The American novelist Edith Wharton suffered an unusual childhood neurotic symptom, a fear of crossing thresholds, a condition that might be called a "threshold phobia." This symptom is identified and examined in autobiographical material, letters, diaries, and selected literary fiction and nonfiction left by Wharton to arrive at a formulation not previously drawn together. A fascinating theme-living or being trapped between "two worlds"-runs through much of the writer's life and work. The phobia is related to this theme, and both can be linked more broadly to certain sexual conflicts in women. This understanding of Wharton's phobia, it is argued, throws new light on the developmental issues and conflicts related to the female "oedipal" or triadic phase, characterized by the need to negotiate the two worlds of mother and of father.
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Critics have widely regarded Edith Wharton's Twilight Sleep (1927) as an ironic novel about pain: a satire of modern life's supposed promise that pain can be avoided. This essay argues that Wharton's novel is as much about managing pain as it is about avoiding it. I consider the novel in light of experiences of chronic pain and illness, both Wharton's and my own.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe American novelist Edith Wharton suffered an unusual childhood neurotic symptom, a fear of crossing thresholds, a condition that might be called a "threshold phobia." This symptom is identified and examined in autobiographical material, letters, diaries, and selected literary fiction and nonfiction left by Wharton to arrive at a formulation not previously drawn together. A fascinating theme-living or being trapped between "two worlds"-runs through much of the writer's life and work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the early twentieth century, American laws focused on women's reproductive capacities and were coalescing into the ethical and moral frameworks that subtend American reproductive politics today. Edith Wharton published her 1917 novel, Summer, at a time when anti-abortion sentiment was widespread in American culture. Through a reading of Summer, the article provides a theoretical and historical framework for understanding this new American obsession with the judicial regulation of women's reproductive options.
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J Med Humanit
September 2010
Center for Bioethics and Humanities, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
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