Edith Wharton : The house of mirth, The custom of the country, The age of innocence

Edith Wharton's three New York novels are central to her reputation as a major woman novelist.

The novels deal with the transitional period in which all values are questioned, and share as a continuing theme the question of how women and men should relate.Beginning with Wharton's own comments on the novels, this text moves on to the contemporary responses of Henry James and challenging reviews such as Katherine Mansfield's, before turning to critical writing from later perspectives.