A Son at the Front

Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 556K words
Chapters: 56

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Son at the Front by Edith WhartonAuthor: Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 5, 2019

Editor's review

Edith Wharton's novel is set against World War I and centers on an American painter living in France and his only son's participation in the war, exploring family affection, duty, and the way war tears apart personal life. Wharton excels at using finely drawn psychological description to present the ethical dilemmas of upper-class society; this book continues her acute observation of characters' inner conflicts while extending her scope from New York society to wartime Paris and the rear areas behind the front. Its value lies in the fact that it is not merely a war novel but uses war to examine family relationships and identity, with restrained yet tense language. Suitable for readers interested in twentieth-century American literature, war literature, and Wharton's body of work. Because it was written in a wartime context, some narrative pacing differs from what today's readers are used to; slow down to appreciate the subtext in the characters' dialogue.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who enjoy Edith Wharton's works
Readers interested in World War I-era society and family themes
Students and teachers studying twentieth-century American fiction
Serious fiction readers who prefer psychological description and ethical conflict

Not a good fit for

War-novel readers expecting intense battlefield scenes and action writing
Popular-fiction readers who prefer fast pacing and strong suspense
Readers impatient with slow-burning psychological narrative

Reading tips

First learn about U.S. entry into World War I and the background of families living in Europe, then begin the text.
Pay attention to father-son dialogues and letter passages; they are key to understanding the characters' motives.
Compare with Wharton's other works to observe how her subject matter expands from society to war.
After finishing, reread the opening chapters to appreciate the purpose of the groundwork laid for the characters' relationships.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this one of Wharton's major works?

The available information only confirms that it is one of Wharton's novels, set against World War I. Whether it is a major work requires reference to literary-historical assessments; this material provides no ranking or award information, so readers may judge for themselves alongside Wharton scholarship.

Do I need to read other Wharton works first?

No. The plot is independent and can be read directly. If you want to understand Wharton's development, after finishing you can compare it with her earlier works about New York society and observe changes in subject matter and perspective.

Any advice for reading the electronic edition?

This book is dense with psychological description; use a reader with adjustable font size and make good use of bookmarks to mark turning points in character relationships. As a public-domain electronic text, the layout may be plain; focus on the content.

Comments

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About the author

Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937 Author

Edith Wharton (Wharton, Edith, 1862–1937) was an American novelist, with 44 works held in this collection. She depicts with fine brushwork the manners and moral dilemmas of New York high society from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Her representative novels The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth both focus on women's struggles among marriage, class, and selfhood; Ethan Frome, set in rural New England, presents tragic fates in a repressive environment. Her style is calm and restrained, revealing through everyday details the conflict between individual psychology and social convention, and her works combine irony with sympathy. Beyond novels, she also wrote nonfiction such as The Decoration of Houses and ghost-story collections such as Tales of Men and Ghosts, showing diverse subjects. Public information is limited, and biographical details fall outside this introduction; yet judging from the works held here alone, her sustained attention to social class and gender roles makes her a voice not to be overlooked in American literature.