Biography

Born in New York City into a patrician family, Wharton was tutored at home by governesses. Her literary aspirations were at odds with the domestic pursuits of her social circle; she published two poems when she was sixteen but did not commit to being a writer until her late thirties, when her marriage was disintegrating. Her first novel, The House of Mirth (1905), demonstrated her keen understanding of the human psyche and established the central features of her fiction: a tension between the nouveau riche and New York's aristocracy and a sense of futility as characters try to overcome social forces. Wharton composed more than eighty short stories and twenty-two novellas and novels, including Ethan Frome (1911), The Custom of the Country (1913), and The Age of Innocence (1920).

Explorations

Like James's The Jolly Corner, Wharton's The Eyes (1910) is a ghost story written by a canonical realist. We have a supernatural experience which ultimately does, and doesn't, find a psychological explanation. But the tale is also about the risks of a life in the arts, about the ways in which individual destiny can be shaped or deformed by mentors and friends, and about almost hidden dimensions of individual character.

1. Culwin's crime in The Eyes is in some ways an act of negligence: he holds his tongue at crucial moments and allows misunderstandings to continue and even to become more complicated. Discuss Culwin as a modern villain, and contrast him to villains of the Romantic era or mode.

2. At the end of the story, what does Phil Frenham see in Culwin's face reflected in the mirror? Why hasn't Culwin seen "the eyes" for years? Among the group present in Culwin's study, why is Frenham selected by Wharton as the person who sees this reflection?

3. The story can be read as a commentary on the Anglo-American literary scene before World War I, in which gentility, sanctioned pretense, and decorum all had to be reckoned with. How does Wharton describe the dangers of such a world for an aspiring artist?

Other sites to consult:

• "Edith Wharton's World: Portraits of People and Places," a magnificent catalog of The National Portrait Gallery exhibit curated by Eleanor Dwight and Viola Hopkins Winner.
• Links to numerous Wharton electronic texts maintained by Hanover College.
• An overview of Wharton with biocritical resources prepared by Dee Shidler.