“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of the fools is in the house of mirth.”
---------- Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes 7:4
Ta-da, my reading of the month was The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and as a rebound (don’t ask me why, please) I already embarked on Angela Carter’s The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman for my November read. Wharton scaffolds the intricate New York high society and depicts the interiority of her characters with a melancholy sensibility. The protagonist, Lily Bart, is far from likable. Witnessing her demise, the reader is cornered and suffocated by disillusions in the end. Edith Wharton too was the product of her society that privileges did not bestow happiness.
初讀Edith Wharton於花樣年華純真年代, 加上Scorsese的經典電影, 她的不回首與他的過門不入, 讓人惆悵. Wharton寫內心戲真正高手, 十月選讀The House of Mirth 也曾搬上銀幕, 由Gillian Anderson主演, 可惜當年錯過現下也找不著. 浮華人生, 沒落貴族, 花瓶般的女主角Lily Bart有太多的心機, 極度缺乏勇氣, 隨波逐流凋零絕境, 寫實的凄涼.
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