessly.
One important note regarding this novel which did not in the least affect my desire to read it 鈥� Edith Wharton passed away prior to finishing writing this. My version included an ending completed by Marion Mainwaring, a Wharton scholar. I was not able to distinguish a difference in writing style between the words of Wharton versus Mainwaring, but then I am not by any means a Wharton scholar, but simply an amateur reader who thoroughly appreciated the effort put forth by Mainwaring. However, I can鈥檛 help but wish that Wharton had survived to see this novel through to completion. One will never know exactly how she intended for this to end, but I was nevertheless quite satisfied.
This is by no means a high seas adventure story and you won鈥檛 find any swashbuckling pirates within these pages. What you will find is a delightful and wholly absorbing story about a group of 鈥榥ew rich鈥� young ladies and their struggle to attain social status and suitable husbands in the complex society of 1870鈥檚 New York. Annabel St. George, her sister Virginia, Lizzy and Mabel Elmsworth, and Conchita Closson will find that they just don鈥檛 quite fit into the highest of social circles. Rather than vacationing at the fashionable Newport, they find themselves strolling the verandahs of the apparently less exclusive Saratoga 鈥� much to the dismay of their overly ambitious and scheming mothers.
Thank goodness for the likes of Miss Laura Testvalley who has been hired as governess to Annabel, or Nan. Miss Testvalley is a godsend indeed 鈥� more than just a teacher of letters, manners and music, she will help Nan navigate the tricky and unmerciful currents of her society. Nan is not your ordinary social ladder-climbing young woman. She is romantic and clever and has hopes and dreams beyond that of a marriage made simply with the goal of achieving rank and wealth. I do believe Miss Testvalley sees her own reflection in the young eyes of Nan. Miss Testvalley鈥檚 background and link to an impoverished family may not match that of Nan鈥檚 upbringing, but in those things that matter most in life 鈥� those of the mind and of the heart 鈥� Miss Testvalley is a true champion. I simply adored her steadfast affection and support of Nan and her well-being.
Now, when one doesn鈥檛 quite succeed amongst the fierce competition of young ladies in New York society, there is one solution 鈥� England. At a time when many of the British aristocracy still upheld their titles and legacy but lacked the funds to sufficiently maintain their lands and other holdings, new money from overseas was perhaps just the ticket to preserving such heritage. And now behold 鈥榯he buccaneers鈥� 鈥� our young ladies from New York. Can they 鈥� and their superficial mothers 鈥� achieve what they intensely desire in this country? There now exists a whole new set of rules and customs to which they must conform. Nan finds herself in love with the land and the sense of history which it invokes. Maybe finally this is a place in which she can find true happiness.
"It was not the atmosphere of London but of England which had gradually filled her veins and penetrated to her heart. She thought of the thinness of the mental and moral air in her own home: the noisy quarrels about nothing, the paltry preoccupations, her mother鈥檚 feverish interest in the fashions and follies of a society which had always ignored her. At least life in England had a background, layers and layers of rich deep background, of history, poetry, old traditional observances, beautiful houses, beautiful landscapes, beautiful ancient buildings, palaces, churches, cathedrals. Would it not be possible, in some mysterious way, to create for oneself a life out of all this richness, a life which would somehow make up for the poverty of one鈥檚 personal lot?"
But what is a girl to do when presented with the attentions of Guy Thwarte 鈥� landholder and heir to Honourslove, a place towards which Nan feels herself somehow immediately attached, or the Duke of Tintagel 鈥� owner of the romantic and historical castle of Tintagel, a place steeped in the legends of King Arthur. How this plays out, you will have to find out for yourself! You will most likely root for Nan with as much devotion as did I and Miss Testvalley. You will nod in agreement with Edith Wharton鈥檚 subtle and witty scorn towards the customs and demands of both the New York upper crust as well as the British aristocracy. You will fall in love with the elegant prose which Wharton displays so flawlessly.
One important note regarding this novel which did not in the least affect my desire to read it 鈥� Edith Wharton passed away prior to finishing writing this. My version included an ending completed by Marion Mainwaring, a Wharton scholar. I was not able to distinguish a difference in writing style between the words of Wharton versus Mainwaring, but then I am not by any means a Wharton scholar, but simply an amateur reader who thoroughly appreciated the effort put forth by Mainwaring. However, I can鈥檛 help but wish that Wharton had survived to see this novel through to completion. One will never know exactly how she intended for this to end, but I was nevertheless quite satisfied.
July 15, 2016
is Edith Wharton鈥檚 last and uncompleted novel. She had written approximately 89,000 words before her death and the novel was printed in its incomplete form by her publisher. In 1993 Marion Mainwaring, a noted Wharton scholar, completed the story, in line with notes that Wharton had left behind. She did a good job, since there is no obvious break in the voice between the beginning of the book and the end, but it seems clear to me that no one, even a great scholar, could ever know exactly how Wharton would have ended her work. If someone was going to guess, I think Mainwaring was a good choice, but I can鈥檛 help wishing Wharton could have done it herself and that it were as pure a Wharton as and .
Despite this, The Buccaneers is a masterful work of fiction, set in Wharton鈥檚 high-society world, and full of the angst and manipulation that makes me happy for just a moment not to have been among the fabulously wealthy, well-married women of the time. Love and marriage do not go together like a horse and carriage in Wharton鈥檚 world. Marriage is mostly an institution of convenience and profit, you get a name and I get money, and woe to the romantically inclined girl who stumbles into this world of harsh reality unawares.
It is the reality behind the mask in a Wharton that makes it so worthwhile to read her. She strips the conventions to the bone and calls them by name. She exposes what people are willing to do and become in an effort to climb a social ladder, where someone else is always contriving to knock them off or at least kick them down a rung. And, she is superbly adept at lending light to the less affluent who have to circle in this world and navigate its waters. One of her finest characters in The Buccaneers is Miss Laura Testvalley, a governess who knows her place and sees the world without any rose-colored glasses, but whose caring heart cannot resist loving and aiding her charge, Annabel St. George (Nan).
There is always the beauty of Wharton鈥檚 descriptive writing that would, alone, make me wish to read this book: It was dark when Folyat House loomed high and stately in Portman Square, light shining from its long rows of windows and torches flaming at the grand portal. Footmen jumped down from the barouche which had met the travelers at Paddington, opened the escutcheoned doors, and helped them out. Other footmen led them up steps and into an oval colonnaded lobby. The Glenloe girls鈥� eyes widened as the groom-of-the-chambers, attended by yet other footmen, conducted them into a great rectangular hall through an arch at the opposite end.鈥� When I read that,I feel I am one of the Glenloe girls and can see the glamour of the hall and the bustle of the footmen providing their services to the titled and privileged in a stoic and efficient manner.
I loved seeing the five girls (who are the buccaneers) transform from innocent pawns in the game to active players. In the beginning, they are primarily spurred on by ambitious mothers, while they are, themselves, just happy to have a good time and attract the attention of the men. By the end, they are among the ones pulling the strings and conniving for power, and the wheat is separated from the chaff, as they say.
They change, even toward one another. 鈥淰irginia, who had seemed to Annabel so secure, so aloof, so disdainful of everything but her own pleasures, but who, as Lady Seadown, was enslaved to that dull half-sleeping Seadown, absorbed in questions of rank and precedence, and in awe--actually in awe--of her father-in-law鈥檚 stupid arrogance鈥︹€�
Finally, they are seen, even by their husbands as pirates, conquerors, rulers who come to rule by stealth:
鈥漌hat a gang of buccaneers you are!鈥� he breathed to his wife.
鈥淏uccaneers,鈥� Lizzy reminded him gently, 鈥渨ere not notorious for paying fortunes for what they took.鈥�
Several of these girls do pay heavily for what they take, and they pay more than money. Those who fail to toe society鈥檚 line pay a price and lose a lot, but those who adhere to it pay almost as much, if not more. Wharton does not traffic in happily ever after in her novels--people die, they are ruined, they are impoverished. I personally see the hand of Mainwaring in this novel most heavily in the lightness of the penalties exacted. I believe Wharton would have visited a harsher punishment on her characters in the end. She was unflinching when portraying the viciousness of society. She had seen it in her lifetime. She knew the costs. You need only think of Lily Bart to know that she did. I can鈥檛 help wondering, had fate allowed Wharton to finish this novel, if my dear Nan and Laura Testvalley would have been spared.
Despite this, The Buccaneers is a masterful work of fiction, set in Wharton鈥檚 high-society world, and full of the angst and manipulation that makes me happy for just a moment not to have been among the fabulously wealthy, well-married women of the time. Love and marriage do not go together like a horse and carriage in Wharton鈥檚 world. Marriage is mostly an institution of convenience and profit, you get a name and I get money, and woe to the romantically inclined girl who stumbles into this world of harsh reality unawares.
It is the reality behind the mask in a Wharton that makes it so worthwhile to read her. She strips the conventions to the bone and calls them by name. She exposes what people are willing to do and become in an effort to climb a social ladder, where someone else is always contriving to knock them off or at least kick them down a rung. And, she is superbly adept at lending light to the less affluent who have to circle in this world and navigate its waters. One of her finest characters in The Buccaneers is Miss Laura Testvalley, a governess who knows her place and sees the world without any rose-colored glasses, but whose caring heart cannot resist loving and aiding her charge, Annabel St. George (Nan).
There is always the beauty of Wharton鈥檚 descriptive writing that would, alone, make me wish to read this book: It was dark when Folyat House loomed high and stately in Portman Square, light shining from its long rows of windows and torches flaming at the grand portal. Footmen jumped down from the barouche which had met the travelers at Paddington, opened the escutcheoned doors, and helped them out. Other footmen led them up steps and into an oval colonnaded lobby. The Glenloe girls鈥� eyes widened as the groom-of-the-chambers, attended by yet other footmen, conducted them into a great rectangular hall through an arch at the opposite end.鈥� When I read that,I feel I am one of the Glenloe girls and can see the glamour of the hall and the bustle of the footmen providing their services to the titled and privileged in a stoic and efficient manner.
I loved seeing the five girls (who are the buccaneers) transform from innocent pawns in the game to active players. In the beginning, they are primarily spurred on by ambitious mothers, while they are, themselves, just happy to have a good time and attract the attention of the men. By the end, they are among the ones pulling the strings and conniving for power, and the wheat is separated from the chaff, as they say.
They change, even toward one another. 鈥淰irginia, who had seemed to Annabel so secure, so aloof, so disdainful of everything but her own pleasures, but who, as Lady Seadown, was enslaved to that dull half-sleeping Seadown, absorbed in questions of rank and precedence, and in awe--actually in awe--of her father-in-law鈥檚 stupid arrogance鈥︹€�
Finally, they are seen, even by their husbands as pirates, conquerors, rulers who come to rule by stealth:
鈥漌hat a gang of buccaneers you are!鈥� he breathed to his wife.
鈥淏uccaneers,鈥� Lizzy reminded him gently, 鈥渨ere not notorious for paying fortunes for what they took.鈥�
Several of these girls do pay heavily for what they take, and they pay more than money. Those who fail to toe society鈥檚 line pay a price and lose a lot, but those who adhere to it pay almost as much, if not more. Wharton does not traffic in happily ever after in her novels--people die, they are ruined, they are impoverished. I personally see the hand of Mainwaring in this novel most heavily in the lightness of the penalties exacted. I believe Wharton would have visited a harsher punishment on her characters in the end. She was unflinching when portraying the viciousness of society. She had seen it in her lifetime. She knew the costs. You need only think of Lily Bart to know that she did. I can鈥檛 help wondering, had fate allowed Wharton to finish this novel, if my dear Nan and Laura Testvalley would have been spared.
January 1, 2025
Really interesting, this one. A group of American girls having trouble becoming integrated in the social scene of New York head to England, largely as a result of the connections of the newly-hired governess of one of the girls, where they are outsiders and therefore novelties, and try their hands there instead. We focus more on one of them - Annabel ("Nan") - more than the others. She's the most successful of them all in the rank of man she bags, but she ends up much worse for it.
The Buccaneers was left incomplete upon Wharton's death, but a Wharton scholar named Marion Mainwaring went back and completed it using the late author's outlines, so it concluded how she wished it to. The fact that anyone would come in and touch the great Wharton's work seemed to scandalize some back in the 90s when this came out, but I found her touch undetectable; in every way (maybe besides the more upbeat ending, which was not Wharton's bailiwick), this is a Wharton novel through-and-through.
The Buccaneers was left incomplete upon Wharton's death, but a Wharton scholar named Marion Mainwaring went back and completed it using the late author's outlines, so it concluded how she wished it to. The fact that anyone would come in and touch the great Wharton's work seemed to scandalize some back in the 90s when this came out, but I found her touch undetectable; in every way (maybe besides the more upbeat ending, which was not Wharton's bailiwick), this is a Wharton novel through-and-through.
April 10, 2009
I've fallen in love, readers!
It took me about 12 hours from start to finish to read the last of Wharton's novels, left unfinished for decades and then completed in Wharton's style by scholar Marion Mainwaring. As I mentioned earlier, I've watched the PBS series three times now and there's something about it that gets to me. Perhaps because it's sexier and funnier and looser than what one would expect from the era, and because [SPOILER ALERT:] its ending which actually arises from Wharton's notes, is decidedly un-Whartonian. I'm terribly moved by the idea that at the end of her life, Edith Wharton would decide to write a novel about a heroine who behaves in the exact opposite way of nearly all her other major characters, who--to put it quite frankly--doesn't give a shit about social convention and flouts it utterly. I like to think of it as the author's reconciliation to romance, her final, deathbed middle finger to the rules and hierarchies with which she had such a deeply-tortured relationships.
Reading The Buccaneers is a dream for those who like comedies-of-manners for their own sake. Wharton will never be Austen: she takes ten lines to explain the social relationships that Austen dispatches with a sentence (this, I think, is evidence of Wharton's psychic struggle with society). But the first two thirds of the book, written by Wharton without revision, each page dropped off the side of her bed as she finished it, are blithe, satirical, sexy and both funny and sad.
The many scenes where the characters forge connections over poetry and art as well Nan St. George's stifling marriage and post-marital sexual awakening make me feel as though this is Wharton's Persuasion. And like that novel and other novels with heavy autobiographical elements--Copperfield, The Song of the Lark, etc. it has an emotional immediacy that feels startling and gives it a value different from a more controlled, classically perfect novel.
Wharton's contrast of Laura Testevalley, who gives up on romance and sacrifices her chance of happiness so that Nan can run away with Guy Thwarte, and Nan, who finds happiness with Guy after having giving up on it in her role as duchess, fascinates: one feels that Wharton is both Laura, in middle age loosening her scruple, and Nan herself.
Mainwaring's best contributions are a number of concluding love scenes that are satisfying (if not as satisfying as the wheat-field fornication in the film ;)) and a deft weaving-in of the horribly sexist divorce laws of the time that existed to punish women, humiliate them, and treat them as property. Marital rape is legal, and Nan's refusal to "produce heirs" for her huband after becoming emotionally estranged from him is a pivotal plot point.
This was definitely the best read I've embarked on in a while. I couldn't recommend it enough for Wharton fans who have long desired a less "thwarted" ending for her characters. I'd add that picturing Greg Wise in the romantic leading role definitely added a lot to the reading experience.
It took me about 12 hours from start to finish to read the last of Wharton's novels, left unfinished for decades and then completed in Wharton's style by scholar Marion Mainwaring. As I mentioned earlier, I've watched the PBS series three times now and there's something about it that gets to me. Perhaps because it's sexier and funnier and looser than what one would expect from the era, and because [SPOILER ALERT:] its ending which actually arises from Wharton's notes, is decidedly un-Whartonian. I'm terribly moved by the idea that at the end of her life, Edith Wharton would decide to write a novel about a heroine who behaves in the exact opposite way of nearly all her other major characters, who--to put it quite frankly--doesn't give a shit about social convention and flouts it utterly. I like to think of it as the author's reconciliation to romance, her final, deathbed middle finger to the rules and hierarchies with which she had such a deeply-tortured relationships.
Reading The Buccaneers is a dream for those who like comedies-of-manners for their own sake. Wharton will never be Austen: she takes ten lines to explain the social relationships that Austen dispatches with a sentence (this, I think, is evidence of Wharton's psychic struggle with society). But the first two thirds of the book, written by Wharton without revision, each page dropped off the side of her bed as she finished it, are blithe, satirical, sexy and both funny and sad.
The many scenes where the characters forge connections over poetry and art as well Nan St. George's stifling marriage and post-marital sexual awakening make me feel as though this is Wharton's Persuasion. And like that novel and other novels with heavy autobiographical elements--Copperfield, The Song of the Lark, etc. it has an emotional immediacy that feels startling and gives it a value different from a more controlled, classically perfect novel.
Wharton's contrast of Laura Testevalley, who gives up on romance and sacrifices her chance of happiness so that Nan can run away with Guy Thwarte, and Nan, who finds happiness with Guy after having giving up on it in her role as duchess, fascinates: one feels that Wharton is both Laura, in middle age loosening her scruple, and Nan herself.
Mainwaring's best contributions are a number of concluding love scenes that are satisfying (if not as satisfying as the wheat-field fornication in the film ;)) and a deft weaving-in of the horribly sexist divorce laws of the time that existed to punish women, humiliate them, and treat them as property. Marital rape is legal, and Nan's refusal to "produce heirs" for her huband after becoming emotionally estranged from him is a pivotal plot point.
This was definitely the best read I've embarked on in a while. I couldn't recommend it enough for Wharton fans who have long desired a less "thwarted" ending for her characters. I'd add that picturing Greg Wise in the romantic leading role definitely added a lot to the reading experience.
March 28, 2014
I found a copy of this book in a used bookstore, and hesitated before finally caving and buying it. I loved The Age of Innocence, but (as I learned from reading the book jacket while in the store) The Buccaneers is unfinished. Wharton wrote about 89,000 words of the story before dying in 1937, and Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring picked up where the book left off and finished the novel. There's a note at the end about how Mainwaring made some changes to Wharton's draft to account for later changes in the story (and she also removed some hella racist language), but for the most part, the first two thirds of the book are primarily Wharton's. I don't like the idea of reading unfinished stories, and I can't decide what irks me more: an unfinished novel like Suite Francaise, which didn't have an ending because Irene Nemirovsky died before she could finish it; or The Buccaneers, where another author is brought in to complete the draft. Either way, it makes for a frustrating experience.
That being said, Mainwaring does a pretty good job of continuing Wharton's novel, to the point where I couldn't tell where Wharton's writing ended and Mainwaring's began. Maybe if I was a more experienced Wharton reader I would have noticed discrepancies, but as far as I was concerned, it was a solid story.
The story opens in 1876 New York, where "new money" sisters Virginia and Annebel St. George are preparing to find husbands. They find that they can't compete with the old money families of New York, and, after one of their friends marries an English lord who was visiting America, decide to follow her to England. Guided by their British governess, Laura Testvalley, the girls make their mark on the London social scene. Two more American sisters join the St. George girls, and their group becomes known as "the buccaneers," fortune-hunting Americans invading London to snatch up all the eligible lords and dukes. Each of the four American girls ends up marrying into the aristocracy, with varied success.
The story wasn't as tightly constructed or engrossing as The Age of Innocence, but I still loved reading Wharton's perspective on the shallowness and complexity of high society in the 1800's. She also makes it clear, without needing to slam it in your face, how much it sucked to be a woman in this world. The two most engrossing characters were Miss Testvalley, a confirmed spinster who's given up all hope of finding a husband and throws herself into the job of finding good marriages for her charges; and Annabel St. George, who ends up making the best marriage and is completely miserable. Her efforts to make the best of her circumstances, knowing that she's completely trapped in this life that she chose, were heartbreaking and beautiful.
"To begin with, what had caused Annabel St. George to turn into Annabel Tintagel? That was the central problem! Yet how could she solve it, when she could no longer question that elusive Annabel St. George, who was still so near to her, yet as remote and unapproachable as a plaintive ghost?
Yes - a ghost. That was it. Annabel St. George was dead, and would therefore never be able to find out why and how that mysterious change had come about. ...
'The greatest mistake,' she mused, her chin resting on her clasped hands, her eyes fixed unseeingly on the dim reaches of the park, 'the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things. ...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call "experience." But by the time we've got that we
re no longer the person who did the things we no longer understand. The trouble is, I suppose, that we change every moment; and the things we did stay."
That being said, Mainwaring does a pretty good job of continuing Wharton's novel, to the point where I couldn't tell where Wharton's writing ended and Mainwaring's began. Maybe if I was a more experienced Wharton reader I would have noticed discrepancies, but as far as I was concerned, it was a solid story.
The story opens in 1876 New York, where "new money" sisters Virginia and Annebel St. George are preparing to find husbands. They find that they can't compete with the old money families of New York, and, after one of their friends marries an English lord who was visiting America, decide to follow her to England. Guided by their British governess, Laura Testvalley, the girls make their mark on the London social scene. Two more American sisters join the St. George girls, and their group becomes known as "the buccaneers," fortune-hunting Americans invading London to snatch up all the eligible lords and dukes. Each of the four American girls ends up marrying into the aristocracy, with varied success.
The story wasn't as tightly constructed or engrossing as The Age of Innocence, but I still loved reading Wharton's perspective on the shallowness and complexity of high society in the 1800's. She also makes it clear, without needing to slam it in your face, how much it sucked to be a woman in this world. The two most engrossing characters were Miss Testvalley, a confirmed spinster who's given up all hope of finding a husband and throws herself into the job of finding good marriages for her charges; and Annabel St. George, who ends up making the best marriage and is completely miserable. Her efforts to make the best of her circumstances, knowing that she's completely trapped in this life that she chose, were heartbreaking and beautiful.
"To begin with, what had caused Annabel St. George to turn into Annabel Tintagel? That was the central problem! Yet how could she solve it, when she could no longer question that elusive Annabel St. George, who was still so near to her, yet as remote and unapproachable as a plaintive ghost?
Yes - a ghost. That was it. Annabel St. George was dead, and would therefore never be able to find out why and how that mysterious change had come about. ...
'The greatest mistake,' she mused, her chin resting on her clasped hands, her eyes fixed unseeingly on the dim reaches of the park, 'the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things. ...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call "experience." But by the time we've got that we
re no longer the person who did the things we no longer understand. The trouble is, I suppose, that we change every moment; and the things we did stay."
December 3, 2023
This was a fascinating look at the effects of British lords marrying rich Americans to finance their crumbling estates (as in Downtown Abbey). The American ladies chafe at the bit of British rules, and their love stories seem doomed from the start. However, this is more a tale of sisterhood than romance, and the sharp characterization reminded me of why I love Wharton so much. Like Virginia Woolf, she wrote with a feminist slant and dared to raise subjects few female authors of her time would take on.
Read
April 1, 2024Jovens Rebeldes (The Buccaneers) 茅 um livro espl锚ndido e de uma conten莽茫o magn铆fica que cont茅m toda a eleg芒ncia e fina ironia de que Wharton sempre faz uso. E, se ao longo da sua obra, 茅 normal encontrar a autora e o seu mundo plasmados sem subterf煤gios, isso 茅 duas vezes evidente neste que 茅 o 煤ltimo livro que escreve.
Todo ele revestido pela experi锚ncia de vida da autora, The Buccaneers- nome ainda mais apropriado do que Jovens Rebeldes, pela forte dose de ironia que a autora lhe imprime -, narra nada mais nada menos do que a conquista/invas茫o social de terras inglesas por um grupo avant-garde de jovens casadoiras norte americanas.
Provenientes de um meio elitista onde proliferam os nouveaux riches, as jovens rebeldes expatriadas s茫o conduzidas em bando at茅 脿 sociedade inglesa pela m茫o de suas m茫es: mulheres experientes nos c铆rculos posh da d茅cada de setenta do s茅culo XIX, um mundo onde o estatuto social obedece a uma s茅rie de crit茅rios de apar锚ncia, c贸digos de conduta e liga莽玫es de conveni锚ncia que estas mulheres j谩 sabem manobrar, mas a que tamb茅m sabem obedecer:
Mas a nova gera莽茫o de jovens que toma a Inglaterra de surpresa n茫o se aquieta 脿s normas em vigor, choca com a tradi莽茫o, 茅, em grande parte, mais esclarecida do que a gera莽茫o de mulheres que a antecede e j谩 n茫o est谩 disposta a tanta resigna莽茫o aos moldes habituais:
Espartilhadas pelas institui莽玫es e estruturas sociais que condicionam as mulheres atrav茅s do casamento a viver numa 芦Idade da Inoc锚ncia禄 (como a pr贸pria autora a descrevia) - mergulhadas numa hierarquia masculina de dinheiro e poder, e mod茅stia e moral femininas -, apesar de toda a sua rebeldia, estas jovens est茫o condenadas a repetir os modelos de submiss茫o t茫o bem conhecidos:
Entre os grupos de Nova Iorque que chegam 脿s rece莽玫es e aos bailes aristocr谩ticos brit芒nicos, os Closson, os Elmsworth e os St. George, encontra-se Annabele (Nan) St. George, a mais sui generis entre os seus pares, jovem de ideais rom芒nticos e um gosto pouco saud谩vel por literatura e arte. Criatura d贸cil e sens铆vel, Nan 茅 pois a presa por excel锚ncia de uma sociedade manietada por normas arcaicas, alimentada por ilus玫es e apar锚ncias que compete manter sob quaisquer circunst芒ncias:
Ent茫o, felizmente, eis a deixa para entrar Miss Laura Testvaley. 脌 semelhan莽a do papel que Anna Catherine Bahlmann teve na vida de Edith Wharton, Laura Testvaley, inglesa de origem italiana, descendente de Dante Gabriel Rossetti, mulher esclarecida e independente, ser谩 a percetora que ir谩 guiar Nan nos meandros cru茅is de uma sociedade a que s贸 se sobrevive com arrog芒ncia ou uma forte coura莽a de sentido de humor:
Incutindo no esp铆rito da jovem pupila toda uma casta de valores que, longe de serem an贸dinos, antes despertam em Nan sentimentos de liberdade e realiza莽茫o pessoall, ser谩 a influ锚ncia de Laura Testvaley o suficiente para decidir a felicidade de Nan?
O crescimento de Nan, de certa forma equiparado ao da autora, sendo a for莽a motriz da narrativa, obriga a uma estrutura r铆gida como os ditames do tempo em que ocorre, mas nem assim o trabalho de Wharton perde a sua for莽a, e Jovens Rebeldes 茅, por isso mesmo, uma obra muit铆ssimo bem conseguida.
Mais do que um romance sobre meninas de bem do Novo Mundo que gostam de pisar a corda, fumam, anseiam bons casamentos e casos amorosos, a 煤ltima obra de Wharton 茅 uma narrativa brilhante e fortemente cr铆tica da institui莽茫o que 茅 o casamento, do patriarcado (ainda que sob outros nomes), das normas burguesas e da moral vitoriana:
Nem todas as cors谩rias desta hist贸ria vingar茫o da mesma forma - h谩 as que se submetem, as que se rebelam, as que pactuam com um sistema hip贸crita que as liberta, embora n茫o totalmente, o suficiente para que retirem da sua vida mais do que apenas um t铆tulo, mas cada uma delas representa, de certa forma, uma faceta da autora: ora inocente, ora intr茅pida, ora inteligente, ora rebelde, mas sempre de uma agudeza de esp铆rito impressionante:
Nota:Jovens Rebeldes 茅 o 煤ltimo livro de Edith Wharton e n茫o chega a ser conclu铆do pela sua m茫o, sendo publicado postumamente, ainda nos anos 30, tal qual se encontra 脿 data da morte da autora. Todavia, os anos 90 v锚em publicada nova edi莽茫o, desta feita com uma conclus茫o - que tem por base as notas da autora - por Marion Mainwaring. A presente edi莽茫o (da extinta Europa-Am茅rica) conta com uma conclus茫o de Angela Mckworth-Young e baseia-se na adapta莽茫o dos gui玫es de Maggie Wadey para a mini-s茅rie da BBC, em 1995.
Confuso? 脡 bastante. E, talvez, desnecess谩rio, j谩 que esta conclus茫o (e, segundo cr铆tica e leitores tamb茅m as anteriores) n茫o faz justi莽a a Edith Wharton antes oferecendo um final que, embora atando pontas soltas - como se esperaria - ro莽a demasiado as margens da soap opera para soar cred铆vel. O certo 茅 que o car谩ter v铆vido das personagens se esbate nos dois 煤ltimos livros, a narrativa perde claramente vigor, sentindo-se um esfor莽o que l谩 n茫o estava antes, e o seu final cor de rosa ignora o facto de Wharton ser, na sua forma, uma moralista. Infelizmente, n茫o podendo recorrer 脿 autora, qualquer conclus茫o que se lhe acrescente, n茫o ser谩 o suficiente, mas o poss铆vel.
Todo ele revestido pela experi锚ncia de vida da autora, The Buccaneers- nome ainda mais apropriado do que Jovens Rebeldes, pela forte dose de ironia que a autora lhe imprime -, narra nada mais nada menos do que a conquista/invas茫o social de terras inglesas por um grupo avant-garde de jovens casadoiras norte americanas.
Provenientes de um meio elitista onde proliferam os nouveaux riches, as jovens rebeldes expatriadas s茫o conduzidas em bando at茅 脿 sociedade inglesa pela m茫o de suas m茫es: mulheres experientes nos c铆rculos posh da d茅cada de setenta do s茅culo XIX, um mundo onde o estatuto social obedece a uma s茅rie de crit茅rios de apar锚ncia, c贸digos de conduta e liga莽玫es de conveni锚ncia que estas mulheres j谩 sabem manobrar, mas a que tamb茅m sabem obedecer:
Semana ap贸s semana, dia ap贸s dia, a ansiosa m茫e tinha comparado os predicados da Menina Elmswood com os de Virginia. No que dizia respeito ao cabelo e 脿 pele, n茫o podia haver d煤vidas, Virginia, toda ela p茅rola, com as suas madeixas de cabelos louros empilhadas sobre a testa baixa, era t茫o pura e luminosa como uma flor de macieira. Mas a cintura de Lizzy era, indubitavelmente, pelo menos dois cent铆metros e meio mais fina (havia quem dissesse cinco cent铆metros), as sobrancelhas escuras de Lizzy tinham uma curvatura mais ousada, e o andar de Lizzy... onde teria uma nova-rica como aquela Elmsworth ido buscar aquele andar t茫o arrogante? Sim, mas reconfortava-a notar que a pele de Lizzy era opaca e desprovida de vida, em compara莽茫o com a de Virginia, e que os seus belos olhos revelavam g茅nio, o que por certo assustaria os jovens. Todavia, ela possu铆a, num grau alarmante, aquilo a que se chamava 芦estilo禄, e a Sra. St. George suspeitava de que, nos c铆rculos onde pretendia introduzir as suas filhas, o estilo era muito mas apreciado do que a beleza.
Mas a nova gera莽茫o de jovens que toma a Inglaterra de surpresa n茫o se aquieta 脿s normas em vigor, choca com a tradi莽茫o, 茅, em grande parte, mais esclarecida do que a gera莽茫o de mulheres que a antecede e j谩 n茫o est谩 disposta a tanta resigna莽茫o aos moldes habituais:
- Oh, Guy Thwarte(...). 脡 um dos mais fascinantes maus-partidos de Inglaterra.
- Mau-partido porqu锚?
- 脡 um rapaz por quem todas as mulheres ficam loucas, mas que 茅 pobre de mais para se casarem com ele. O 煤nico tipo que resta 脿s mulheres casadas, na realidade... por isso, n茫o lhe toque, minha querida. N茫o que eu queira Guy para mim - acrescentou Conchita com um sorriso pregui莽oso. Dick j谩 foi suficientemente mau-partido para mim. Aquilo que eu procuro 茅 um amigo com um rendimento que ele n茫o saiba como gastar.
Espartilhadas pelas institui莽玫es e estruturas sociais que condicionam as mulheres atrav茅s do casamento a viver numa 芦Idade da Inoc锚ncia禄 (como a pr贸pria autora a descrevia) - mergulhadas numa hierarquia masculina de dinheiro e poder, e mod茅stia e moral femininas -, apesar de toda a sua rebeldia, estas jovens est茫o condenadas a repetir os modelos de submiss茫o t茫o bem conhecidos:
(...)agora, que ele se tomara um homem importante em Wall Street, onde a vida parecia tornar-se cada dia mais febril, era perfeitamente natural que ele necessitasse de um pouco de descontra莽茫o, embora ela deplorasse que esta fosse alcan莽ada sempre atrav茅s do p贸quer e do u铆sque e, por vezes, segundo receava, do terceiro elemento celebrado pela can莽茫o. Embora a Sra. St. George fosse agora uma preocupada mulher de meia-idade, com filhas crescidas, custava-lhe tanto a resignar-se a essa ideia como na altura em que encontrara pela primeira vez, no bolso do marido, uma carta que n茫o se destinava a ser lida por ela. Mas nada podia fazer quanto a isso, nem quanto ao u铆sque e ao p贸quer ou quanto as visitas a locais onde se servia o jogo e o champanhe a todas as horas, e onde os cavalheiros que tinham ganh[ado] na roleta ou nas corridas ceavam em meretr铆cia companhia. A Sra. St. George tinha conhecimento, havia longo tempo, de tudo isso, mas sentia-se meio consolada, quando o coronel vinha reunir-se 脿 sua familia em Long Branch ou Saratoga, por saber que, na longa sala de jantar do hotel, todas as outras preocupadas esposas de meia idade lhe invejavam o seu espl锚ndido marido.
Entre os grupos de Nova Iorque que chegam 脿s rece莽玫es e aos bailes aristocr谩ticos brit芒nicos, os Closson, os Elmsworth e os St. George, encontra-se Annabele (Nan) St. George, a mais sui generis entre os seus pares, jovem de ideais rom芒nticos e um gosto pouco saud谩vel por literatura e arte. Criatura d贸cil e sens铆vel, Nan 茅 pois a presa por excel锚ncia de uma sociedade manietada por normas arcaicas, alimentada por ilus玫es e apar锚ncias que compete manter sob quaisquer circunst芒ncias:
[Nan] Sabia que a vis茫o de Virginia do mundo se limitava 脿s pessoas, 脿s roupas que usavam e 脿s carruagens em que viajavam. O seu pr贸prio universo estava t茫o cheio de vis玫es e sons maravilhosos que, apesar de sentir a superioridade de Virginia - a sua beleza, o seu 脿-vontade, a sua autoconfian莽a -, Nan sentia, por vezes, uma pena envergonhada da irm茫. Devia haver frio e solid茫o, pensava ela, naquele mundo vazio e incolor de Virginia.
Ent茫o, felizmente, eis a deixa para entrar Miss Laura Testvaley. 脌 semelhan莽a do papel que Anna Catherine Bahlmann teve na vida de Edith Wharton, Laura Testvaley, inglesa de origem italiana, descendente de Dante Gabriel Rossetti, mulher esclarecida e independente, ser谩 a percetora que ir谩 guiar Nan nos meandros cru茅is de uma sociedade a que s贸 se sobrevive com arrog芒ncia ou uma forte coura莽a de sentido de humor:
- Bom, meninas, est茫o com o ar de quem veio de um funeral - observou ela (...).
-E viemos. Vimos todos os velhos cad谩veres de Londres vestidos para aquele espect谩culo de circo a que chamam a Recep莽茫o.
Incutindo no esp铆rito da jovem pupila toda uma casta de valores que, longe de serem an贸dinos, antes despertam em Nan sentimentos de liberdade e realiza莽茫o pessoall, ser谩 a influ锚ncia de Laura Testvaley o suficiente para decidir a felicidade de Nan?
O crescimento de Nan, de certa forma equiparado ao da autora, sendo a for莽a motriz da narrativa, obriga a uma estrutura r铆gida como os ditames do tempo em que ocorre, mas nem assim o trabalho de Wharton perde a sua for莽a, e Jovens Rebeldes 茅, por isso mesmo, uma obra muit铆ssimo bem conseguida.
O nosso maior erro, - pensou, apoiando o queixo nas m茫os cruzadas, com os olhos cegamente cravados nas dist芒ncias do parque -, o nosso maior erro 茅 pensar que sabemos sempre por que fazemos as coisas... Suponho que o mais pr贸ximo que podemos chegar 茅 alcan莽ar aquilo a que os mais velhos chamam experi锚ncia. Mas, quando a conseguimos, j谩 n茫o somos as pessoas que fizeram as coisas que j谩 n茫o entendemos. Suponho que o problema seja que n贸s mudamos a cada momento; e as coisas que fizemos permanecem.
Mais do que um romance sobre meninas de bem do Novo Mundo que gostam de pisar a corda, fumam, anseiam bons casamentos e casos amorosos, a 煤ltima obra de Wharton 茅 uma narrativa brilhante e fortemente cr铆tica da institui莽茫o que 茅 o casamento, do patriarcado (ainda que sob outros nomes), das normas burguesas e da moral vitoriana:
Seria poss铆vel que ele n茫o conhecesse os seus direitos? Nos tempos da duquesa vi煤va, as obriga莽玫es de uma esposa - muito especialmente as da esposa de um duque - eram t茫o claras como os Dez Mandamentos. Tinha de dar ao seu marido pelo menos dois filhos var玫es, e se, no cumprimento deste dever, nascesse uma d煤zia de filhas indesejadas, teria de as receber com os adequados sentimentos maternais e ocupar-se para que fossem devidamente agasalhadas e educadas A duquesa de Tintagel tinha-se considerado feliz por ter tido apenas oito filhas, mas tinha lamentado a inexor谩vel decis茫o da Natureza de n茫o lhe ter concedido um segundo filho.
Nem todas as cors谩rias desta hist贸ria vingar茫o da mesma forma - h谩 as que se submetem, as que se rebelam, as que pactuam com um sistema hip贸crita que as liberta, embora n茫o totalmente, o suficiente para que retirem da sua vida mais do que apenas um t铆tulo, mas cada uma delas representa, de certa forma, uma faceta da autora: ora inocente, ora intr茅pida, ora inteligente, ora rebelde, mas sempre de uma agudeza de esp铆rito impressionante:
Estou certa de que os meus erros passados n茫o deveriam condenar-me a levar a vida de algu茅m que n茫o 茅, e nunca ser谩, verdadeiramente eu. Especialmente desde que aprendi tanta coisa com eles... com os meus erros, quero eu dizer. Aprendi que n茫o posso viver uma mentira e que n茫o quero ferir ningu茅m, mas, mais do que tudo, que n茫o tenho medo de ser eu, nem de falar por mim.
Nota:Jovens Rebeldes 茅 o 煤ltimo livro de Edith Wharton e n茫o chega a ser conclu铆do pela sua m茫o, sendo publicado postumamente, ainda nos anos 30, tal qual se encontra 脿 data da morte da autora. Todavia, os anos 90 v锚em publicada nova edi莽茫o, desta feita com uma conclus茫o - que tem por base as notas da autora - por Marion Mainwaring. A presente edi莽茫o (da extinta Europa-Am茅rica) conta com uma conclus茫o de Angela Mckworth-Young e baseia-se na adapta莽茫o dos gui玫es de Maggie Wadey para a mini-s茅rie da BBC, em 1995.
Confuso? 脡 bastante. E, talvez, desnecess谩rio, j谩 que esta conclus茫o (e, segundo cr铆tica e leitores tamb茅m as anteriores) n茫o faz justi莽a a Edith Wharton antes oferecendo um final que, embora atando pontas soltas - como se esperaria - ro莽a demasiado as margens da soap opera para soar cred铆vel. O certo 茅 que o car谩ter v铆vido das personagens se esbate nos dois 煤ltimos livros, a narrativa perde claramente vigor, sentindo-se um esfor莽o que l谩 n茫o estava antes, e o seu final cor de rosa ignora o facto de Wharton ser, na sua forma, uma moralista. Infelizmente, n茫o podendo recorrer 脿 autora, qualquer conclus茫o que se lhe acrescente, n茫o ser谩 o suficiente, mas o poss铆vel.
October 22, 2019
I have read most of Edith Wharton鈥檚 novels, but not The Buccaneers, perhaps because of an unconscious鈥攁nd rather unsophisticated, when I think about it鈥攄istaste for unfinished works of fiction. (Stevenson鈥檚 wonderful Weir of Hermiston recently cured me of that.)
The Buccaneers was Wharton鈥檚 last novel, left unfinished at her death in 1937. Curiously, it was completed by a Wharton biographer and novelist, Marion Mainwaring, in 1993 (more on that later), so you can now read it 鈥渨hole.鈥�
One issue about publishing work left unfinished by the author鈥擨 remember much discussion of this with Italo Calvino鈥攊s that books may be published that would never have made it through a writer鈥檚 rigorous quality controls. I felt that a little reading The Buccaneers, which is not a bad novel at all (at least the portion written by Wharton), but which didn鈥檛 seem to me to be up to Wharton鈥檚 usual meticulous standard of finish. I recently read her short story, 鈥淩oman Fever,鈥� and I was very struck by her Austen-like minimalism and formal control. The Buccaneers is much looser and more diffuse.
In terms of themes, the novel is in the Jamesian vein of 鈥淣ew World meets Old.鈥� Specifically, it explores the social comedy, and tragedy, resulting from five feisty, new money, New York heiresses hitting London and snaffling up husbands, in the form of a series of titled chinless wonders. It seems a strangely belated subject to be writing about in the 1930s, and Wharton here shows little of the relentless incisiveness she did examining similar themes in The Custom of the Country (1913). It has the feel of a nostalgia piece, almost Downton Abbey at points (the TV series, not the superb Altman film). Although that鈥檚 perhaps a little unfair鈥攖here鈥檚 a nice, show stealing Wilkie Collins-like governess figure, Laura Testvalley, aka Testavaglia, daughter of a line of Italian revolutionaries, who rather lit up the novel for me in every scene she was in.
As for Marion Mainwaring鈥檚 continuation...probably the less said the better. All it demonstrates is how much stronger even a lesser work by a great writer is than the best effort of a well-meaning but misguided hack. It鈥檚 crude, crass, and gushing. The Buccaneers would have been much better served by being left as an intriguing, if crumbling ruin.
The Buccaneers was Wharton鈥檚 last novel, left unfinished at her death in 1937. Curiously, it was completed by a Wharton biographer and novelist, Marion Mainwaring, in 1993 (more on that later), so you can now read it 鈥渨hole.鈥�
One issue about publishing work left unfinished by the author鈥擨 remember much discussion of this with Italo Calvino鈥攊s that books may be published that would never have made it through a writer鈥檚 rigorous quality controls. I felt that a little reading The Buccaneers, which is not a bad novel at all (at least the portion written by Wharton), but which didn鈥檛 seem to me to be up to Wharton鈥檚 usual meticulous standard of finish. I recently read her short story, 鈥淩oman Fever,鈥� and I was very struck by her Austen-like minimalism and formal control. The Buccaneers is much looser and more diffuse.
In terms of themes, the novel is in the Jamesian vein of 鈥淣ew World meets Old.鈥� Specifically, it explores the social comedy, and tragedy, resulting from five feisty, new money, New York heiresses hitting London and snaffling up husbands, in the form of a series of titled chinless wonders. It seems a strangely belated subject to be writing about in the 1930s, and Wharton here shows little of the relentless incisiveness she did examining similar themes in The Custom of the Country (1913). It has the feel of a nostalgia piece, almost Downton Abbey at points (the TV series, not the superb Altman film). Although that鈥檚 perhaps a little unfair鈥攖here鈥檚 a nice, show stealing Wilkie Collins-like governess figure, Laura Testvalley, aka Testavaglia, daughter of a line of Italian revolutionaries, who rather lit up the novel for me in every scene she was in.
As for Marion Mainwaring鈥檚 continuation...probably the less said the better. All it demonstrates is how much stronger even a lesser work by a great writer is than the best effort of a well-meaning but misguided hack. It鈥檚 crude, crass, and gushing. The Buccaneers would have been much better served by being left as an intriguing, if crumbling ruin.
March 22, 2024
i just wonder what this would have been like had edith wharton been able to complete it. whilst semi-good, the novel missed her magic touch throughout entirely. while it did not wow like her other work, it was a pleasant read. definitely a must if you want to read her work to completion but not a must if you have not read her other (magnificent) work first.
October 2, 2011
The St. George and Elmsworth families are *new money* and looking for brighter prospects for their daughters in the marriage market so they hie off to England looking for Dukes and Earl with aging homes in need repairs that only cold hard cash can bring them. The young ladies make their splash, make their marriages and then no surprise, have to lie in those beds that they've made for themselves. Some are successful, others not so - despite a very promising beginning.
"But it's rather lonely sometimes, when the only things that seem real are one's dreams."
I really did enjoy this a lot, and Wharton excels as always at her descriptions of society's quirks and restrictions. This was Wharton's last novel, which was finished off by Marion Mainwaring based on plot outlines left by Wharton. I definitely noticed a difference towards the end where MM stepped in to finish, and like other reviews some of the first 2/3 don't have quite the polished feel of Wharton's earlier work. Still, fans of Wharton and this topic (American heiresses in London) should definitely give this one a go. Just don't expect The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth.
"But it's rather lonely sometimes, when the only things that seem real are one's dreams."
I really did enjoy this a lot, and Wharton excels as always at her descriptions of society's quirks and restrictions. This was Wharton's last novel, which was finished off by Marion Mainwaring based on plot outlines left by Wharton. I definitely noticed a difference towards the end where MM stepped in to finish, and like other reviews some of the first 2/3 don't have quite the polished feel of Wharton's earlier work. Still, fans of Wharton and this topic (American heiresses in London) should definitely give this one a go. Just don't expect The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth.
July 1, 2021
Having seen the BBC production, I can honestly say I liked the book so much better, and that it was a strong 5 stars for me. This is the last book Edith Wharton wrote before she died in 1938, and it was finished according to her detailed outline and republished in 1993. The story is centered around five rich American young women, four of whom end up marrying into British society when they find their prospects limited in the United States. The main character is Annabel. When we meet her, she is 16 and her mother has just hired a British governess for her. That is to become one of the most important relationships in her life. We also get to know Virginia (Jinny), her older sister, Lizzy Elmsworth and her younger sister Mabel, their friends, and Conchita Closson, their fascinating friend. One summer, they meet Sir Richard Marable, the third son of a Marquess, who is smitten with and then marries Conchita. When it becomes clear that, because they are not of the traditionally monied class, but, instead, of the new, Wall St., monied class, the prospects of the remaining friends to enter society are limited, they travel to Britain to visit Conchita. Virginia ends up marrying into the same family. Annabel also ends up marrying, but even "higher," to Duke Tintagel, but the marriage goes badly. Lizzy ends up marrying an up-and-coming member of Parliament, and Mabel eventually marries one of the richest men in America. Eventually, Annabel discovers her true love, and we are treated to a description of British aristocracy manners and mores in the 1870's.
Wharton creates engaging characters and writes with great descriptiveness that keeps the story lines moving. She is an astute student of human nature. It was hard to put this book down.
Wharton creates engaging characters and writes with great descriptiveness that keeps the story lines moving. She is an astute student of human nature. It was hard to put this book down.
May 19, 2016
The Buccaneers proved to be an interesting bookend for the career of Edith Wharton.
Wharton had completed about two-thirds of The Buccaneers when she died in 1937. For decades, it appeared in 鈥渦nfinished鈥� form. But in the early 鈥�90s, Wharton expert Marion Mainwaring completed the book, based on Wharton鈥檚 own high level synopsis.
The Buccaneers proved to be an apt companion piece to Wharton鈥檚 most famous novel, The Age of Innocence. Set in the same time period, it focused on a group of 鈥渘ew money鈥� girls who found themselves denied entry to the upper reaches of New York society. Instead, they crossed the Atlantic, where London found their brash charms a breath of fresh air. Marriage to a variety of nobles ensued.
Wharton鈥檚 idea was fairly genius. Dramatizing how a group kept out of 鈥渙ld鈥� society in one country prospered by being the new blood that an even older social set in another cried out for provided an interesting extrapolation of themes the writer had explored in numerous of her works. The Buccaneers still was a drama of manners. The Americans faced differing levels of success in navigating the labyrinth of customs and expectations of Upper Class Brits. But unlike other novels where the newcomers were kept out, here they succeeded brilliantly. Fans of Downton Abbey may recognize the concept of a rich American becoming the wife of a British noble.
At its core, The Buccaneers was about the complicated romance of Nan St. George and Guy Thwarte. A brief encounter established a seed of sympathy between the duo. But Guy was obliged to go abroad and make the money needed to keep his family鈥檚 estate afloat. Nan entered an ill-advised marriage to a colorless Duke who couldn鈥檛 appreciate her unique sensibilities. The feelings that spark between Nan and Guy when they re-enter one another鈥檚 lives drive the drama of the final act.
In many ways, The Buccaneers is atypical of Wharton鈥檚 plots. For one, the star-crossed couple got that rarest of Wharton rewards: a happy ending. The duo transcended the blight on their reputations and ran off together. Prior Wharton heroines had only a life or regret and loss (or, occasionally, poverty-stricken death) as reward for their impulsive actions and questionable decisions. Nan got to be with the man she loved, even if the scandal produced would blow back on her family.
Nan also had something few Wharton heroines had: a sympathetic friend and advisor who cared more about Nan鈥檚 happiness than bowing to propriety. Nan鈥檚 governess, Laura Tetsvalley (daughter of an expat Italian family), filled the maternal role for Nan more capably than Nan鈥檚 own fairly useless mother. Laura made mistakes of her own along the way, but eventually elected to bear the brunt of Nan鈥檚 scandal on her own shoulders, allowing her former pupil to escape a life that made her unhappy.
The Buccaneers also is notable for how sympathetic its putative villains are. Ushant, the colorless Duke, set a lot of the unhappiness in motion. He married Nan not because he particularly valued her, but because he found her ignorance of his station appealing and thought he could mold her into an ideal wife. While that doesn鈥檛 value Nan鈥檚 virtues, it鈥檚 also not exactly hissable. The Duke was a product of his upbringing and only wanted his wife to learn her role and help perpetuate his line. But the story made clear that, while not warm, he wasn鈥檛 a bad person. The rules of British society at the time gave him the right to force his will on Nan, but he couldn鈥檛 quite bring himself to do that. Given that his wife left him after telling him she was in love with someone else, the fact that he tried to end the union in as quiet a manner as possible is rather commendable.
The Dowager Duchess was also a source of antagonism for Nan. But the writing does a good job of demonstrating that she was motivated by her sense of duty, to her son, his position and their family. You may not like her, but she鈥檚 understandable. Even a spoiled noblewoman who launched an unfounded scandal about Nan out of a fit of pique was more pathetic than evil.
Some of those differences might be attributed to Mainwaring. And yet she channels Wharton鈥檚 style almost seamlessly. And the plot developments were based on Wharton鈥檚 own plans for The Buccaneers. Mainwaring blends into Wharton鈥檚 work quite well. A reader could believe the finished book is the product of one voice.
For fans of Wharton鈥檚 more famous books, The Buccaneers is a thematic variation worth checking out.
A version of this review originally appeared on
Wharton had completed about two-thirds of The Buccaneers when she died in 1937. For decades, it appeared in 鈥渦nfinished鈥� form. But in the early 鈥�90s, Wharton expert Marion Mainwaring completed the book, based on Wharton鈥檚 own high level synopsis.
The Buccaneers proved to be an apt companion piece to Wharton鈥檚 most famous novel, The Age of Innocence. Set in the same time period, it focused on a group of 鈥渘ew money鈥� girls who found themselves denied entry to the upper reaches of New York society. Instead, they crossed the Atlantic, where London found their brash charms a breath of fresh air. Marriage to a variety of nobles ensued.
Wharton鈥檚 idea was fairly genius. Dramatizing how a group kept out of 鈥渙ld鈥� society in one country prospered by being the new blood that an even older social set in another cried out for provided an interesting extrapolation of themes the writer had explored in numerous of her works. The Buccaneers still was a drama of manners. The Americans faced differing levels of success in navigating the labyrinth of customs and expectations of Upper Class Brits. But unlike other novels where the newcomers were kept out, here they succeeded brilliantly. Fans of Downton Abbey may recognize the concept of a rich American becoming the wife of a British noble.
At its core, The Buccaneers was about the complicated romance of Nan St. George and Guy Thwarte. A brief encounter established a seed of sympathy between the duo. But Guy was obliged to go abroad and make the money needed to keep his family鈥檚 estate afloat. Nan entered an ill-advised marriage to a colorless Duke who couldn鈥檛 appreciate her unique sensibilities. The feelings that spark between Nan and Guy when they re-enter one another鈥檚 lives drive the drama of the final act.
In many ways, The Buccaneers is atypical of Wharton鈥檚 plots. For one, the star-crossed couple got that rarest of Wharton rewards: a happy ending. The duo transcended the blight on their reputations and ran off together. Prior Wharton heroines had only a life or regret and loss (or, occasionally, poverty-stricken death) as reward for their impulsive actions and questionable decisions. Nan got to be with the man she loved, even if the scandal produced would blow back on her family.
Nan also had something few Wharton heroines had: a sympathetic friend and advisor who cared more about Nan鈥檚 happiness than bowing to propriety. Nan鈥檚 governess, Laura Tetsvalley (daughter of an expat Italian family), filled the maternal role for Nan more capably than Nan鈥檚 own fairly useless mother. Laura made mistakes of her own along the way, but eventually elected to bear the brunt of Nan鈥檚 scandal on her own shoulders, allowing her former pupil to escape a life that made her unhappy.
The Buccaneers also is notable for how sympathetic its putative villains are. Ushant, the colorless Duke, set a lot of the unhappiness in motion. He married Nan not because he particularly valued her, but because he found her ignorance of his station appealing and thought he could mold her into an ideal wife. While that doesn鈥檛 value Nan鈥檚 virtues, it鈥檚 also not exactly hissable. The Duke was a product of his upbringing and only wanted his wife to learn her role and help perpetuate his line. But the story made clear that, while not warm, he wasn鈥檛 a bad person. The rules of British society at the time gave him the right to force his will on Nan, but he couldn鈥檛 quite bring himself to do that. Given that his wife left him after telling him she was in love with someone else, the fact that he tried to end the union in as quiet a manner as possible is rather commendable.
The Dowager Duchess was also a source of antagonism for Nan. But the writing does a good job of demonstrating that she was motivated by her sense of duty, to her son, his position and their family. You may not like her, but she鈥檚 understandable. Even a spoiled noblewoman who launched an unfounded scandal about Nan out of a fit of pique was more pathetic than evil.
Some of those differences might be attributed to Mainwaring. And yet she channels Wharton鈥檚 style almost seamlessly. And the plot developments were based on Wharton鈥檚 own plans for The Buccaneers. Mainwaring blends into Wharton鈥檚 work quite well. A reader could believe the finished book is the product of one voice.
For fans of Wharton鈥檚 more famous books, The Buccaneers is a thematic variation worth checking out.
A version of this review originally appeared on
July 8, 2013
The Buccaneers is a romantic anti-romance novel, if that makes any sense. Five young American daughters of fortunate financial speculators, finding themselves excluded from the crustiest New York society, begin to marry into an extended family of English nobility. As attractive as marrying into the top tier of society initially seems, navigating their responsibilities to ancestral mansions, families and tenants brings unhappiness, particularly for the youngest, Nan, who has married a duke who wanted a bride he could mold. Nan realizes that she鈥檚 made a mistake in marrying the duke, but there is no way for her to return to her schooldays, and pursing her true love will be disastrous.
This story could be completely depressing (typical for Edith Wharton) if it weren鈥檛 for the fun of comparing it to the real-life drama of the Churchill family鈥檚 American heiress brides. I listened to back in February and March, and it鈥檚 clear that Wharton borrowed liberally from the sensational memoirs released by Consuelo Vanderbilt (married to the Duke of Marlborough) and Jenny Jerome Churchill (mother of Sir Winston Churchill). The result is that the book feels a little smutty, the way that reading a tabloid might.
If you don鈥檛 know anything about the disappointing fairy-tale marriages Wharton is referencing, I wouldn鈥檛 recommend this as a particularly fun or interesting read. Not that it was bad, exactly. It was just uneven. The depictions of the mothers in New York are from a comedy-of-manners, and the ruminations of Sad Nan come from a melodrama. Nan鈥檚 sister and friends basically disappear from the book halfway through, when it appeared from the beginning that they would have slightly larger roles. Wharton died before completing a first draft, so it鈥檚 possible that there would have been substantial editing. As it is, Marian Mainwaring made it a mostly cohesive story focused on Nan鈥檚 reclaiming her own identity.
This story could be completely depressing (typical for Edith Wharton) if it weren鈥檛 for the fun of comparing it to the real-life drama of the Churchill family鈥檚 American heiress brides. I listened to back in February and March, and it鈥檚 clear that Wharton borrowed liberally from the sensational memoirs released by Consuelo Vanderbilt (married to the Duke of Marlborough) and Jenny Jerome Churchill (mother of Sir Winston Churchill). The result is that the book feels a little smutty, the way that reading a tabloid might.
If you don鈥檛 know anything about the disappointing fairy-tale marriages Wharton is referencing, I wouldn鈥檛 recommend this as a particularly fun or interesting read. Not that it was bad, exactly. It was just uneven. The depictions of the mothers in New York are from a comedy-of-manners, and the ruminations of Sad Nan come from a melodrama. Nan鈥檚 sister and friends basically disappear from the book halfway through, when it appeared from the beginning that they would have slightly larger roles. Wharton died before completing a first draft, so it鈥檚 possible that there would have been substantial editing. As it is, Marian Mainwaring made it a mostly cohesive story focused on Nan鈥檚 reclaiming her own identity.
February 8, 2009
Books like this are so very difficult to review. I felt so deeply for Nan and I could understand how she felt and what she thought. Indeed, I could relate to her very well as her thinking process is similiar to mine.
My problem with the book is that in the end she makes a choice. When you read it it seems like a good choice. You want her to live and love. You want her to live happily ever after, to be with the man that she is passionately in love with.
And in most stories that would be wonderful. But in this story there is a slight problem.
She's already married.
The writing style is engaging, the plot is well-developed and fascinating (I finished it in two days.), and you love some characters and hate others. But somehow at the end of the book, despite being relieved that she will live happily ever after, you feel a slight tinge of guilt associated with that relief.
I hate reading books like this because I'm a romantic at heart and deep down inside I know that if I finished the book and she didn't end up with the man that she loved I would be furious. I love books where the girl and the guy come together in the end. When they're in love and live happily ever after. That's why books like this are so difficult for me...because sometimes what's right isn't what's "romantic". And I want love to prevail in the end.
Nan did what was right "romantically" but did she do the right thing "morally"?
Questions like that are bound to surface after finishing Edith Wharton's "The Buccaneers."
My problem with the book is that in the end she makes a choice. When you read it it seems like a good choice. You want her to live and love. You want her to live happily ever after, to be with the man that she is passionately in love with.
And in most stories that would be wonderful. But in this story there is a slight problem.
She's already married.
The writing style is engaging, the plot is well-developed and fascinating (I finished it in two days.), and you love some characters and hate others. But somehow at the end of the book, despite being relieved that she will live happily ever after, you feel a slight tinge of guilt associated with that relief.
I hate reading books like this because I'm a romantic at heart and deep down inside I know that if I finished the book and she didn't end up with the man that she loved I would be furious. I love books where the girl and the guy come together in the end. When they're in love and live happily ever after. That's why books like this are so difficult for me...because sometimes what's right isn't what's "romantic". And I want love to prevail in the end.
Nan did what was right "romantically" but did she do the right thing "morally"?
Questions like that are bound to surface after finishing Edith Wharton's "The Buccaneers."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2018
This seemed a bit lighter than others by Wharton that I've read. Perhaps that is because this was her last novel, and unfinished. She didn't live to revise, and I think this simply her first draft. It was completed by another author. Mainwaring did a good job of this as the transition was seamless, and it wasn't until I'd read the last page that I knew where Wharton left off and Mainwaring began.
That said, the ending is weaker than what I might expect from Wharton. As with other authors I've come to love, Wharton's endings tend toward the sadly ironic. I wasn't as invested in the character to whom that applies.
Even with that criticism, I thoroughly enjoyed this. I enjoyed it despite the fact that the synopsis on the back cover of this edition has a huge spoiler. However, an author only has one best novel, and, of course, for Wharton that is . She has some others that are close seconds, and this falls below them. A liberal 4-stars from me, but it probably sits toward the bottom of that group.
That said, the ending is weaker than what I might expect from Wharton. As with other authors I've come to love, Wharton's endings tend toward the sadly ironic. I wasn't as invested in the character to whom that applies.
Even with that criticism, I thoroughly enjoyed this. I enjoyed it despite the fact that the synopsis on the back cover of this edition has a huge spoiler. However, an author only has one best novel, and, of course, for Wharton that is . She has some others that are close seconds, and this falls below them. A liberal 4-stars from me, but it probably sits toward the bottom of that group.
November 30, 2023
I didn鈥檛 listen to the version with a 鈥渃ompleted鈥� ending - so I only got as far as Wharton did, with only her plot outline to guide us for where we might go next. I like to think that if Wharton had completed the book, she would have gone back and revised her draft to make it tighter and less pedestrian. But as it is, we get a lot of characters but a shortage of the searing insight into human foibles (especially those touching on class, marriage and propriety) and lapidary writing that characterizes Wharton鈥檚 finished novels. None of the humor and sarcasm of custom of the country, none of the heart break of House of mirth. As I said, I鈥檇 like to believe she would鈥檝e fixed all that in revisions.
As it is, I鈥檇 still rather listen to this than someone else鈥檚 adaptation. But not entirely satisfying for even a passionate Wharton fan.
As it is, I鈥檇 still rather listen to this than someone else鈥檚 adaptation. But not entirely satisfying for even a passionate Wharton fan.
April 24, 2009
Oh my God, if someone could resurrect the dead and had enough magic potion for one person, I would choose Madame Wharton. It devastates me that even if I visit the "W" shelf at the library a million times over, as if I were a pilgrim visiting a holy shrine, on my bleeding and torn knees, there will never be a new Wharton book propped there for me to read for the very first time. I guess I should be grateful that there are authors out there who inspire such devotion, dead or otherwise.
April 22, 2015
It's the 1870s, and the daughters of New York City's nouveau riche are being scorned by their social superiors. They are forced to vacation at Saratoga because they haven't gotten invitations to Newport. A clueless father humiliates his family by ensconcing them in a house on shlubby Madison Avenue rather than chic Fifth. Rejected at home, the four daughters set out for England to snare them some aristocratic husbands. They are the buccaneers.
Four stars for the portion Wharton wrote, which co-author Marion Mainwaring tells us is about 89,000 words. One star for the concluding chapters, written by Mainwaring. It just goes to show: Wharton is really, really difficult to copy, in every way: plotting, tone, style, idiom. Mainwaring's addendum was dull and clunky, like so much of random historical fiction. I don't know where the 89,000 word division came in the text, yet there was a point where I suddenly noticed that the Wharton magic was gone. Not coincidentally, it was accompanied by the types of romantic interactions between characters that Wharton would only hint at, but a modern writer would spell out for you.
I want to get hold of the 1938 edition, which doesn't contain Mainwaring's concluding chapters, and also contains the racial language Mainwaring removed for fear it would offend modern readers. The 1993 text is full of words like brown, and dusky, and someone sends a telegram inquiring about her future daughter-in-law: "Is she black?"
The bowdlerization left a bad taste in my mouth. Fear of offending should never cause words to be changed or passages to be excised.
Jottings:
I'm a little alarmed. Yes, another author finished this uncompleted work by Wharton. But it would be nice to see where Wharton's work ends and Mainwaring's begins. Also, the text is bowdlerized: some nasty racial language has apparently been removed. Now I'm going to have to read the 1938 edition to find out what Wharton really wrote. Finally, there is no attribution of the cover art. Big no-no! It's the Acheson Sisters, by John Singer Sargent, hanging at Chatsworth House.
January 8, 2021
Edith Wharton is an excellent writer. I felt compelled to keep reading. However, I feel that this story is "broken" which is good is good and evil is evil but evil wins. This is the second Edith Wharton book (The other book being The Age of Innocence) where I couldn鈥檛 identify with the protagonist. I鈥檝e decided it鈥檚 because Edith Wharton doesn鈥檛 seem to have a Christian moral value system coming across in her books. She does a good job keeping up with the Modern value system of the times, but I am disappointed when there is no valuable life lesson learned.
June 12, 2010
I hardly feel this book can be classified as an Edith Wharton -- she died before it was completed, and apparently even before it was fleshed out. The complete-r, one Marion Mainwaring (writing in 1993), stews the final chapters with injudicious parentheses, romance-novel prose (Nan is "a flower unfolding ... a rose in bloom") and exclamation points galore. God help us all.
July 13, 2018
After reading I was so depressed that I promised myself I'd never read another book by Edith Wharton, but this one turned out differently (thank god) and I couldn't put it down.
more soon but for now, it was a solidly good read.
more soon but for now, it was a solidly good read.
April 22, 2018
An unfinished work finished with class.
I was wondering how this unfinished novel of Wharton would read with a modern writer taking up the task & I was pleased with it but kept wondering how Edith would have ended it. I loved this story & found the governess a memorable character not soon to be forgotten. The Buccaneers is an unfinished work by Edith Wharton (1862-1937) which was published as that in 1938 by her publisher. That version is not at this time available on Kindle but I would be interested in knowing how many changes were made until the XXIX. Wharton had written 89,000 words & the rest was finished by a Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring in 1993 & soon after a TV mini series was produced from this book. I noticed a different ending feel than the past Wharton novels I have read but I have not read them all yet. I was very happy with this ending but due to the controversy from many who thought Wharton would have ended it differently. In 1995, Angela Mackworth- Young finished it with a different ending, and this is not available on Kindle either. Wharton wanted to write a book about the Gilded age of marriages between wealthy American heiresses & English nobility which at that time labeled as Buccaneers. In New York society many of the young girls were in a group labeled The Buccaneers. There are resemblances to Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, Lady Randolph Churchill & Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester. I had heard that Winston Churchill had ties to America but it was interesting to find out that his mother was born in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn -Jeanette Jerome -aka - Lady Randolph Churchill. The story tells of the match making, marrying for title & money. The differences in American & English women of the time & of both societies.The story tells of five girls & their mothers after having no success in finding husbands for their daughters in high society & lacking invitations to higher events given by more prominent families decide to do a "London season". In hope they might have better luck. Virginia, Lizzy, Mabel & Nan visit a American friend, Conchita recently wed to a nobelman. Excerpts- "Ushant must have two sons- three, if possible. But his wife doesn't seem to understand her duties. Yet she has only to look into the prayer-book ...But I've never been able to find out to what denomination her family belongs.""The greatest mistake," she mused, her chin resting on her clasped hands, her eyes fixed unseeingly on the dim reaches of the park, "the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call 'experience'.
I was wondering how this unfinished novel of Wharton would read with a modern writer taking up the task & I was pleased with it but kept wondering how Edith would have ended it. I loved this story & found the governess a memorable character not soon to be forgotten. The Buccaneers is an unfinished work by Edith Wharton (1862-1937) which was published as that in 1938 by her publisher. That version is not at this time available on Kindle but I would be interested in knowing how many changes were made until the XXIX. Wharton had written 89,000 words & the rest was finished by a Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring in 1993 & soon after a TV mini series was produced from this book. I noticed a different ending feel than the past Wharton novels I have read but I have not read them all yet. I was very happy with this ending but due to the controversy from many who thought Wharton would have ended it differently. In 1995, Angela Mackworth- Young finished it with a different ending, and this is not available on Kindle either. Wharton wanted to write a book about the Gilded age of marriages between wealthy American heiresses & English nobility which at that time labeled as Buccaneers. In New York society many of the young girls were in a group labeled The Buccaneers. There are resemblances to Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, Lady Randolph Churchill & Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester. I had heard that Winston Churchill had ties to America but it was interesting to find out that his mother was born in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn -Jeanette Jerome -aka - Lady Randolph Churchill. The story tells of the match making, marrying for title & money. The differences in American & English women of the time & of both societies.The story tells of five girls & their mothers after having no success in finding husbands for their daughters in high society & lacking invitations to higher events given by more prominent families decide to do a "London season". In hope they might have better luck. Virginia, Lizzy, Mabel & Nan visit a American friend, Conchita recently wed to a nobelman. Excerpts- "Ushant must have two sons- three, if possible. But his wife doesn't seem to understand her duties. Yet she has only to look into the prayer-book ...But I've never been able to find out to what denomination her family belongs.""The greatest mistake," she mused, her chin resting on her clasped hands, her eyes fixed unseeingly on the dim reaches of the park, "the greatest mistake is to think that we ever know why we do things...I suppose the nearest we can ever come to it is by getting what old people call 'experience'.
September 1, 2012
The synopsis for this 1938 edition for The Buccaneers (appearing above) is completely wrong! Who wrote that?! No swashbuckling pirates, here! Edith Wharton's "novel" was published as a lightly edited, incomplete manuscript in the year following her death. It was sure to have been her masterpiece!
The "Buccaneers" are 5 nouveau riche American girls who, steered by an English-Italian (cousin to artist/poet D.G. Rosetti) governess, "invade" the Bristish peerage in the 'seventies (1870's).
While later editions append with an ending written by a Wharton scholar, I am charmed that my local libray is still circulating this original 1938 edition! There is no ending; it's a cliffhanger prematurely left off amidst a failing marriage and budding romance. So why 5 stars??
The writing is superb. The British landscape is beautifully elaborated, in watercolor tones. The subject is fascinating: courtships spanning the improbable social/cultural divide between American upstarts and British aristocrats. And then there's the novelty of reading an unfinished work. The editor insists that Ms. Wharton was not finished developing several of her characters. The contrast between her well-developed characters and the more-transparent ones helps a modern reader appreciate qualities of "classic" literature. I universally recommend this forgotten masterpiece. I'm still deciding if I'll read the "finished" edition, as this one was surprisingly satisfying even in it's incompletion.
The "Buccaneers" are 5 nouveau riche American girls who, steered by an English-Italian (cousin to artist/poet D.G. Rosetti) governess, "invade" the Bristish peerage in the 'seventies (1870's).
While later editions append with an ending written by a Wharton scholar, I am charmed that my local libray is still circulating this original 1938 edition! There is no ending; it's a cliffhanger prematurely left off amidst a failing marriage and budding romance. So why 5 stars??
The writing is superb. The British landscape is beautifully elaborated, in watercolor tones. The subject is fascinating: courtships spanning the improbable social/cultural divide between American upstarts and British aristocrats. And then there's the novelty of reading an unfinished work. The editor insists that Ms. Wharton was not finished developing several of her characters. The contrast between her well-developed characters and the more-transparent ones helps a modern reader appreciate qualities of "classic" literature. I universally recommend this forgotten masterpiece. I'm still deciding if I'll read the "finished" edition, as this one was surprisingly satisfying even in it's incompletion.
March 6, 2014
I have mixed feelings about this book. Edith Wharton is exceptionally skilled in describing interactions with people. She could write about the most boring subjects and still keep you enchanted with her writing.
The story in itself is not that thrilling or exciting, but I could not put the book down because of of how well it was written. However, near the last third of the book, completed by a different author, this changes. Gone are the beautiful descriptions and the story turns into some kind of farcical soap opera. A kiss that should have filled me with emotion didn't resonate with me at all. It lacked that Wharton touch.
Compare that to the beginning of the book where just a description of the interaction between Mr. and Mrs. St. George did so much to describe their relationship: "He laid his hand on his wife's graying blond hair, and brushed her care-worn forehead with the tip of his moustache - a ritual gesture which convinced him that he had kissed her and Mrs St. George that she had been kissed."
Wharton's work is 4 stars. Mainwaring's work is 2 stars.
The story in itself is not that thrilling or exciting, but I could not put the book down because of of how well it was written. However, near the last third of the book, completed by a different author, this changes. Gone are the beautiful descriptions and the story turns into some kind of farcical soap opera. A kiss that should have filled me with emotion didn't resonate with me at all. It lacked that Wharton touch.
Compare that to the beginning of the book where just a description of the interaction between Mr. and Mrs. St. George did so much to describe their relationship: "He laid his hand on his wife's graying blond hair, and brushed her care-worn forehead with the tip of his moustache - a ritual gesture which convinced him that he had kissed her and Mrs St. George that she had been kissed."
Wharton's work is 4 stars. Mainwaring's work is 2 stars.
January 14, 2024
2 stars. sorry not sorry
romance novels are either a hit or miss for me, and the hits tend to be queer ones. i couldn鈥檛 care any less for these characters they were just so boring to me. i watched the show before reading this and eventhough it wasn鈥檛 a masterpiece, at least it was way better than this. the povs were so messy, quite literally jumping from one to the other every 3 seconds. lizzy mabel and virginia were barely existent in the book too.
don鈥檛 tell me im not intellectual enough to appreciate classics. if that classic was about two gay guys falling in love and one joining the army for the other, i鈥檇 totally eat it up (def not talking about 鈥榠n memoriam鈥欚煫�)
romance novels are either a hit or miss for me, and the hits tend to be queer ones. i couldn鈥檛 care any less for these characters they were just so boring to me. i watched the show before reading this and eventhough it wasn鈥檛 a masterpiece, at least it was way better than this. the povs were so messy, quite literally jumping from one to the other every 3 seconds. lizzy mabel and virginia were barely existent in the book too.
don鈥檛 tell me im not intellectual enough to appreciate classics. if that classic was about two gay guys falling in love and one joining the army for the other, i鈥檇 totally eat it up (def not talking about 鈥榠n memoriam鈥欚煫�)
July 23, 2016
See discussion in the Reading for Pleasure group/Buddy Reads/July 2016
September 4, 2024
(4.5猸愶笍) Loved this book!! Top reads of 2024. Edith Wharton writing about the 1870s in the 1930s has a certain perspective/narrative that reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.. An author has lived through these experiences and can reflect, adding to the characters and plot in a way only they can. I knew that during the Gilded Age, America鈥檚 new money had daughters who married British aristocracy, but I never considered the big picture or narrative behind it. It was so interesting to compare the difference between American and British values through the character of the governess, Miss Testavalley. It was similar to Jane Austen in the way that each daughter/character represented the complex sentiments of the period. This was Wharton鈥檚 last novel and was left unfinished but with an outline. Wish just those notes were included rather what read as a haphazard ending. Iconic. Now I need to read The Age of Innocence
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December 5, 2023im so curious what would have happened if Edith Wharton lived long enough to edit/deliberate on/finish this book..it could have been one of her best
it's such a shame nan st George was never afforded the opportunity to be fully formed because dare I say she had the potential to be up in the ranks of an Isabel archer/Elizabeth Bennet, see the following:
"It's rather lonely sometimes, when the only things that seem real are one's dreams."
"The angry child had been replaced by a sad but self-controlled woman."
"Poor Nan St. George--so tongue-tied and bewildered by the surge of her feelings; why had no one taught her the words for them?"
it's such a shame nan st George was never afforded the opportunity to be fully formed because dare I say she had the potential to be up in the ranks of an Isabel archer/Elizabeth Bennet, see the following:
"It's rather lonely sometimes, when the only things that seem real are one's dreams."
"The angry child had been replaced by a sad but self-controlled woman."
"Poor Nan St. George--so tongue-tied and bewildered by the surge of her feelings; why had no one taught her the words for them?"
May 5, 2015
The content of The Buccaneers could well and wholly be summed up by the French proverb "L'argent ne fait pas le bonheur." Neither do the titles of nobility and everything that goes with it.
Wharton's choice of theme for this novel is twofold. First, it shows the collision of two civilisations, where the world of the blase British nobility, considered by itself to be the pinnacle of the excellence, is invaded by the American parvenus. This would be of no importance if the American intruders weren't "filthy rich" and the Brits weren't in desperate need of money to maintain their out-of-date Ancien Regime style of living.
The second theme Wharton addresses is the social position of the married women. Being completely dependent on a husband and his (good??) will, women were seen almost as a personal property of men. Their fate was not to be envied. Their reputation could be ruined with a few well-chosen words that were admitted to and valid in the court of law. Caught in mariages de convenance, they either had to settle down for a loveless and dull life or they could break away. Freedom, however, had to be paid dearly, and so it is understandable why most women chose the former "solution".
Edith Wharton, being herself part of the high society, excells in showing the fate of the married American "buccaneers" in the British society. In the part of the novel written by her, humour, dry witticism and irony blend into a mixture so familiar from her other works. It's only too bad that the same cannot be said about the concluding part, written by M. Mainwaring!!!!!
Wharton's choice of theme for this novel is twofold. First, it shows the collision of two civilisations, where the world of the blase British nobility, considered by itself to be the pinnacle of the excellence, is invaded by the American parvenus. This would be of no importance if the American intruders weren't "filthy rich" and the Brits weren't in desperate need of money to maintain their out-of-date Ancien Regime style of living.
The second theme Wharton addresses is the social position of the married women. Being completely dependent on a husband and his (good??) will, women were seen almost as a personal property of men. Their fate was not to be envied. Their reputation could be ruined with a few well-chosen words that were admitted to and valid in the court of law. Caught in mariages de convenance, they either had to settle down for a loveless and dull life or they could break away. Freedom, however, had to be paid dearly, and so it is understandable why most women chose the former "solution".
Edith Wharton, being herself part of the high society, excells in showing the fate of the married American "buccaneers" in the British society. In the part of the novel written by her, humour, dry witticism and irony blend into a mixture so familiar from her other works. It's only too bad that the same cannot be said about the concluding part, written by M. Mainwaring!!!!!
July 24, 2010
Although this novel is unfinished and Wharton would have done a lot of revision, there is still a lot of her wonderful prose and it is very interesting to see her looking back at the 1870s from the 1930s, which in places allow her to be sexually franker than she could in her earlier works. The novel centres on a group of young American women who marry British men and struggle to fit into British high society, and there are some powerfully-drawn characters, including the heroine, Annabel ("Nan"), and her governess, Laura, who is related to the pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and has a rebellious nature beneath her quiet surface.
When I picked up this copy of Edith Wharton's final unfinished novel, I didn't realise it had been completed by another writer, Marion Mainwaring. (Maybe I should have guessed this from the mention of it being a "complete edition" on the cover, but it might have been helpful if the publishers had added the second author's name!) I'll admit I didn't read very much of her continuation - there is no indication of where the break comes, but it is pretty obvious as her writing style is very different, and I didn't feel reading her section would add much to Wharton's subtle characterisation. I found Wharton's original text online with details of the outline she left of her plans for the rest of the novel, and that was enough for me. I would really like to give five stars for Wharton - or for her best passages - and one for the continuation.
When I picked up this copy of Edith Wharton's final unfinished novel, I didn't realise it had been completed by another writer, Marion Mainwaring. (Maybe I should have guessed this from the mention of it being a "complete edition" on the cover, but it might have been helpful if the publishers had added the second author's name!) I'll admit I didn't read very much of her continuation - there is no indication of where the break comes, but it is pretty obvious as her writing style is very different, and I didn't feel reading her section would add much to Wharton's subtle characterisation. I found Wharton's original text online with details of the outline she left of her plans for the rest of the novel, and that was enough for me. I would really like to give five stars for Wharton - or for her best passages - and one for the continuation.
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