Ah, Edith Wharton. Decided to knock off the last two of hers that I have left on the list: Bunner Sisters and Summer. Both are super short, so you could probably read them in about an hour and then come back and finish this.
In some ways, both are a bit unusual for Wharton, though in different ways. If you, like just about everyone in the entire universe, think Age of Innocence or even House of Mirth, you'll feel a bit disoriented. If you think of Ethan Frome, you'll be closer.
That said, both novellas (let's get real here) are interested in the same main topic as Age of Innocence: the ways women's lives and identities were controlled and constrained, and how the narrowness of roles for women was a destructive force.
In Bunner Sisters this is explored in relation to the roles available to unmarried women over 30. In Summer, we get a sort of Tess of the d'Urbervilles experience. It's as fun as it sounds. Essentially, women are punished for desire of any sort.
Rather than going on a Franzen rant, I'll just end this by saying that, though Wharton's exploration is interested in gender and its relationship to the regulation of desire, you could reflect on her themes through many lenses.
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