现实百态 》 純真年代 The Age of Innocence 》
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伊迪絲·華頓 Edith Wharton
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《純真年代》(英漢對照)是一部經久不衰的傑作，被認為是伊迪絲·華頓最為完美的一部小說。作者從自己親身經歷與熟悉的環境中提煉素材，塑造人物，將作品題材根植於深厚的現實土壤中。通過博福特命運沉浮這一綫索與主人公阿切爾愛情悲劇的主綫相互映襯，使一個看似尋常的愛情故事具備了深刻的社會現實意義。
"5000詞床頭燈英語學習讀本"由美國作傢執筆，精選了國外數十部最值得一生去讀的文學作品，以5500個最常用的單詞寫成，語言現代、地道、標準、原汁原味，而且通俗易懂。你躺在床上不用翻字典就可以津津有味地學英語，而且可以積澱西方文化，提高個人的口味和修養。對初、中級英語學習者來說是一套值得特別推薦的英語簡易讀物。《純真年代》(英漢對照)為叢書的其中一册，為英漢對照版，是一部經久不衰的傑作，被認為是伊迪絲·華頓最為完美的一部小說。
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70年代初一個一月的晚上，剋裏斯廷·尼爾森在紐約音樂院演唱歌劇《浮士德》。
雖然人們早就議論要在第40街以北的遠郊興建一座新的歌劇院，其造價與壯觀 將和歐洲那些著名首都的歌劇院媲美，然而上流社會卻依然滿足於每年鼕天在這座 歷史悠久的音樂院紅黃兩色的舊包廂裏進行社交聚會。保守派的人們欣賞它的窄小 不便，這樣可以把紐約社會開始懼怕但又為之吸引的“新人”拒之門外；多愁善感 的人們因為它引起許多歷史的聯想而對它戀戀不捨；而音樂愛好者則留戀它精美的 音響效果。在專為欣賞音樂而修建的廳堂中，音響效果嚮來都是個棘手的質量問題。
這是尼爾森夫人當年鼕天的首場演出。那些被日報稱為“超凡脫俗的聽衆”已 經云集來聽她的演唱。他們或乘私人馬車、或乘寬敞的家庭雙篷馬車、或者乘檔次 較低卻更為便利的“布朗四輪馬車”，經過溜滑多雪的街道來到了這裏。乘坐布朗 馬車來聽歌劇，幾乎跟坐自己的馬車一樣體面；而且，離開劇場時還有極大的優越 性（對原則開一句玩笑）：你可以搶先登上綫路上第一輛布朗馬車，而不用等 待自己的那因寒冷和烈酒而充血的紅鼻子車夫在音樂院門廊下面顯現。美國人想離 開娛樂場所比想去的時候更加迫切，這可是那位了不起的馬車行店主憑絶妙的直覺 獲得的偉大發現。
當紐蘭·阿切爾打開包廂後面的門時，花園一場的帷幕剛剛升起。這位年輕人 本可以早一點來到。他7點鐘和母親與妹妹一起用了餐，其後又在哥特式圖書室裏慢 慢吞吞地吸了一支雪茄。那間放了光亮的黑色鬍桃木書櫥和尖頂椅子的房間，是這 所房子裏阿切爾太太惟一允許吸煙的地方。然而，首先，紐約是個大都市，而他又 十分清楚，在大都市裏聽歌劇早到是“不合宜”的。而是否“合宜”，在紐蘭·阿 切爾時代的紐約，其意義就像幾千年前支配了他祖先命運的不可思議的圖騰恐懼一 樣重要。
他晚到的第二個原因是個人方面的。他吸煙慢慢吞吞，是因為他在內心深處是 個藝術的愛好者，玩味行將來到的快樂，常常會使他比快樂真的來到時感到更深切 的滿足。當這種快樂十分微妙時尤其如此，而他的樂趣多半屬於這種類型。這一次 他期盼的時機非常珍貴，其性質異常微妙——呃，假若他把時間掌握得恰到好處， 能與那位首席女演員的舞臺監督合上拍，到場時正趕上她一邊唱着“他愛我——他 不愛我——他愛我！”一邊拋灑着雛菊花瓣，其暗示像露水般清澈——果真如此， 他進音樂院的時機就再美妙不過了。
當然，她唱的是“呣啊嘛”，而不是“他愛我”，因為音樂界那不容改變、不 容懷疑的法則要求，由瑞典藝術傢演唱的法國歌劇的德語文本，必須翻譯成意大利 語，以便講英語的聽衆更清楚地理解。這一點紐蘭·阿切爾覺得和他生活中遵循的 所有其他慣例一樣理所當然：比如，用兩把帶有藍瓷漆塗着他姓名縮寫的銀背刷子 分開他的頭髮，紐扣洞裏插一朵花（最好是桅子花）纔在社交界露面。
“呣啊嘛……農呣啊嘛……”首席女演員唱道，她以贏得愛情後的最後爆發力 唱出“呣啊嘛！”一面把那束亂蓬蓬的雛菊壓在唇上，擡起一雙大眼睛，朝那位陰 鬱的小浮士德——卡布爾做作的臉上望去。他穿一件紫色的絲絨緊身上衣，戴一頂 鼓囊囊的便帽，正徒勞地裝出與那位天真的受害者一樣純潔真誠的表情。
紐蘭·阿切爾倚在俱樂部包廂後面的墻上，目光從舞臺上移開，掃視着劇場對 面。正對着他的是老曼森·明戈特太太的包廂。可怕的肥胖病早已使她無法來聽歌 劇，不過在有社交活動的晚上，她總是由家庭的某些年輕成員代表出席。這一次， 占據包廂前排座位的是她的兒媳洛弗爾·明戈特太太和她的女兒韋蘭太太。坐在這 兩位身着錦緞的婦人身後的是一位穿白衣的年輕姑娘，正目不轉睛地註視着那對舞 臺戀人。當尼爾森夫人“呣啊嘛”的顫音劃破音樂院靜寂的上空時（演唱雛菊歌期 間，各包廂總是停止交談），一片潮紅泛起在姑娘的面頰，從額頭涌嚮她美麗發辮 的根際，漫過她那青春的胸部斜面，直至係着一朵桅子花的薄紗領的領綫。她垂下 眼睛望着膝上那一大束鈴蘭。紐蘭·阿切爾看見她戴白手套的指尖輕撫着花朵。他 滿足地深深吸了一口氣。他的目光又回到舞臺上。
布景的製作是不惜工本的，連熟悉巴黎和維也納歌劇院的人也承認布景很美。 前景直至腳燈鋪了一塊鮮緑色的畫布，中景的底層是若幹覆蓋着毛茸茸緑色地衣的 對稱小丘，與槌球遊戲的拱門鄰接，上面的灌木叢形狀像桔子樹，但點綴其間的卻 是大朵大朵粉紅色和紅色的玫瑰花。比這些玫瑰更大的紫羅蘭，頗似教區女居民為 牧師製作的花形筆擦，從玫瑰樹底下的緑苔中拔地而起；在一些鮮花怒放的玫瑰枝 頭，嫁接着朵朵雛菊，預告着盧瑟·伯班剋先生園藝試驗遙遠的奇觀。
在這座魔幻般的花園中心，尼爾森夫人身穿鑲淡藍色緞子切口的白色開司米外 衣，一個網狀手提包吊在藍腰帶上晃來晃去，一條寬大的黃色織帶精心地排列在她 那件細棉緊身胸衣的兩側。她低垂着眼睛傾聽卡布爾熱烈的求愛，每當他用話語或 目光勸誘她去從右側斜伸出來的那座整潔的磚造別墅一樓的窗口時，她都裝出一副 對他的意圖毫不理解的天真的樣子。
“親愛的！”紐蘭·阿切爾心裏想。他的目光迅速回到那位手持鈴蘭的年輕姑 娘身上。“她連一點兒也看不懂啊。”他註視着她全”神貫註的稚嫩面龐，心中不 由涌出一陣擁有者的激動，其中有對自己萌動的丈夫氣概的自豪，也有對她那深不 可測的純潔的溫馨敬意。“我們將在一起讀《浮士德》，……在意大利的湖畔……” 他心想，迷迷糊糊地把自己設計的蜜月場面與文學名著攪在一起。嚮自己的新娘闡 釋名著似乎是他做丈夫的特權。僅僅在今天下午，梅·韋蘭纔讓他猜出她對他感到 “中意”（紐約人尊崇的未婚少女認可的用語），而他的想象卻早已躍過了訂婚戒 指、訂婚之吻以及走出盧亨格林教堂的婚禮行列，構畫起古老歐洲某個令人心醉的 場景中她偎依在他身旁的情景了。
他决不希望未來的紐蘭·阿切爾太太是個呆子。他要讓她（由於他朝夕相伴的 啓蒙）養成一種圓通的社交能力，隨機應變的口才，能與“年輕一代”那些最有名 氣的已婚女子平起平坐。在那些人中間，一條公認的習俗是，既要賣弄風情，引起 男人的熱情，同時又要裝聾作啞，不讓他們得寸進尺。假如他早一些對他的虛榮心 進行深入的探索（有時候他幾乎已經做到了），他可能早已發現那兒有個潛藏的願 望：希望自己的妻子跟那些已婚女士一樣地世故圓通，一樣地渴望取悅他人。那些 太太們的嫵媚曾使他心醉神迷，讓他度過了兩個稍顯焦慮的年頭——當然，他沒露 出一丁點脆弱的影子，儘管那險些毀了他這位不幸者的終生，並且整整一個鼕天攪 亂了他的計劃。
至於如何創造出這火與冰的奇跡，又如何在一個冷酷的世界上支撐下去，他可 是從來沒有花時間想過；他衹是滿足於不加分析地堅持自己的觀點，因為他知道這 也是所有那些精心梳了頭髮。穿白背心、扣洞裏別鮮花的紳士們的觀點。他們一個 接一個地進入俱樂部包廂，友好地和他打招呼，然後帶着批評的眼光把望遠鏡對準 了作為這個制度産物的女士們。在智力與藝術方面，紐蘭·阿切爾覺得自己比老紐 約上流階層這些精選的標本明顯要高一籌：他比這幫人中任何一位大概都讀得多、 思考得多，並且也見識得多。單獨來看，他們都處於劣勢，但湊在一起，他們卻代 表着“紐約”，而男性團结一致的慣例使他在稱作道德的所有問題上都接受了他們 的原則。他本能地感到，在這方面他若一個人標新立異，肯定會引起麻煩，而且也 很不得體。
“哎喲——我的天！”勞倫斯·萊弗茨喊道，突然把他的小望遠鏡從舞臺的方 嚮移開。就總體而言，勞倫斯·萊弗茨在“舉止”問題上是紐約的最高權威。他研 究這個復雜而誘人的問題花費的時間大概比任何人都多。單衹研究還不能說明他駕 輕就熟的全纔，人們衹需看他一眼——從光禿禿的前額斜面與好看的金黃鬍髭的麯 綫，到那瘦削優雅的身體另一端穿漆皮鞋的長腳——便會覺得，一個知道如何隨便 地穿着如此貴重的衣服並保持極度閑適優雅的人，在“舉止”方面的學識一定是出 自天賦。正如一位年輕崇拜者有一次談起他時所說的：“假如有誰能告訴你什麽時 間打黑領帶配夜禮服恰到好處，什麽時候不行，那麽，這個人就是勞倫斯·萊弗茨。” 至於網球鞋與漆皮“牛津”鞋孰優孰劣的問題，他的權威從未有人提出過懷疑。
“我的上帝！”他說，接着默默地將望遠鏡遞給了老西勒頓·傑剋遜。
紐蘭·阿切爾隨着萊弗茨的目光望去，驚訝地發現他的感嘆是因為一個陌生的 身影進入明戈特太太的包廂而引起的。那是位身材苗條的年輕女子，比梅·韋蘭略 矮一點，棕色的頭髮在鬢角處變成濃密的發鬈，用一條鑽石窄帶固定住。這種發型 使她具有一種時下稱作“約瑟芬式”的模樣，這一聯想在她那件深藍色絲絨晚禮服 的款式上得到了印證，那禮服用一條帶老式大扣子的腰帶在她胸下十分誇張地輓住。 她穿着這一身奇特的衣服，十分引人註目，可她似乎一點兒也未發覺。她在包廂中 間站了一會，與韋蘭太太討論占據她前排右面角落座位的禮節問題，接着便莞爾聽 命，與坐在對面角落裏的韋蘭太太的嫂嫂洛弗爾·明戈特太太在同一排就坐。
西勒頓·傑剋遜先生把小望遠鏡還給了勞倫斯·萊弗茨。全俱樂部的人都本能 地轉過臉，等着聽這位老者開講。因為正如勞倫斯·萊弗茨在“舉止”問題上那樣， 老傑剋遜先生在“傢族”問題上是最高權威。他瞭解紐約那些堂、表親戚關係的所 有支派；不僅能說清諸如明戈特傢族（通過索利傢族）與南卡羅來納州達拉斯傢族 之間的關係，以及上一支費城索利傢族與阿爾巴尼·奇弗斯傢族（决不會與大學區 的曼森·奇弗斯族混淆）復雜的親緣，而且還能列舉每個傢族的主要特點。比如萊 弗茨傢年輕一代（長島那些人）無比吝嗇；拉什沃斯一傢極其愚蠢，總是在婚配問 題上犯下致命錯誤；再如，阿爾巴尼·奇弗斯傢每隔一代就會出現一個神經病，他 們紐約的表兄妹一直拒絶與之通婚——惟獨可憐的梅多拉·曼森是個不幸的例外， 她——人所共知……而她的母親本來就是拉什沃斯傢的人。
除了這種傢族譜係的豐富知識之外，西勒頓·傑剋遜在凹陷狹窄的兩鬢之間、 柔軟濃密的銀發下面，還保存着鬱結在紐約社會平靜表層底下的最近50年間多數醜 聞與秘史的記錄。他的信息的確面廣量大，他的記憶的確精確無誤，所以人們認為 惟有他才能說出銀行傢朱利葉斯·博福特究竟是何許人，老曼森·明戈特太太的父 親、漂亮的鮑勃·斯派塞的結局究竟如何。後者結婚不到一年，就在一位美麗的西 班牙舞蹈演員登船去古巴的那一天神秘地失蹤了（帶着一大筆委托金），她在巴特 利的老歌劇院曾令蜂擁的觀衆歡欣鼓舞。不過這些秘聞——還有許多其他的——都 嚴嚴實實鎖在傑剋遜先生心中。因為，不僅強烈的道義感不許他重複別人私下告訴 他的任何事情，而且他十分清楚，謹慎周到的名聲會給他更多的機會，以便查明他 想瞭解的情況。
所以，當西勒頓·傑剋遜先生把小望遠鏡還給勞倫斯·萊弗茨的時候，俱樂部 包廂的人帶着明顯的懸念等待着。他用布滿老筋的眼瞼下那雙朦朧的藍眼睛默默地 審視一番那夥洗耳恭聽的人，然後若有所思地抖動一下鬍髭，僅僅說了一句：“沒 想到明戈特傢的人會擺出這種架式。”
The Age of Innocence (1920) is a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story is set in upper class New York City in the 1870s.
In 1920, The Age of Innocence was published twice; first in four parts, July – October, in the Pictorial Review magazine, and then by D. Appleton and Company as a book in New York and in London. The book was warmly received; the Times Book Review considered it "a brilliant panorama of New York's 45 years ago. The novel is in demand mostly at public libraries and a best seller in the bookstores."
Plot introduction
The Age of Innocence centers on an upper class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and morals of 1870s' New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for her earlier, more brutal and critical novel, The House of Mirth. Not to be overlooked is Wharton's attention to detailing the charms and customs of the upper caste. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the 19th-century East Coast American upper class lived, and this, combined with the social tragedy, earned Wharton a Pulitzer Prize — the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. Edith Wharton was 58 years old at publication; she lived in that world, and saw it change dramatically by the end of World War I. The title is an ironic comment on the polished outward manners of New York society, when compared to its inward machinations.
Plot summary
Newland Archer, gentleman lawyer and heir to one of New York City's best families, is happily anticipating a highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. Yet he finds reason to doubt his choice of bride after the appearance of Countess Ellen Olenska, May's exotic, beautiful thirty-year-old cousin, who has been living in Europe. Ellen has returned to New York after scandalously separating herself (per rumor) from a bad marriage to a Polish Count. At first, Ellen's arrival and its potential taint to his bride's family disturbs him, but he becomes intrigued by the worldly Ellen who flouts New York society's fastidious rules. As Newland's admiration for the countess grows, so does his doubt about marrying May, a perfect product of Old New York society; his match with May no longer seems the ideal fate he had imagined.
Ellen's decision to divorce Count Olenski is a social crisis for the other members of her family, who are terrified of scandal and disgrace. Living apart can be tolerated, but divorce is unacceptable. To save the Welland family's reputation, a law partner of Newland asks him to dissuade Countess Olenska from divorcing the Count. He succeeds, but in the process comes to care for her; afraid of falling in love with Ellen, Newland begs May to accelerate their wedding date; May refuses.
Newland tells Ellen he loves her; Ellen corresponds, but is horrified of their love's aggrieving May. She agrees to remain in America, separated but still married, only if they do not sexually consummate their love; Newland receives May's telegram agreeing to wed sooner.
Newland and May marry; he tries forgetting Ellen but fails. His society marriage is loveless, and the social life he once found absorbing has become empty and joyless. Though Ellen lives in Washington and has remained distant, he is unable to cease loving her. Their paths cross while he and May are in Newport, Rhode Island. Newland discovers that Count Olenski wishes Ellen to return to him, and she has refused, despite her family pushing her to reconcile with her husband and return to Europe. Frustrated by her independence, the family cut off her money, as the Count had already done.
Newland desperately seeks a way to leave May and be with Ellen, obsessed with how to finally possess her. Despairing of ever making Ellen his wife, he attempts to have her agree to be his mistress. Then Ellen is recalled to New York City to care for her sick grandmother, who accepts her decision to remain separated and agrees to reinstate her allowance.
Back in New York and under renewed pressure from Newland, Ellen relents and agrees to consummate their relationship. However, Newland then discovers that Ellen has decided to return to Europe. Newland makes up his mind to abandon May and follow Ellen to Europe when May announces that she and Newland are throwing a farewell party for Ellen. That night, after the party, Newland resolves to tell May he is leaving her for Ellen. She interrupts him to tell him that she learned that morning that she is pregnant; she reveals that she had told Ellen of her pregnancy two weeks earlier, despite not being sure of it at the time. The implication is that she did it because she suspected the love between Ellen and Newland and knew Ellen well enough to know that she would drop Newland if May was pregnant. Newland guesses that this is Ellen's reason for returning to Europe. Hopelessly trapped, Newland decides not to follow Ellen, surrendering his love for the sake of his children, remaining in a loveless marriage to May.
Twenty-six years later, after May's death, Newland and his son are in Paris. The son, learning that his mother's cousin lives there, has arranged to visit Ellen in her Paris apartment. Newland is stunned at the prospect of seeing Ellen again. On arriving outside the apartment building, Newland, still reeling emotionally, sends up his son alone to meet Ellen, while he waits outside, watching her apartment's balcony. Newland considers going up, but decides that his dream and memory of Ellen are more real than anything else in his life has been; he walks back to his hotel without meeting her.
Characters in The Age of Innocence
Major Characters
* Newland Archer: The story's protagonist is a young, popular, successful lawyer living with his mother and sister in an elegant New York City house. Since childhood, his life has been shaped by the customs and expectations of upper class New York City society. His engagement to May Welland is one in a string of accomplishments. At the story's start, he is proud and content to dream about a traditional marriage in which he will be the husband-teacher and she the wife-student. His life changes when he meets Countess Ellen Olenska. Through his relationship with her — first friendship, then love — he begins questioning the values on which he was raised. He sees the sexual inequality of New York society and the shallowness of its customs, and struggles to balance social commitment to May with love for Ellen. He cannot find a place for their love in the intricate, judgmental web of New York society. Throughout the story's progress, he transgresses the boundaries of acceptable behavior for love of Ellen: first following her to Skuytercliff, then Boston, and finally willing to follow her to Europe. In the end, though, Newland Archer finds that the only place for their love is in his memories.
* Mrs. Manson Mingott: The matriarch of the powerful Mingott family, and grandmother to Ellen and May. She was born Catherine Spicer, the daughter of an inconsequential family. Widowed at 28, she has ensured her family's social position by her own shrewdness and force of character. She controls her family: at Newland's request, she has May and Mrs. Welland agree to an earlier wedding date. She controls the money — withholding Ellen's living allowance (when the family is angry with Ellen), and having niece Regina Beaufort ask for money when in financial trouble. Mrs. Mingott is a maverick in the polite world of New York society, at times pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior; receiving guests in her house's ground floor, though society associates that practice with prostitutes. Her welcoming Ellen is viewed skeptically, and she insists the rest of the family support Ellen.
* Mrs. Welland: May's mother, has raised her daughter to be a proper society lady. May's dullness, lack of imagination, and rigid views of appropriate and inappropriate behavior are consequence of her influence. She has effectively trained her husband, the weak-willed Mr. Welland, to conform to her desires and wishes. Mrs. Welland is the driving force behind May's commitment to a long engagement. Without her mother's influence, May might have agreed sooner to Newland's request for an earlier wedding date. After a few years of marriage, Newland Archer perceives in his mother-in-law what May will become — stolid, unimaginative, and dull.
* May Welland: Newland Archer's fiancée, then wife. Raised to be a perfect wife and mother, she follows and obeys all of society's customs, perfectly. Mostly, she is the shallow, uninterested and uninteresting young woman that New York society requires. When they are in St. Augustine, though, May gives Newland a rare glimpse of the maturity and compassion he had previously ignored. She offers to release him from their engagement so he can marry the woman he truly loves, thinking he wants to be with Mrs. Rushworth, a married woman with whom he had recently ended a love affair. When he assures May of his loving only her, May appears to trust him, at least at first. Yet after marriage, she suspects Newland is Ellen's lover. Nonetheless, May pretends happiness before society, maintaining the illusion that she and he have the perfect marriage expected of them. Her unhappiness activates her manipulative nature, and Newland does not see it until too late. To drive Ellen away from him, May tells Ellen of her pregnancy before she is certain of it. Yet, there still is compassion in May, even in their loveless marriage's long years after Ellen's leaving. After May's death, Newland Archer learns she had always known of his continued love for Ellen; as May lay dying, she told their son Dallas that the children could always trust their father Newland, because he surrendered the thing most meaningful to him out of loyalty to their marriage.
* Ellen Olenska: She is May's cousin and Mrs. Manson Mingott's granddaughter. She became a Countess by marrying Polish Count Olenski, a European nobleman. Her husband was allegedly cruel and abusive, stole Ellen's fortune and had affairs with other women and possibly even with men. When the story begins, Ellen has fled her unhappy marriage, lived in Venice with her husband's secretary, and has returned to her family in New York City, America. She is a free spirit who helps Newland Archer see beyond narrow New York society. She treats her maid, Nastasia, as an equal; offering the servant her own cape before sending her out on an errand. She attends parties with disreputable people such as Julius Beaufort and Mrs. Lemuel Struthers, and she invites Newland, the fiancé of her cousin May to visit her. Ellen suffers as much as Newland from their impossible love, but she is willing to live in emotional limbo so long as they can love each other at a distance. Ellen's love for Newland drives her important decisions: dropping divorce from Count Olenski, remaining in America, and offering Newland choice of sexual consummation only once, and then disappearing from his life. Her conscience and responsibility to family complicate her love for Newland. When she learns of May's pregnancy, Ellen immediately decides to leave America, refusing Newland's attempt to follow her to Europe, and so allow cousin May to start her family with her husband Newland.
* New York City Society: Composed of powerful, wealthy families. These people follow and impose a strict, rigid code of social custom and behavior, and judge as unacceptable and disposable the people who do not follow their rules. Ellen has difficulty adapting to the behavoir that such a society thinks appropriate for a woman separated from her husband. New York society's judgment is clear; almost everyone refuses to attend the dinner party honoring Ellen's return.
Minor Characters
* Christine Nilsson: A famous singer who performs in an opera on the night of Archer and May's engagement. She sings in the same opera two years later.
* Mrs. Lovell Mingott: May and Ellen's aunt, and the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Manson Mingott.
* Lawrence Lefferts: A wealthy young man and a member of Archer's social circle. He is considered the expert on manners. Archer believes that Lefferts is behind New York society's rude refusal to attend the welcome dinner for Ellen. According to Archer, Lefferts makes a big show of his morality every time that his wife, Mrs. Lefferts, suspects that he is having an affair.
* Sillerton Jackson: The expert on the families that make up New York society. He knows who is related to whom, and the history of every important family. Mrs. Archer and Janey invite him over for dinner when they want to catch up on gossip.
* Julius Beaufort: An arrogant banker who tries to have an affair with Ellen. He even follows her to Skuytercliff during the weekend that Archer goes to visit Ellen. His banking business eventually fails, and he leaves New York society in disgrace.
* Regina Beaufort: Julius Beaufort's wife and Mrs. Manson Mingott's niece. She comes to Mrs. Mingott when her husband's bank fails, to ask for a loan. Her visit causes Mrs. Mingott to have a stroke.
* Janey Archer: Archer's dowdy, unmarried sister who never goes out and relies on Archer. She and her mother invite guests to dinner so they can gossip about New York society. Janey disapproves of Ellen, because she's unconventional and independent, and doesn't simply tolerate her husband's abuse.
* Mrs. Archer: Archer's widowed mother. She doesn't get out to events often, but loves to hear about society. She and Janey strongly believe in the values of New York society. Like Janey, she views Ellen with suspicion.
* Mrs. Lemuel Struthers: A woman on the fringes of New York society. She is treated with mistrust and scorn until Ellen befriends her. She eventually becomes popular; at the end of the novel, May thinks it appropriate to go to her parties.
* Count Olenski: Ellen's husband, a dissolute aristocrat who drove Ellen away with neglect and misery. At first, Count Olenski is content to let Ellen go. Later, though, he sends his secretary to America to ask Ellen to return, with the stipulation that she only appear as his hostess occasionally. He never appears in the story, but is described as half paralyzed and very pale, with thick feminine eyelashes. He constantly cheats on Ellen, and a veiled remark of Jackson's implies that he copulates with men, too. What other abuses and infidelities he commits are unknown, but he seems quite malicious.
* Sophy Jackson: Sillerton Jackson's unmarried sister. She is a friend of Janey and Mrs. Archer.
* Louisa and Henry van der Luyden: Cousins of the Archers, and the most powerful people in New York society. They only mingle with people when they are trying to save society. Mrs. Archer goes to the van der Luydens after New York society snubs Ellen. They invite her to a very exclusive party in honor of the Duke of St. Austrey to show society that they support her.
* Duke of St Austrey: A European Duke. He is the guest of honor at a dinner party thrown by the van der Luydens. Both Ellen and Archer find him dull.
* Nastasia: Ellen's Italian maid. She invites Archer and the other guests to wait in Ellen's sitting room.
* Mr. Letterblair: The senior partner of Archer's law firm. He gives Archer the responsibility of talking Ellen out of her plans to divorce the Count.
* Mrs. Rushworth: The vain, foolish married woman with whom Archer had an affair before his engagement to May.
* Ned Winsett: A journalist. He and Archer are friends, despite their different social circles. He is one of the few people with whom Archer feels that he can have a meaningful conversation. Ned Winsett challenges Archer to think of things outside of society.
* Reggie Chivers: An important member of society. Archer spends a weekend at their country home on the Hudson River.
* Marchioness Medora Manson: The aunt who took Ellen to Europe as a child. She now lives in Washington, where Ellen goes to take care of her. During a visit to New York, she tries to persuade Archer to convince Ellen that she should return to the Count. Beaufort's bank failure eventually ruins Mrs. Manson's fortune, and she moves back to Europe with Ellen.
* Dr. Agathon Carver: A friend (and possible love interest) of the Marchioness Manson. Archer meets him at Ellen's house.
* Du Lac aunts: Archer's elderly aunts. They offer their country home to May and Archer for their honeymoon.
* Mrs. Carfry: An English acquaintance of Janey and Mrs. Archer. She invites Archer and May to a dinner party while they are on their European wedding tour.
* M. Rivière: The French tutor of Mrs. Carfry's nephew. He fascinates Archer with his life story and intellect. Later, Archer learns that he was Count Olenski's secretary and the man who helped Ellen escape her marriage. The count sends him to Boston to try to convince Ellen to return to Europe.
* Emerson Sillerton: An unpopular, eccentric professor who spends his summers in Newport with the rest of society. He throws a party for the Blenker family that no one wants to attend.
* Blenker family: The unpopular, socially inferior family with whom the Marchioness and Ellen stay while in Newport. They are the guests of honor at Emerson Sillerton's party, and seems to be a clever, kind bunch.
* Miss Blenker: The youngest daughter of the Blenker family. When Archer visits her empty family's house on the day of Sillerton's party, she is there. Archer briefly confuses her with Ellen, and she flirts with him. Through Miss Blenker, Archer learns that Ellen has gone to Boston.
* Dallas Archer: May and Archer's eldest child. He takes his father on a trip to Europe. Through Dallas, Archer learns that May felt sorry for his empty heart after Ellen left.
* Fanny Beaufort: Dallas Archer's fiancée and the daughter of Julius Beaufort and his second wife. She asks Dallas to visit Ellen while he and Archer are in Paris.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
* In 1924, an eponymous silent film film adaptation was released by Warner Brothers, directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Beverly Bayne as Countess Olenska and Elliott Dexter as Newland Archer.
* In 1928, Margaret Ayer Barnes adapted the novel into a play, first produced on Broadway, starring Katharine Cornell as Countess Ellen Olenska.
* In 1934, an eponymous film adaptation directed for RKO Studios by Philip Moeller (based upon the 1920 novel and 1928 play), starring Irene Dunne as Countess Ellen Olenska and John Boles as Newland Archer.
* In 1993, an eponymous film adaptation, The Age of Innocence, was directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Michelle Pfeiffer as Countess Ellen Olenska, Daniel Day-Lewis as Newland Archer, Winona Ryder as May Welland Archer, Richard E. Grant, and Miriam Margolyes. Ryder won a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of May Welland Archer, and the film won an Oscar for costume design.
* Gossip Girl author Cecily Von Ziegesar modeled her hit series on Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. On March 16, 2009, an episode of Gossip Girl entitled "The Age of Dissonance" aired, showing the teens star in a theatrical production of The Age of Innocence with Blair as Countess Olenska, Serena as May Welland, and Dan as Newland Archer with several other characters from the show portraying minor roles in the story including Nate as Beaufort.
I.
On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York.
Though there was already talk of the erection, in remote metropolitan distances "above the Forties," of a new Opera House which should compete in costliness and splendour with those of the great European capitals, the world of fashion was still content to reassemble every winter in the shabby red and gold boxes of the sociable old Academy. Conservatives cherished it for being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the "new people" whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to; and the sentimental clung to it for its historic associations, and the musical for its excellent acoustics, always so problematic a quality in halls built for the hearing of music.
It was Madame Nilsson's first appearance that winter, and what the daily press had already learned to describe as "an exceptionally brilliant audience" had gathered to hear her, transported through the slippery, snowy streets in private broughams, in the spacious family landau, or in the humbler but more convenient "Brown coupe" To come to the Opera in a Brown coupe was almost as honourable a way of arriving as in one's own carriage; and departure by the same means had the immense advantage of enabling one (with a playful allusion to democratic principles) to scramble into the first Brown conveyance in the line, instead of waiting till the cold-and-gin congested nose of one's own coachman gleamed under the portico of the Academy. It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.
When Newland Archer opened the door at the back of the club box the curtain had just gone up on the garden scene. There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier, for he had dined at seven, alone with his mother and sister, and had lingered afterward over a cigar in the Gothic library with glazed black-walnut bookcases and finial-topped chairs which was the only room in the house where Mrs. Archer allowed smoking. But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not "the thing" played a part as important in Newland Archer's New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.
The second reason for his delay was a personal one. He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation. This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that--well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me--he loves me not--HE LOVES ME!--" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.
She sang, of course, "M'ama!" and not "he loves me," since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English- speaking audiences. This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver- backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole.
"M'ama . . . non m'ama . . . " the prima donna sang, and "M'ama!", with a final burst of love triumphant, as she pressed the dishevelled daisy to her lips and lifted her large eyes to the sophisticated countenance of the little brown Faust-Capoul, who was vainly trying, in a tight purple velvet doublet and plumed cap, to look as pure and true as his artless victim.
Newland Archer, leaning against the wall at the back of the club box, turned his eyes from the stage and scanned the opposite side of the house. Directly facing him was the box of old Mrs. Manson Mingott, whose monstrous obesity had long since made it impossible for her to attend the Opera, but who was always represented on fashionable nights by some of the younger members of the family. On this occasion, the front of the box was filled by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, and her daughter, Mrs. Welland; and slightly withdrawn behind these brocaded matrons sat a young girl in white with eyes ecstatically fixed on the stagelovers. As Madame Nilsson's "M'ama!" thrilled out above the silent house (the boxes always stopped talking during the Daisy Song) a warm pink mounted to the girl's cheek, mantled her brow to the roots of her fair braids, and suffused the young slope of her breast to the line where it met a modest tulle tucker fastened with a single gardenia. She dropped her eyes to the immense bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley on her knee, and Newland Archer saw her white-gloved finger-tips touch the flowers softly. He drew a breath of satisfied vanity and his eyes returned to the stage.
No expense had been spared on the setting, which was acknowledged to be very beautiful even by people who shared his acquaintance with the Opera houses of Paris and Vienna. The foreground, to the footlights, was covered with emerald green cloth. In the middle distance symmetrical mounds of woolly green moss bounded by croquet hoops formed the base of shrubs shaped like orange-trees but studded with large pink and red roses. Gigantic pansies, considerably larger than the roses, and closely resembling the floral pen- wipers made by female parishioners for fashionable clergymen, sprang from the moss beneath the rose- trees; and here and there a daisy grafted on a rose- branch flowered with a luxuriance prophetic of Mr. Luther Burbank's far-off prodigies.
In the centre of this enchanted garden Madame Nilsson, in white cashmere slashed with pale blue satin, a reticule dangling from a blue girdle, and large yellow braids carefully disposed on each side of her muslin chemisette, listened with downcast eyes to M. Capoul's impassioned wooing, and affected a guileless incomprehension of his designs whenever, by word or glance, he persuasively indicated the ground floor window of the neat brick villa projecting obliquely from the right wing.
"The darling!" thought Newland Archer, his glance flitting back to the young girl with the lilies-of-the- valley. "She doesn't even guess what it's all about." And he contemplated her absorbed young face with a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was mingled with a tender reverence for her abysmal purity. "We'll read Faust together . . . by the Italian lakes . . ." he thought, somewhat hazily confusing the scene of his projected honey-moon with the masterpieces of literature which it would be his manly privilege to reveal to his bride. It was only that afternoon that May Welland had let him guess that she "cared" (New York's consecrated phrase of maiden avowal), and already his imagination, leaping ahead of the engagement ring, the betrothal kiss and the march from Lohengrin, pictured her at his side in some scene of old European witchery.
He did not in the least wish the future Mrs. Newland Archer to be a simpleton. He meant her (thanks to his enlightening companionship) to develop a social tact and readiness of wit enabling her to hold her own with the most popular married women of the "younger set," in which it was the recognised custom to attract masculine homage while playfully discouraging it. If he had probed to the bottom of his vanity (as he sometimes nearly did) he would have found there the wish that his wife should be as worldly-wise and as eager to please as the married lady whose charms had held his fancy through two mildly agitated years; without, of course, any hint of the frailty which had so nearly marred that unhappy being's life, and had disarranged his own plans for a whole winter.
How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out; but he was content to hold his view without analysing it, since he knew it was that of all the carefully-brushed, white-waistcoated, button- hole-flowered gentlemen who succeeded each other in the club box, exchanged friendly greetings with him, and turned their opera-glasses critically on the circle of ladies who were the product of the system. In matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number. Singly they betrayed their inferiority; but grouped together they represented "New York," and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine on all the issues called moral. He instinctively felt that in this respect it would be troublesome--and also rather bad form--to strike out for himself.
"Well--upon my soul!" exclaimed Lawrence Lefferts, turning his opera-glass abruptly away from the stage. Lawrence Lefferts was, on the whole, the foremost authority on "form" in New York. He had probably devoted more time than any one else to the study of this intricate and fascinating question; but study alone could not account for his complete and easy competence. One had only to look at him, from the slant of his bald forehead and the curve of his beautiful fair moustache to the long patent-leather feet at the other end of his lean and elegant person, to feel that the knowledge of "form" must be congenital in any one who knew how to wear such good clothes so carelessly and carry such height with so much lounging grace. As a young admirer had once said of him: "If anybody can tell a fellow just when to wear a black tie with evening clothes and when not to, it's Larry Lefferts." And on the question of pumps versus patent-leather "Oxfords" his authority had never been disputed.
"My God!" he said; and silently handed his glass to old Sillerton Jackson.
Newland Archer, following Lefferts's glance, saw with surprise that his exclamation had been occasioned by the entry of a new figure into old Mrs. Mingott's box. It was that of a slim young woman, a little less tall than May Welland, with brown hair growing in close curls about her temples and held in place by a narrow band of diamonds. The suggestion of this headdress, which gave her what was then called a "Josephine look," was carried out in the cut of the dark blue velvet gown rather theatrically caught up under her bosom by a girdle with a large old-fashioned clasp. The wearer of this unusual dress, who seemed quite unconscious of the attention it was attracting, stood a moment in the centre of the box, discussing with Mrs. Welland the propriety of taking the latter's place in the front right- hand corner; then she yielded with a slight smile, and seated herself in line with Mrs. Welland's sister-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, who was installed in the opposite corner.
Mr. Sillerton Jackson had returned the opera-glass to Lawrence Lefferts. The whole of the club turned instinctively, waiting to hear what the old man had to say; for old Mr. Jackson was as great an authority on "family" as Lawrence Lefferts was on "form." He knew all the ramifications of New York's cousinships; and could not only elucidate such complicated questions as that of the connection between the Mingotts (through the Thorleys) with the Dallases of South Carolina, and that of the relationship of the elder branch of Philadelphia Thorleys to the Albany Chiverses (on no account to be confused with the Manson Chiverses of University Place), but could also enumerate the leading characteristics of each family: as, for instance, the fabulous stinginess of the younger lines of Leffertses (the Long Island ones); or the fatal tendency of the Rushworths to make foolish matches; or the insanity recurring in every second generation of the Albany Chiverses, with whom their New York cousins had always refused to intermarry--with the disastrous exception of poor Medora Manson, who, as everybody knew . . . but then her mother was a Rushworth.
In addition to this forest of family trees, Mr. Sillerton Jackson carried between his narrow hollow temples, and under his soft thatch of silver hair, a register of most of the scandals and mysteries that had smouldered under the unruffled surface of New York society within the last fifty years. So far indeed did his information extend, and so acutely retentive was his memory, that he was supposed to be the only man who could have told you who Julius Beaufort, the banker, really was, and what had become of handsome Bob Spicer, old Mrs. Manson Mingott's father, who had disappeared so mysteriously (with a large sum of trust money) less than a year after his marriage, on the very day that a beautiful Spanish dancer who had been delighting thronged audiences in the old Opera-house on the Battery had taken ship for Cuba. But these mysteries, and many others, were closely locked in Mr. Jackson's breast; for not only did his keen sense of honour forbid his repeating anything privately imparted, but he was fully aware that his reputation for discretion increased his opportunities of finding out what he wanted to know.
The club box, therefore, waited in visible suspense while Mr. Sillerton Jackson handed back Lawrence Lefferts's opera-glass. For a moment he silently scrutinised the attentive group out of his filmy blue eyes overhung by old veined lids; then he gave his moustache a thoughtful twist, and said simply: "I didn't think the Mingotts would have tried it on."
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