A Daily Dose of Art: The Age of Innocence

A friend is re-reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, so I decided to read it for the first time. Enthralled!

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“In some ways, Edith Wharton’s classic novel feels more current than ever. Elif Batuman explains.

A literary “classic” is a recurring character in one’s life. One reads it, years go by, one reads it again, and it becomes the sum of those readings over time. One identifies with the character closest to one in age — and then one’s age changes. Eventually, each classic tells two stories: its own, and the story of all the times one has read it. In a way, in “The Age of Innocence,” Edith Wharton wrote an allegory of this very process: of the way stories acquire new meanings over time.”

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What do you think? Please share your thoughts on this book/topic or a glimpse into one of your recent doses of art in the comments below.