Book Discussion: Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton

efAt only 100 pages (Penguin edition), Ethan Frome may be the shortest masterpiece in American literature.

Edith Wharton’s tale of forbidden emotions is set on a New England farm in the first decade of the twentieth century. Ethan Frome works and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeenie. But when Zeenie’s vivacious cousin enters their household as a “hired girl,” Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and the dream of happiness she comes to represent. In one of American fiction’s most intense narratives, Wharton moves the ill-starred characters toward their tragic destinies.

On Friday, December 9, professor of literature and film Pete Fraser will moderate a discussion of Ethan Frome. The discussion will take place at 12:00 in the Library Conference Room. We will also view a clip from the 1993 film adaptation starring Liam Neeson, Patricia Arquette, and Joan Allen. The Library has multiple print and electronic copies of the book.

Distance students and faculty are invited to us via Google Hangouts.

For a complete schedule of 2016-2017 book discussions, see the Library Book Club webpage.