The Reef / Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton the first female writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Age of Innocence is a novelist of whom I have heard but not read.
The Reef was written by her in 1912. The story is of George Darrow , a 37 year old diplomat , travelling to see his fiancée the widow Anna Leath in France. She responds to his letter by seemingly seeking to delay his arrival in rather cold terms. On his journey to her home in the French countryside called Grève he meets a young woman Sophy Viner who has aspirations to become an actress. He takes her to the theatre in Paris and is clearly attracted to her. He spends a couple of days in Paris with her . He travels on to see Anna and who should turn up as the tutor of her stepdaughter Effie but Sophy? To make matters more complicated her other stepson Owen falls in love with her and proposes marriage. Darrow is against the marriage. Crucial to the story is what actually happened In Paris beteeen Darrow and Sophy. It’s clear that Darrow is an unreliable narrator. The skill of the novelist is that the whole saga is viewed by not just Darrow but Anna Leath who is consumed by jealousy and demands an explanation from Darrow . The explanation has consequences for Darrow/ Leath and Sophy/Owen . One theory is that Anna , sexually repressed and Sophy , free spirit and an adventuress, represents the two sides of Edith Wharton who was unhappily married to Teddy but involved in a passionate affaire with a journalist.
Often enjoyment of a book is dependent on one‘s mood. When I started ‘ The Reef’ I had a heavy cold and the weather was poor. Once I moved to a sunnier ambience , I found the novel less ‘ dated ‘ or to be exact I was less bothered that early 20th century values were different and appreciated more the writing. Edith Wharton is better at description particularly of buildings than dialogue. So the various confrontations between Anna and Darrow , Darrow and Owen , Anna and Sophy lack a certain impact.
Edith Wharton did not like her novel but I did. It bears a certain resemblance to Henry James but she has a lighter touch oand certain characters like the meddlesome Adelaide Painter and her friend the owner of Grève Clotilde, the stepmother of Anna inject a certain humour too.
