Skip to content
1981
Volume 9, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2050-9790
  • E-ISSN: 2050-9804

Abstract

Edith Wharton consistently uses ‘metropolis’ as her crowning label of urban modernity. Throughout her body of work, she applies the word to two cities: Paris and New York, which is reflective of a broader trend in humanistic representations of the modern metropolis and urban modernity. In her 1920 novel , Wharton identifies and writes New York metropolitanism, laying the foundation for the later widespread representation of New York as the capital of the twentieth century, as Paris has been the emblematic capital of the nineteenth century. Her work connects our present urban modernity to the urban modernization projects of the nineteenth century, while , in particular, narrates the myriad forms the modern metropolis has taken over the last century, ranging from metropolitan geographical expansion, to the centre of culture, the centre of fashion (commercial and artistic) and the technological metropolis. Wharton’s is a compelling example of how the modern metropolis was used historically to represent the height of modern urbanity. It provides an exemplary case study of the concept as it became a part of the modern urban lexicon.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jucs_00048_1
2022-06-01
2024-11-11
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Baudelaire, C.. ( 1995;), ‘ The painter of modern life. ’, in The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays (trans. J. Mayne.), New York:: Phaidon Press;, pp. 141.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Benjamin, W.. ( 2002), The Arcades Project (trans. H. Eiland, and K. McLaughlin.), Cambridge, MA:: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Berman, M.. ( 1988), All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, New York:: Penguin Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Brantz, D.,, Disko, S., and Wagner-Kyora, G.. ( 2021), Thick Space: Approaches to Metropolitanism, London:: Transaction Publishers;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Burrows, E. G., and Wallace, M.. ( 1999), Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. DeJean, J.. ( 2014), How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City, New York:: Bloomsbury Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Detmers, I.,, Heidemann, B., and Sandten, C.. ( 2011;), ‘ Introduction. ’, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Special Issue: ‘Tracing the Urban Imaginary in the Postcolonial Metropolis and the “New” Metropolis’, 47:5, pp. 48387, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.614769. Accessed 24 January 2017.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Falk, C. G.. ( 2001;), ‘ “The intolerable ugliness of New York City”: Architecture and society in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. ’, American Studies, 42:2, pp. 1943, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40643250. Accessed 23 March 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Farías, I., and Stemmler, S.. ( 2012;), ‘ Deconstructing Metropolis: Critical reflections on a European concept. ’, in D. Brantz,, S. Disko, and G. Wagner-Kyora. (eds), Thick Space: Approaches to Metropolitanism, London:: Transaction Publishers;, pp. 4966.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Goldsmith, K.. ( 2016), Capital: New York, Capital of the 20th Century, Brooklyn, NY:: Verso;.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Goldsmith, M. L., and Orlando, E. J.. (eds) ( 2016a), Edith Wharton and Cosmopolitanism, Gainesville, FL:: University Press of Florida;, https://www.muse.jhu.edu/book/48862. Accessed 4 January 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Goldsmith, M. L., and Orlando, E. J.. (eds) ( 2016b;), ‘ Introduction: Edith Wharton, a citizen of the world. ’, in Edith Wharton and Cosmopolitanism, Gainesville, FL:: University Press of Florida;, https://www.muse.jhu.edu/book/48862. Accessed 4 January 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Harvey, D.. ( 2003), Paris, Capital of Modernity, New York:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Howard, J.. ( 2016;), ‘ Here/there, now/then, both/and: Regionalism and cosmopolitanism in Edith Wharton’s Old New York. ’, in M. L. Goldsmith, and E. J. Orlando. (eds), Edith Wharton and Cosmopolitanism, Gainesville, FL:: University Press of Florida;, pp. 16683, https://www.muse.jhu.edu/book/48862. Accessed 4 January 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Huyssen, A.. ( 2015), Miniature Metropolis: Literature in an Age of Photography and Film, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Jones, C.. ( 2007;), ‘ Theodore Vaquer and the archaeology of modernity in Haussmann’s Paris. ’, Transactions of the RHS, 17, pp. 15783, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593875. Accessed 5 June 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Kassanoff, J. A.. ( 2013), Edith Wharton and the Politics of Race, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Koolhaus, R.. ( 1994), Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, New York:: The Monacelli Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Lee, H.. ( 2007), Edith Wharton, New York:: Vintage Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Lindner, C.. ( 2015), Imagining New York City: Literature, Urbanism, and the Visual Arts, 1890-1940, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Lynch, K., and Rodwin, L.. ( 1961;), ‘ A world of cities. ’, in L. Rodwin. (eds), The Future Metropolis, New York:: George Braziller;, pp. 916.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Mead, C.. ( 1995;), ‘ Urban contingency and the problem of representation in Second Empire Paris. ’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 54:2, pp. 13874, https://www.jstor.org/stable/990965. Accessed 7 June 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Montgomery, M. E.. ( 2016), Displaying Women: Spectacles of Leisure in Edith Wharton’s New York, New York:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Nowlin, M.. ( 2004;), ‘ Edith Wharton’s higher provincialism: French Ways for Americans and the ends of The Age of Innocence. ’, Journal of American Studies, 38:1, pp. 89108, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27557465. Accessed 24 March 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Olin-Ammentorp, J.. ( 2019), Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and the Place of Culture, Lincoln, NE:: University of Nebraska Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Orlando, E. J.. ( 2007), Edith Wharton and the Visual Arts, Tuscaloosa, AL:: The University of Alabama Press;, https://www.muse.jhu.edu/book/6482. Accessed 11 May 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Preston, C.. ( 2000), Edith Wharton’s Social Register, New York:: St. Martin’s Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Price, A.. ( 1980;), ‘ The composition of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. ’, The Yale University Library Gazette, 55:1, pp. 2230, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40858741. Accessed 24 March 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Sherman, S. W.. ( 2013), Sacramental Shopping: Louisa May Alcott, Edith Wharton, and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Lebanon, NH:: University of New Hampshire Press;, https://www.muse.jhu.edu/book/26831. Accessed 14 December 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Simmel, G.. ( 2018;), ‘ The metropolis and the life of the spirit. ’, in The Art of the City, Rome, Florence, Venice (trans. W. Stone.), London:: Pushkin Press;, pp. 6388.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Singley, C. J.. ( 2003;), ‘ Bourdieu, Wharton and changing culture in The Age of Innocence. ’, Cultural Studies, 17:3&4, pp. 495519, https://doi.org/10.1080/0950238032000083917. Accessed 24 March 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Skaggs, C. T.. ( 2004;), ‘ Looking through the opera glasses: Performance and artifice in The Age of Innocence. ’, An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 37:1, pp. 4961, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44030060. Accessed 24 March 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Wharton, E.. ( 1996a), The Mother’s Recompense, New York:: Scribner Paperback Fiction;.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Wharton, E.. ( 1996b), The Reef, New York:: Scribner Paperback Fiction;.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Wharton, E.. ( 1997a), The Custom of the Country, New York:: Scribner Paperback Fiction;.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Wharton, E.. ( 1997b), Twilight Sleep, New York:: Scribner Paperback Fiction;.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Wharton, E.. ( 1997c), The Writing of Fiction, New York:: Touchstone;.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Wharton, E.. ( 1998), A Backward Glance, New York:: Simon & Schuster;.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Wharton, E.. ( 2003), The Age of Innocence, New York:: W. W. Norton & Company;.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Wharton, E.. ( 2004), The House of Mirth, New York:: Barnes and Noble Classics;.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Wharton, E.. ( 2018), Glimpses of the Moon, London:: Pushkin Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Basaldua-Sun, Sophia. ( 2022;), ‘ New York metropolitan: Urban modernity in The Age of Innocence. ’, Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, 9:1, pp. 4563, https://doi.org/10.1386/jucs_00048_1
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jucs_00048_1
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error