The Age of
Innocence by Edith Wharton http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-age-of-innocence-based-on-classic.html winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize
for Literature and adapted by Martin Scorsese…
10 out of
10
This novel
is included on The 100 Best Novels list compiled by The Modern Library https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/2 and it was recently recommended in an unusual
context – I have been a reader of The Economist for about thirty two years and
for some years now I also listen to their podcasts; I think it was on The Intelligence
where they have three journalists, one being Idriss Khaloun or something like
that, that they discussed about the reading they recommend and the latter chose
William Faulkner and the woman reporter said she would suggest The Age of
Innocence, which I had been reading already…
This is the
second time I try to enter The Age of Innocence, and coincidentally, there is a
series now on HBO, The Gilded Age, which refers to some of the same period,
characters that are similar, the rejection of the ‘new’ rich aka nouveaux
riches, by those who had already established themselves as upper class, the
likes of the Astor family, and one thinks of Madame Ellen Olenska and the
obstacles she has to surmount in New York, as a woman who is married, but no
longer lives with her husband and hence she is subject to draconian rules
Newland
Archer is the main male character, portrayed in the motion picture by Daniel
Day Lewis, the only actor, as far as I know, with three Oscars won for leading
roles (The glorious Jack Nicholson has one for As Good As It Gets, where he has
a supporting role) and mentioned recently in the debate over Method Acting, as
a great artist who used it, but then he burned out and had to retire at about
fifty…
Newland
Archer is supposed to marry the ‘innocent’ May Welland, who seems to be the
opposite of Countess Olenska, the latter appears to be savvy, she is married,
knows the world, has travelled, lived in Europe, is sophisticated, but also
something of a pariah in the elitist circles, where the ‘angels’ live, those
who are so ‘pure’, they could not allow any intruder to pollute this refined,
pure air…
However,
Newland Archer falls in love with Madame Olenska and this becomes to a great
extent what we have learned in high school as the conflict between ‘pasiune si
ratiune’, the mind versus the heart, the man has to obey the rules, etiquette,
the comme il faut, he cannot allow himself to just let his passion take over,
at least not to begin with, at one point, he appears overcome with emotion and
ready to elope
What
intrigued me on this second reading was the character of innocent May, who looked
to me as much more adroit, cunning, astute, brave, passionate, resilient,
creative, she would win the game in the end (spoiler alert, I guess) and
reverse the roles with the supposedly much more cunning, knowledgeable countess
http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/games-people-play-by-eric-berne.html in one of the Games People
Play…this is the title of a psychology classic by Eric Berne, which looks at
human interactions…
At one
point, May has a talk with Ellen Olenska, and she maneuvers (May) in such a
stunning way as to convince her rival to ‘abandon the fight’, claiming she
knows she is pregnant (and she was not, albeit she would be quite soon) May
determines the countess to decide to leave the stage, she would travel to
Europe and end all hope that there may be something carnal between her and
Newland, who loves her.
Granted, it
had not been as if Archer and Madame Olenska had been ready to run away
together, the mystery, uncertainty, struggle, the conflict between desires,
love and the duty they both have towards relatives, others, the rules of
society is provoking continuous remorse and change of plans and attitudes
In our
world, they would just divorce and marry or live together, although statistics
would show that those who are divorced and re marry have a higher rate of separation
in their second matrimonial plans, but this situation where Newland and Ellen
find themselves looks like some sort of abuse, unless they are into BDSM and
want some torture to get their kicks, which something of a joke, and not true
We could
argue that eventually (more spoiler alerts) Newland has children and that might
somehow be the coronation, the nec plus ultra, the absolute achievement and
Ultimate Joy, but then we would be contradicted by Stumbling On Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html by Harvard Professor Daniel
Gilbert, which looks at the myths of happiness and demonstrates the falsity of
some – for instance, when children leave home, it was discovered that parents experience
e rise in happiness levels, when we were expecting them to be so upset…it surely
has something (a lot, maybe this is the whole explanation) to do with the
rebellious teenagers, and their continuous efforts to get their way, which is
most often the opposite of what parents want…
In quite a
few ways, this is a tragedy, respecting the two important rules of Aristotle http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-golden-platinum-rules-and-crown.html that we have reversal and
revelation, which coincide in Oedipus Rex, when a messenger is first revealing
and then reversing the situation…Oedipus finds he had killed his father and
married his mother…we do not have anything like that here, but to me, the
change in the portrait of May is more than surprising, maybe shocking…
Now for a
question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more
than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique,
which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then
make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do
not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my
role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html
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