Book review and recommendation (The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton) / Preporuka knjige i ogled (Doba nevinosti)

Today we’re talking to talk about another American classic. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a beautifully written novel. If anyone ever happens to ask you: "Who was the first women to win the Pulitzer prize?", well now you know the answer. Not only that, you can also elaborate on your response. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921. I must add that it really deserved that Pulitzer, for it is, in many ways, a unique work. It is set in a particular historical time and place (1870-ties, New York, the so called Glided Age) and it delivers a brilliant portrait of New York society of that time. The title of the book is said to be inspired by a rather well known painting titled Age of Innocence, but it might also be a reference to the author’s upbringing and childhood. Wharton was in her fifties when she had written this novel and that is, quite often, the time when we recollect our childhood. After all, childhood is an age of innocence. The author is both critically and nostalgically inclined when she describes this period she had grown up in. This creates a rather potent mix of emotions that contributes to the novel’s complexity. Personally, this title always makes me think of William Blake and his Songs Of Age and Experience. Like Blake, Wharton is bringing her own experiences in this novel (following that write about what you know rule) and describing the things she has observed, for Wharton has grown up in this somewhat rigid (pre-first world war) New York society she described so eloquently in this novel. 

Danas ćemo pričati o još jednom američkom klasiku. Doba Nevinosti je roman koji je s puno stila napisala Edith Wharton. Ako vas itko ikada pita tko je bila prva žena koja je osvojila Pulitzera sada znate i ne samo to, već možete i objasniti svoj odgovor.  Ovaj roman je  Pulitzeru nagradu 1021. godine., a rekla bi da ju je više nego i zasluži jer je na puna načina stvarno jedinstveno djelo. Smješten je u određeno povijesno vrijeme i mjesto (1870-te godine, New York, takozvano Gilden Age), a doista daje jedan sjajan prikaz društva New Yorka toga vremena. Sam naslov knjige je navodno nadahnut dosta poznatom slikom istoga naziva, ali možda se i odnosi i na samo djetinjstvo i odrastanje autorice. Sama spisateljica je bila u pedesetima kada ga je napisala, a to je baš doba kada se počnemo prisjećati djetinjstva. Djetinjstvo je ipak vrijeme nevinosti, a  spisateljica opisuje ovo povijesno razdoblje, u kojem je sama odrastala, i s nostalgijom i s dozom kritike, što stvara snažnu mješavinu emociju koja čini ovaj roman još složenijim. Osobno mene sam naslov uvijek posjeća na Williama Blake-a i njegove Pjesme nevinosti i iskustva. Kao i Blake, Wharton u ovaj roman unosi i svoja iskustva, (sljedeći ono poznato pravilo o tome da trebamo pisati o onome čemu znamo) te opisuje doba koje je i sama promatrala, jer je Wharton odrasla u tom ponešto strogom društvu New Yorka koje tako elokventno opisuje u romanu.

“She said she knew we were safe with you, and always would be, because once, when she asked you to, you'd given up the thing you most wanted."

Archer received this strange communication in silence. His eyes remained unseeingly fixed on the thronged sunlit square below the window. At length he said in a low voice: "She never asked me.”   Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

“I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you're so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting it to come true.”

 The beginning of the novel is pretty straightforward. We get introduced to the main characters fairly quickly. A young and successful lawyer Archer is to marry a beautiful young girl named May Wellend. They belong to the same up class society and everyone is very happy and anxious to see them married. However, the arrival of May’s notorious (notorious on account of being divorced, which was quite scandalous at the time) cousin will change everything. A few pages into this novel, I realized that the plot sounds familiar. I realized that I had seen the film adaptation. Well, coming to conclusion that there are worse things than seeing Michelle Pfeiffer's face in your mind as you turn the pages (Pfeiffer does have Ellen's delicate beauty), I kept reading. I'm certainly glad that I did because I immensely enjoyed reading it. Inspite of knowing how it is going to end, I couldn’t help being sincerely moved by it.  Strangely, it did not bother me at all that I knew how it's going to end. The novel was no less interesting because I had seen the film (which follows the plot quite accurately) and that says something about the novel. Perhaps it is not so strange that I found it moving despite learning the story before reading it. For one, this novel is so well written and with  great attention to detail. In addition, the potrayal of characters is superb. It is not only about the story. It is one of those rare novels that manage to convey the very essence of being human. Both the tragedy and the beauty of it. In its immense analytical scope, it even reminded me of the great Russian novelist, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev. Indeed, in its complexity this novel comes quite close to above listed great writers.

Početak ovoga romana je dosta izravan, a ubrzo se upoznajemo s glavnim likovima. Mladi i uspješni odvjetnik Archer se treba oženiti mladom i lijepom djevojkom koja se zove May Wellend. Oboje pripadaju visokom društvu, te svi sa srećom i nestrpljenjem očekuju taj brak. No, dolazak ozloglašene (ozloglašene zbog razvoda, što je bio skandal u ono vrijeme) rođakinje May će sve promijeniti. Nakon što sam pročitala nekoliko stranica, shvatila sam da sam vidjela filmsku adaptaciju. Pa, shvaćajući da ima i gorih stvari od slike Michelle Pfeiffer u glavi (ona doista ima tu delikatnu ljepotu kakvu sam zamišljala kod grofice) dok čitaš, nastavila sam čitati. Svakako mi je drago što jesam jer sam veoma uživala u čitanju. Iako sam znala kako će ovaj roman završiti, ipak me iskreno dirnuo.  Čudno, nije mi uopće smetalo što sam znala kako će završiti. Roman nije bio nimalo manje zanimljiv jer sam vidjela film (koji poprilično vjerno prati zaplet) i to kaže nešto o romanu. Možda zapravo i nije čudno, što mi se toliko svidio iako sam preko filma već bila upoznata sa samom pričom jer roman je stvarno sjajno napisan i jako se puno pažnje posvetilo detaljima. Osim toga, prikaz likova je fantastičan. Ne radi se ovdje samo o priči. To je jedan od onih rijetkih romana koji uspijevaju uhvatiti samu bit bivanja čovjekom. Ljepotu i tragediju toga. U svom širokom obujmu analize, čak me podsjetio na velike ruske noveliste, kao što su Dostrojevski, Tolstoj i Turgenjev. Doista, u svojoj složenosti se približio ovim velikim spisateljima koje sam navela.

“I want - I want somehow to get away with you into a world where words like that -categories like that- won't exist. Where we shall be simply two human beings who love each other, who are the whole of life to each other; and nothing else on earth will matter.”  Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

“He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty.”

Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

“The very good people did not convince me; I felt they'd never been tempted. But you knew; you understood; you felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands - and you hated the things it asked of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference. That was what I'd never known before - and it's better than anything I've known.”
 Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence is not just  a love story (or a love triangle). It is about the subtle pressures that society puts on individual. It is about innocence and about hope. Which of these two women represents these concepts? Perhaps both of them do, both for Archer and for themselves, just in different ways. Although the novel is often written in a light (sometimes even humorous) tone, it is actually surprisingly deep and  subtly analytical. At times, it is even melancholically sad. The never-ending question about the conflict between freedom and duty is explored in an excellent way. The fact that the novel is, quite often,  elegantly funny makes it easy to read, but it is the philosophical undertones that are truly impressing. While reading, I was never bored, not for a second. I liked the detailed description of New York society of the time. The author shows enough of the historical period to be interesting but she does not overdue it. The way Wharton creates characters is impressive, she does it so effortlessly. The characters are the stars of the book- they really make sense and feel real. 

Doba nevinosti nije samo ljubavna priča (ili ljubavni trokut). Tu se radi o suptilnim pritiscima koje društvo stavlja na pojedinca. To je roman o nevinosti i o nadi. Koja od ove dvije žene predstavlja ta dva koncepta? Možda obje, svaka na svoj način, za Archera i za sebe. Iako je ovaj roman pisan u laganom (ponekad i humorističnom) tonu, zapravo je iznenađujuće dubok i  pun suptilnih analiza. Ponekad je čak i melankolično tužan. Činjenica da je ovaj roman često elegantno smiješan čini ga lakim za čitanje, ali filozofski podtonovi su ono što zaista impresionira. Dok sam ga čitala, nije mi bilo dosadno ni tren. Svidio mi se detaljan opis društva New Yorka toga vremena. Spisateljica pokazuje dovoljno toga povijesna perioda da bude zanimljivo, ali ne pretjeruje. Način na koji Wharton kreira likove je impresivno, ona to čini s takvom lakoćom. Likovi su zvijezde ove knjige, imaju smisla i čine se tako stvarima. 

“The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they're going to get whatever they want, and that we almost always took it for granted that we shouldn't. Only, I wonder—the thing one's so certain of in advance: can it ever make one's heart beat as wildly?”
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

“He had married (as most young men did) because he had met a perfectly charming girl at the moment when a series of rather aimless sentimental adventures were ending in premature disgust; and she had represented peace, stability, comradeship, and the steadying sense of an unescapable duty.”
 Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

boots/čizme: Šimecki
everything else/ sve ostalo: staro/old