A compelling psychological novel that explores whether moral character is inborn or shaped by environment. "A striking little book, striking in its simplicity and penetration, its passion and restraint."-Times Literary Supplement
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) entstammte der New Yorker Patrizierschicht. Als Kind verbrachte sie längere Zeit in Frankreich, Deutschland und Italien, so dass sie, wie sie später meinte, Europa 'unausrottbar im Blut' hatte. Sie genoss eine sorgfältige Erziehung, ihre frühen literarischen Neigungen wurden jedoch kaum gefördert; schriftstellerische Ambitionen ziemten sich für Töchter aus ihren Kreisen nicht. Edith Wharton übersiedelte nach einer schwierigen Ehe 1906 nach Paris. Sie widmete sich nun ganz ihrer dichterischen Aufgabe, schrieb Romane, Erzählungen, Reiseberichte, kulturhistorische Essays. Ihre Vielseitigkeit und ihr Erzähltalent wurden mehrfach geehrt: 1921 erhielt sie den Pulitzerpreis, 1923 verlieh ihr die Yale University als erster Frau die Ehrendoktorwürde; es folgten die Goldene Medaille des National Institute of Arts and Letters und die Aufnahme in die American Academy of Arts and Letters. Edith Wharton gehört zu den bedeutendsten Schriftstellerinnen Amerikas.
Über den Autor
Edith Wharton
Klappentext
Sanctuary
Edith Wharton
"It is good, ethically and artistically, to read and read again a book with such a lift."--New York Times
"A striking little book, striking in its simplicity and penetration, its passion and restraint."--Times Literary Supplement
Kate Orme is a young woman whose illusions of marital bliss are shattered when she comes face to face with the dark secret harbored by her fiance, the wealthy and deceptively ebullient Denis. Kate decides to go ahead and marry Denis, however, as a selfless gesture to protect any child he may conceive from inheriting their father's moral weakness. The couple does have a child, Dick, and in a marriage with a man that Kate has admittedly ceased to love, she transfers her original affections for Denis to their son.
Denis dies suddenly and Kate is left to raise their young son. Knowing that Dick could have inherited the faults of his father, Kate anticipates a time when Dick's morality will be severely tested. That time comes years later when Dick, an eligible bachelor and aspiring professional, is faced with a dilemma that will affect the course of his life.
With the precision, beauty, and sharp awareness of the cracks in upper-class New York society that made her one of the great writers of the twentieth century, Edith Wharton offers a subtle critique of the nature versus nurture debate that raged in the early 1900s. Sanctuary is a spare and moving investigation of the forces that impel human beings toward sin, self-doubt, and redemption.
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, including The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth.
Pine Street Books
2001 | 216 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/8
ISBN 978-0-8122-1792-6 | Paper | $19.95t | £13.00
World Rights | Fiction
Short copy:
A compelling psychological novel that explores whether moral character is inborn or shaped by environment. "A striking little book, striking in its simplicity and penetration, its passion and restraint."--Times Literary Supplement
