This was one of the best short stories I've ever read. Seriously. Thanks so much for suggesting it, Erin!
It has every detail of the great short story - intricate setting, gripping plot, complex and deeply sympathetic characters. And like Kim, I almost couldn't stop reading when I reached the final few pages!
Perfect descriptions, guys. The story seemed longer to me than its 80 pages -- not that it felt long while I was reading, but that it seemed to contain so much in so few pages.
Yeah, it was masterful how she had complete control over the subject and could maintain that super-intense focus. I could imagine a lesser writer trying to stretch this into a novel and junking it up with a bunch of subplots, but she knew precisely what to say and how long to take saying it!
FOOD PORN: "In the centre stood the Raycie epergne of pierced silver, holding aloft a bunch of June roses surrounded by dangling baskets of sugared almonds and striped peppermints; and grouped about this decorative "motif" were Lowestoft platters heavy with piles of raspberries, strawberries and the first Delaware peaches. An outer flanking of heaped-up cookies, crullers,strawberry short-cake, piping hot corn-bread and deep golden butter in moist blocks still bedewed from the muslin swathings of the dairy, led the eye to the Virginia ham in front of Mr. Raycie, and the twin dishes of scrambled eggs on toast and broiled blue-fish over which his wife presided. Lewis could never afterward fit into this intricate pattern the "side-dishes" of devilled turkey-legs and creamed chicken hash, the sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, the heavy silver jugs of butter-coloured cream, the floating-island, "slips" and lemon jellies that were somehow interwoven with the solider elements of the design; but they were all there, either together or successively, and so were the towering piles of waffles reeling on their foundations, and the slender silver jugs of maple syrup perpetually escorting them about the table as black Dinah replenished the supply."
I'm still digesting this story a bit so soon after sitting long with the meal in the collection's first story, "False Dawn." They read very differently. Like going from creamed chicken hash to waffles, you might say.
(End food jokes.)
The first story isn't relevant to the discussion, but it's affecting my judgment because in the first, the POV was a young man, and then there's the gender switch in "Old Maid." This was more effusive and emotional. I don't know whether Wharton was more comfortable writing the female point of view or if Delia had certain emotional qualities that demanded some of the effusiveness. This is a Delia quality: "She had meant her half-hour with Tina to leave the girl with thoughts as fragrant as the flowers she was to find beside her when she woke." Hmmm. Delia is a fine human being who would like Lifetime network movies, I think. So some of this sort of writing distracted me THIS MUCH (Erin: one-half of one-half of one-half of a percent)from the story's beauty as a whole.
Like you discussed in the other post, though, so complicated! So much sympathy to be had for both characters! So well-paced! Yes, it's superb stuff. And razor-sharp criticism, in its own way, of a generation's ridiculous moral code and how it was left to the women to sort of resignedly run in circles around it to see a life play out with dignity, if not happiness.
cl, my nostrils flared and smoked a little when you said Delia would like Lifeteime movies — all in defense of a woman I adore (a woman who identifies thoughts with fragrances)!
I associate Lifetime movies with people who are maudlin and silly and drawn to cliches, whereas I found Delia elegant and serious and genuinely romantic.
But then, when I thought about it a little more, I think the "TV movie fan" comparison might be apropos in that Delia had become kind of detached from her own life. It's kind of like how people can take great interest in the lives of film characters, for example, can cry at them, can be moved by them, can be impressed by their romantic choices, but those very same people would never have the wherewithal to make such choices for themselves and fail to see themselves as actors in their OWN lives. Delia could never see herself as the heroine in her own life story, at least not until it was too late. She made her choice in youth and spent her maturity "accepting it," instead of ever imagining that she could rethink and REDO it. Her experience with passion became completely vicarious, which is how I imagine the experience of many Lifetime viewers to be.
In a sense, though, isn't this style - whether you think it's too effusive or genuinely romantic - part of what makes this story so great? Wharton takes what was then a typical feminine lifestyle - planning for someone's wedding, raising a household, even working through the logistics of "who gets to sleep in the room next to Tina" - and imbues its "mundane" aspects with such meaning and tension that the details drive the whole plot!
I was probably too flip with Delia's character, there. She had common sense and practicality, and rather a lot of maturity for having come to terms with her own life choices. She was sensible and benevolent -- two qualities certainly worth aspiring to.
OMG, yes! Stupendous in every detail.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember the last time I felt such riveting curiosity to know how a story ends.
And Wharton's voice is so elegant and nuanced. Perfectly pitched for the story.
And her characterization is deeply empathetic but still razor sharp.
This was one of the best short stories I've ever read. Seriously. Thanks so much for suggesting it, Erin!
ReplyDeleteIt has every detail of the great short story - intricate setting, gripping plot, complex and deeply sympathetic characters. And like Kim, I almost couldn't stop reading when I reached the final few pages!
Perfect descriptions, guys. The story seemed longer to me than its 80 pages -- not that it felt long while I was reading, but that it seemed to contain so much in so few pages.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was masterful how she had complete control over the subject and could maintain that super-intense focus. I could imagine a lesser writer trying to stretch this into a novel and junking it up with a bunch of subplots, but she knew precisely what to say and how long to take saying it!
ReplyDeleteOh, my god. I was so earnest in not reading any blog posts before starting, I failed to note that we were only reading "The Old Maid."
ReplyDeleteI just finished "False Dawn."
Which, if you peeked at it, you might agree that the senior Raycies were a puffed-up little lot of tyranny -- but they threw a hell of a dinner party!
FOOD PORN:
ReplyDelete"In the centre stood the Raycie epergne of pierced silver, holding aloft a bunch of June roses surrounded by dangling baskets of sugared almonds and striped peppermints; and grouped about this decorative "motif" were Lowestoft platters heavy with piles of raspberries, strawberries and the first
Delaware peaches. An outer flanking of heaped-up cookies, crullers,strawberry short-cake, piping hot corn-bread and deep golden butter in
moist blocks still bedewed from the muslin swathings of the dairy, led the eye to the Virginia ham in front of Mr. Raycie, and the twin dishes of scrambled eggs on toast and broiled blue-fish over which his wife
presided. Lewis could never afterward fit into this intricate pattern the "side-dishes" of devilled turkey-legs and creamed chicken hash, the sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, the heavy silver jugs of butter-coloured cream, the floating-island, "slips" and lemon jellies that were somehow interwoven with the solider elements of the design; but they were all
there, either together or successively, and so were the towering piles of waffles reeling on their foundations, and the slender silver jugs of maple syrup perpetually escorting them about the table as black Dinah replenished the supply."
Sorry, ladies. I will return to the appropriate story. After I eat something ... hehe.
ReplyDeleteOMG. How marvelous.
ReplyDelete"golden butter in moist blocks still bedewed from the muslin swathings of the dairy"
Porn indeed.
"the heavy silver jugs of butter-coloured cream."
I'm swooning. Must have second dinner. Tout de suite!
I'm still digesting this story a bit so soon after sitting long with the meal in the collection's first story, "False Dawn." They read very differently. Like going from creamed chicken hash to waffles, you might say.
ReplyDelete(End food jokes.)
The first story isn't relevant to the discussion, but it's affecting my judgment because in the first, the POV was a young man, and then there's the gender switch in "Old Maid." This was more effusive and emotional. I don't know whether Wharton was more comfortable writing the female point of view or if Delia had certain emotional qualities that demanded some of the effusiveness. This is a Delia quality: "She had meant her half-hour with Tina to leave the girl with thoughts as fragrant as the flowers she was to find beside her when she woke." Hmmm. Delia is a fine human being who would like Lifetime network movies, I think. So some of this sort of writing distracted me THIS MUCH (Erin: one-half of one-half of one-half of a percent)from the story's beauty as a whole.
Like you discussed in the other post, though, so complicated! So much sympathy to be had for both characters! So well-paced! Yes, it's superb stuff. And razor-sharp criticism, in its own way, of a generation's ridiculous moral code and how it was left to the women to sort of resignedly run in circles around it to see a life play out with dignity, if not happiness.
OK, I'll give you that. A few phrases were a little, ahem, flowery.
ReplyDeletecl, my nostrils flared and smoked a little when you said Delia would like Lifeteime movies — all in defense of a woman I adore (a woman who identifies thoughts with fragrances)!
ReplyDeleteI associate Lifetime movies with people who are maudlin and silly and drawn to cliches, whereas I found Delia elegant and serious and genuinely romantic.
But then, when I thought about it a little more, I think the "TV movie fan" comparison might be apropos in that Delia had become kind of detached from her own life. It's kind of like how people can take great interest in the lives of film characters, for example, can cry at them, can be moved by them, can be impressed by their romantic choices, but those very same people would never have the wherewithal to make such choices for themselves and fail to see themselves as actors in their OWN lives. Delia could never see herself as the heroine in her own life story, at least not until it was too late. She made her choice in youth and spent her maturity "accepting it," instead of ever imagining that she could rethink and REDO it. Her experience with passion became completely vicarious, which is how I imagine the experience of many Lifetime viewers to be.
In a sense, though, isn't this style - whether you think it's too effusive or genuinely romantic - part of what makes this story so great? Wharton takes what was then a typical feminine lifestyle - planning for someone's wedding, raising a household, even working through the logistics of "who gets to sleep in the room next to Tina" - and imbues its "mundane" aspects with such meaning and tension that the details drive the whole plot!
ReplyDeleteGreat observation, Shanxi. I love the way Wharton lingers over a domestic detail.
ReplyDeleteDetails, moments, passing moods, flickering insights — they're everything.
I was probably too flip with Delia's character, there. She had common sense and practicality, and rather a lot of maturity for having come to terms with her own life choices. She was sensible and benevolent -- two qualities certainly worth aspiring to.
ReplyDelete