“He was not sure that he wanted to see the Countess Olenska again; but ever since he had looked at her from the path above the bay he had wanted, irrationally and indescribably, to see the place she was living in, and to follow the movements of her imagined figure…The longing was with him day and night, an incessant undefinable craving, like the sudden whim of a sick man for food and drink once tasted and long since forgotten. He could not see beyond the craving, or picture what it might lead to…He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on…the rest of the world might seem less empty” [Edith Wharton, 1920: 191].
Thoughts on Papyrus 
I’ve been meaning to read this book for years, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve heard it compared to The Great Gatsby (a book I did not like), so I’m a little cautious about reading it.
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I highly recommend it, and it is really nothing like The Great Gatsby 🙂 If you like traditional classics that is, and not modern spins on them like The Great Gatsby is. The Age of Innocence is a beautifully-written book with a heart-breaking love story, but it is also insightful re New York’s high society and its rules in the 1870s. In plot, it reminds only very slightly of Anna Karenina, and in style it is among the best of classics, such as The Portrait of a Lady.
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Oh, I did enjoy Anna Karenina and I’m so glad it’s not like The Great Gatsby. I’ll definitely give this book a read then. Thank you for clearing that up!
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I read this last year and it made me want to read more of Wharton’s books. I would like to revisit The House of Mirth but should probably get to the other ones I have on my shelf. I also read Ethan Frome too. Is this your favorite by Wharton?
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The Age of Innocence is my favourite. I read The House of Mirth a long time ago, and also have to re-read it, to appreciate it probably on the same level as The Age of Innocence.
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