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The Custom Of The Country
''The Custom of the Country'' is a 1913 tragicomedy of manners novel by the American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Undine Spragg, a Midwestern girl who attempts to ascend in New York City society. Plot summary The Spraggs, a family of newly wealthy midwesterners from Apex, arrive in New York City to advantageously marry off their beautiful, ambitious, and temperamental daughter, Undine. Attracted to glamour and extravagance Undine has a hard time making in roads into the high status old money social circles she wishes to enter. Her beauty catches the attention of several men who offer her a tantalizing glimpse into their world. Ralph Marvell, who is descended from the Dagonets, an old money family, becomes attracted to Undine. Convinced that Undine is a simple and plain spoken girl who would be ruined by her elevation in society he resolves to quickly woo and marry her. However Marvell is an unsuccessful lawyer and a would-be poet and his family no longer has great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray realistically the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her novel ''The Age of Innocence''. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. Among her other well known works are ''The House of Mirth'' and the novella ''Ethan Frome''. Biography Early life Edith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862 to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander at their brownstone at 14 West Twenty-third Street in New York City. To her friends and family she was known as "Pussy Jones". She had two older brothers, Frederic Rhinelander and Henry Edward. Frederic married Mary Cadwalader Rawle; their daughter was landscape archite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Reef (novel)
''The Reef'' is a 1912 novel by American writer Edith Wharton. It was published by D. Appleton & Company. It concerns a romance between a widow and her former lover. The novel takes place in Paris and rural France, but primarily features American characters. While writing the novel, Edith Wharton visited England, Sicily, and Germany, among other locations. In a letter to Bernard Berenson in November 1912, Wharton expressed regret regarding her novel, calling it a “poor miserable lifeless lump”. She wrote, “Anyhow, remember it’s not me, though I thought it was when I was writing it—& that next time I’m going to do something worthwhile!!” Summary George Darrow, an American diplomat residing in London, has remained in contact with his former love, Anna Leath, who previously married another man. Now widowed, she resumes contact with Darrow. Darrow desires to continue the relationship he had with Anna but remains concerned about her commitment to the relationship. The n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Money
Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families (i.e. gentry, patriciate)" or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth". The term typically describes a social class of the rich who have been able to maintain their wealth over multiple generations, often referring to perceived members of the ''de facto'' aristocracy in societies that historically lack an officially established aristocratic class (such as the United States). United States ''Wealth''—assets held by an individual or by a household—provides an important dimension of social stratification because it can pass from generation to generation, ensuring that a family's offspring will remain financially stable. Families with "old money" use accumulated assets or savings to bridge interruptions in income, thus guarding against downward social mobility. "Old money" applies to those of the upper class whose wealth separates them from lower social classes. According to anthropol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nouveau Riche
''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" (in contrast with " old money"; french: vieux riche ). Sociologically, ''nouveau riche'' refers to the person who previously had belonged to a lower social class and economic stratum (rank) within that class; and that the new money, which constitutes their wealth, allowed upward social mobility and provided the means for conspicuous consumption, the buying of goods and services that signal membership in an upper class. As a pejorative term, ''nouveau riche'' affects distinctions of type, the given stratum within a social class; hence, among the rich people of a social class, ''nouveau riche'' describes the vulgarity and ostentation of the newly rich person who lacks the worldly experience and the system of values of " old money", of inherite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher (1579–1625) was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's. He collaborated on writing plays with Francis Beaumont, and also with Shakespeare on three plays. Though his reputation has declined since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration. Biography Early life Fletcher was born in December 1579 (baptised 20 December) in Rye, Sussex, and died of the plague in August 1625 (buried 29 August in St. Saviour's, Southwark). His father Richard Fletcher was an ambitious and successful cleric who was in turn Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of London (shortly before his death), as well as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. As Dean of Pete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including ''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Madam'', and '' The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes. Early life The son of Arthur Massinger or Messanger, he was baptised at St. Thomas's Salisbury on 24 November 1583. He apparently belonged to an old Salisbury family, for the name occurs in the city records as early as 1415. He is described in his matriculation entry at St. Alban Hall, Oxford (1602), as the son of a gentleman. His father, who had also been educated at St. Alban Hall, was a member of parliament, and was attached to the household of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Herbert recommended Arthur in 1587 for the office of examiner in the Court of the Marches. William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, who would come to oversee the London Stage and the royal company as King James's Lord Chamberlain, succ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Custom Of The Country (1647 Play)
''The Custom of the Country'' is a Jacobean stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, originally published in 1647 in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio. Date and sources The play is usually dated to c. 1619–23. It could not have been written earlier than 1619, when one of its primary sources, ''Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda'' by Cervantes, was translated into English. Cinthio's ''Hecatommithi'' also provided material for the play. Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, describes ''The Custom of the Country'' as an "old play" in an entry in his record book dated 22 November 1629. Performance The play was performed by the King's Men. The 1647 text provides this cast list: Joseph Taylor, John Lowin, John Underwood, Robert Benfield, Nicholas Tooley, William Ecclestone, Richard Sharpe, and Thomas Holcombe. (The folio provides the same cast list for two roughly contemporaneous plays in the canon, Fletcher's ''Women Pleased'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droit Du Seigneur
('right of the lord'), also known as ('right of the first night'), was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on the wedding nights of the women. A majority of historians have concluded that the idea is a myth and that all references to it are from later periods. Over the centuries, it became commonly portrayed in European literature as a practice that had occurred in earlier times or other places. In practice, it may have been the feudal lords using their power and influence over serfs to sexually exploit the women free of consequences, as opposed to a legitimate legal right. Terminology The French expression translates as "right of the lord", but modern French usage prefers (, from , 'leg') or (, from , 'thigh'). The term is often used synonymously with , Latin for "right of the first night". Ancient times In the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', Gilgamesh is described as having practic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Fellowes
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, (born 17 August 1949) is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords. He is primarily known as the author of several '' Sunday Times'' bestseller novels; for the screenplay for the film ''Gosford Park'', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2002; and as the creator, writer and executive producer of the multiple award-winning ITV series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). Early life and education Fellowes was born into a family of the British landed gentry in Cairo, Egypt, the youngest of four boys, to Peregrine Edward Launcelot Fellowes (1912–1999) and his British wife, Olwen Mary (''née'' Stuart-Jones). His father was a diplomat and Arabist who campaigned to have Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, restored to his throne during World War II. His great-grandfather was John Wrightson, a pioneer in agricultural education ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Downton Abbey
''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on PBS, which supported production of the series as part of its ''Masterpiece Classic'' anthology, on 9 January 2011. The series, set on the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era—the great events of the time having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the ''Titanic'' in the first series; the outbreak of the First World War, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; the Irish War of Independence leading to the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series; the Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Becky Sharp
Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel '' Vanity Fair''. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate and seduce upper-class men. This is in contrast with the clinging, dependent Amelia Sedley, her friend from school. Becky then uses Amelia as a stepping stone to gain social position. Sharp functions as a ''picara''—a picaresque heroine—by being a social outsider who is able to expose the manners of the upper gentry to ridicule. The book—and Sharp's career—begins in a traditional manner of Victorian fiction, that of a young orphan (Sharp) with no source of income who has to make her own way in the world. Thackeray twisted the Victorian tradition, however, and quickly turned her into a young woman who knew what she wanted from life—fine clothes, money and a social position—and knew how to get them. The route was to be by marriage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarlett O'Hara
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the main character in the 1970 musical '' Scarlett'' and the 1991 book '' Scarlett'', a sequel to ''Gone with the Wind'' that was written by Alexandra Ripley and adapted for a television mini-series in 1994. During early drafts of the original novel, Mitchell referred to her heroine as "Pansy", and did not decide on the name "Scarlett" until just before the novel went to print. Biography Scarlett O'Hara is the oldest living child of Gerald O'Hara and Ellen O'Hara (née Robillard). She was born in 1845 on her family's plantation Tara in Georgia. She was named Katie Scarlett, after her father's mother, but is always called Scarlett, except by her father, who refers to her as "Katie Scarlett". She is from a Catholic family of Irish ancestry on h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
