An edition of Ethan Frome (1910)

Ethan Frome

  • 4.00 ·
  • 25 Ratings
  • 132 Want to read
  • 5 Currently reading
  • 32 Have read

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 4.00 ·
  • 25 Ratings
  • 132 Want to read
  • 5 Currently reading
  • 32 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by Lisa
November 19, 2018 | History
An edition of Ethan Frome (1910)

Ethan Frome

  • 4.00 ·
  • 25 Ratings
  • 132 Want to read
  • 5 Currently reading
  • 32 Have read

Probably the most famous of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome contrasts sharply with the rest of her work. She usually wrote of the New York society to which she herself belonged and whose strengths and weaknesses she understood so well, but in Ethan Frome she moves to another world, what Percy Lubbock calls "American life of a tougher substance than that of Fifth Avenue, life as tightly wedged in its snow-piled mountain valleys as the other drifts aimlessly."

Ethan, the gaunt, patient New Englander, imprisoned by bitter futilities, makes one desperate attempt to escape from his bondage, if not in life, at least in death. His failure produces only a long anticlimax of pain and despair, with his implacable wife presiding over the deterioration of the bright passion which had once warmed Ethan and her cousin Mattie. His story, with its tragic implications of what might have been has had an irresistible fascination for readers over the last half century.
(front flap)

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
181

Buy this book

Previews available in: English French

Edition Availability
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2019, Standard Ebooks
in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2018-07-11, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Paperback in English
Cover of: Sous la Neige
Sous la Neige
2017-09-13, Audiocite
Digital Audio in French
Cover of: ETHAN FROME
ETHAN FROME
2016, WISEHOUSE CLASSICS
in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2015, Collins Classics
Paperback in English - William Collins Paperback Edition (1)
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2013, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
in English
Cover of: Sous la neige
Sous la neige
2011-11-12, Project Gutenberg
ebook in French
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2011-10-15, LibriVox
Digital Audio in English - version 2
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2011, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2010, IAP
Paperback in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2010 February 04, Project Gutenberg
Epub in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
2008 February 19, LibriVox
Digital Audio in English
Cover of: Ethan Frome, Large-Print Edition
Ethan Frome, Large-Print Edition
Jul 30, 2008, Waking Lion Press
hardcover
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
1997, Turtleback (Scribner Paperback Fiction)
Library Binding in English - 1st Scribner Paperback Fiction edition (3)
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
1984-02-06, Gallimard
Mass Market Paperback in French
Cover of: Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
1939, Charles Scribner's Sons
Hardcover in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


Published in

New York, USA

Edition Notes

L-5.68[Col]

Copyright Date
1939

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
813.5
Library of Congress
PS3545.H16 E7 1939

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
x, 181 p.
Number of pages
181

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24376168M
Internet Archive
ethanfrome00whar
OCLC/WorldCat
69655089
Goodreads
42868118

Work Description

Edith Wharton wrote Ethan Frome as a frame story — meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a "frame" around the main story

How It All Goes Down
It's winter. A nameless engineer is in Starkfield, Massachusetts on business and he first sees Ethan Frome at the post office. Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled. The man becomes fascinated with Ethan and wants to know his story. When Ethan begins giving him occasional rides to the train station, the two men strike up a friendship. One night when the weather is particularly bad, Ethan invites the man to stay at his house. In the hall the man hears a woman talking angrily, on and on. When Ethan speaks, the voice stops. The man tells us that he learned something that night which allowed him to imagine Ethan's story. Now we go back in time 24 years and learn about Ethan's life.

Ethan has walked from his farm and sawmill into town to pick up Mattie Silver from the church dance. He peeks in the windows of the church basement and sees Mattie dancing with Denis Eady and is jealous. Mattie is Ethan's wife's cousin. Her parents both died just over a year ago, and she was left with nothing. Her father had apparently swindled some of the relatives out of their savings, so nobody wanted to help Mattie. Zeena, Ethan's wife, is always sick, and decided to let Mattie live with them in exchange for doing the housework and helping the ailing Zeena.

Ethan liked Mattie from the beginning and worried that Zeena was too hard on her. The two women soon adjusted to each other (sort of) and things weren't as bad as they could have been. Meanwhile, Ethan has fallen in love with Mattie and wants to spend all his time with her.

Mattie soon comes out of the dance, and Ethan watches while Denis Eady tries to give her a ride home. She brushes him off and then Ethan reveals his presence. Ethan and Mattie are happy to see each other. They discuss possibly doing some sledding in the future. Neither is afraid to sled down the hill – at the bottom of which lies the deadly elm tree. The walk home is altogether lovely and romantic, but when they arrive, the house key isn't under the mat like it usually is.

Soon, Zeena, looking ill and scary, comes downstairs and lets them in. She's usually in bed by this hour but she couldn't sleep. She is obviously suspicious of their behavior. The next day she announces that she will be gone overnight visiting a new doctor. Mattie and Ethan make good use of her absence and enjoy a romantic dinner for two. Unfortunately, the cat breaks Zeena's favorite dish and Ethan isn't able to locate any glue until after Zeena gets back. The first thing Zeena does when she gets home is to tell Ethan that she's kicking out Mattie. He protests, but fighting is useless. Then Zeena finds the broken pickle dish and is super upset (it had been a wedding gift).

Ethan decides he'll run away with Mattie, but then a combination of lack of cash and guilt stop him. Still, he insists on driving Mattie to the train station. He takes her on the long route, so they can look at different places they enjoyed together. By the time they get to the town sledding hill, it's already dark. As they are contemplating sledding, and pondering the hopelessness of their situation, Mattie suggests that they sled into the elm tree and kill themselves. Ethan agrees and they smash into the tree. But they survive.

Then the story goes back to the present and we find the engineer right where we left him, about to enter the Frome kitchen. When he does enter he learns that the woman who was talking on and on in an argumentative tone is…Mattie! She has spinal disease and can't move without assistance. Zeena is there too, cooking. They all three live together, an unhappy family in the Frome house.



Also contained in:

Links outside Open Library

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
November 19, 2018 Edited by Lisa Edited without comment.
November 19, 2018 Edited by Lisa Edited without comment.
November 19, 2018 Edited by Lisa Added new cover
November 19, 2018 Edited by Lisa Update covers
October 12, 2010 Created by ImportBot Imported from Internet Archive item record.