Ethan Frome

Por Edith Wharton

Un joven ingeniero retenido por su trabajo en una pequeña localidad de Massachussets observa a un hombre lisiado y envejecido que recoge en la oficina de correos una revista y un sobre con medicamentos. Es invierno y el ambiente del pueblo es claustrofóbico. El aspecto educado del hombre, la edad que no corresponde a su físico, los misteriosos silencios y prevenciones que despierta su presencia en los demás, su vida casi aislada en una destartalada granja con dos mujeres, llevan a preguntarse al ingeniero por qué sigue viviendo en un sitio de donde, como dicen los lugareños, «casi todos los listos se marchan». Pero el hombre tiene un motivo para no haberse marchado, o para haberlo intentado y nunca conseguido: una historia en la que se mezclan la fatalidad del des-tino y todas las sutilezas del amor prohibido. Ethan Frome (1911) es una nouvelle cuyo escenario −los pueblos y bosques de Nueva Inglaterra− es toda una tradición de la más distinguida literatura norteamericana (de Hawthorne a Lovecraft) pero una excepción en una novelista esencialmente moderna y urbana como Edith Wharton. Sin embargo, desde su publicación, no dejaría de ser una de sus obras más características, uno de los ejemplos más celebrados de su sensibilidad y de su estilo. Un auténtico clásico norteamericano y una auténtica lección de arte narrativo.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Alba Editorial
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 11 nov 2016
• ISBN: 9788484289418

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) published more than forty books during her lifetime, including the classic Gilded Age society novels Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth, and The Age of Innocence, for which she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Vista previa del libro

NOTA AL TEXTO

Ethan Frome fue publicada por primera vez en 1911 (Charles Scribner’s Sons, Nueva York), y sobre este texto se basa la presente traducción, que incluye el prólogo de la autora a la edición de 1922.

PRÓLOGO DE LA AUTORA A LA EDICIÓN DE 1922

Yo había conocido un poco la vida rural de Nueva Inglaterra mucho antes de establecerme en el condado de mi imaginario Starkfield; sin embargo, me familiaricé mucho más con ciertos aspectos en los años que viví allí.

Pero antes de aquella iniciación definitiva, ya tenía la incómoda sensación de que la Nueva Inglaterra literaria guardaba escaso parecido con la abrupta y hermosa región que conocía, exceptuando una vaga semejanza botánica y dialectal. Me parecía que incluso la abundante enumeración de helecho dulce, ásteres y kalmia, y la meticulosa reproducción de lo vernáculo pasaban por alto en ambos casos los crestones graníticos. Es una opinión estrictamente personal; explica Ethan Frome, y tal vez aclare la historia a algunos lectores en cierta medida.

Eso es todo en cuanto al origen de la historia. No hay nada interesante que añadir, excepto lo que se refiere a su estructura.

El problema que se me planteaba, tal como lo vi en el primer momento, era el siguiente: debía ocuparme de un tema cuyo clímax dramático, o, si se prefiere, su anticlímax, ocurre una generación después de los primeros actos de la tragedia. Pero a cualquier lector convencido, como lo he estado yo siempre, de que todos los temas (en el sentido que tiene el término para un novelista) contienen implícitamente forma y dimensiones propias, le habría parecido que ese espacio de tiempo forzoso marcaba a Ethan Frome como el tema de la novela. Pero en ningún momento fue ésa mi intención, pues creía, al mismo tiempo, que el tema de mi historia no era de los que permiten introducir demasiadas variaciones. Había que tratarlo con concisión y sin ambages, tal como se había presentado siempre la vida a mis protagonistas; todo intento de elaborar o complicar sus sentimientos falsearía forzosamente el conjunto. Ellos, estos personajes, eran, en verdad, mis crestones graníticos; pero a medio emerger del suelo y poco más expresivos.

Cabía suponer que la incompatibilidad entre tema y esquema quizá indicase que mi «situación» debía desecharse. Todo novelista ha recibido alguna vez la visita de fantasmas que le insinúan buenas situaciones falsas, temas-sirena que atraen su barca hacia las rocas; se oyen más sus voces y se contempla su espejismo marino al cruzar el desierto sin agua que le espera a la mitad del camino de cualquier obra que tenga entre manos. Yo conocía muy bien los cantos de esas sirenas, y muchas veces me había atado a mi monótono trabajo hasta que se alejaban del alcance del oído, llevándose, quizá, entre sus velos multicolores, una obra de arte perdida para siempre. Pero no me dieron miedo en el caso de Ethan Frome. Era el primer tema que abordaba con plena seguridad en su valor, para lo que me proponía, y con relativa fe en mi capacidad de transmitir al menos parte de cuanto veía en él.

Todo novelista que se concentra en su arte ha tropezado con temas como éstos y se ha sentido fascinado por la dificultad de presentarlos con el máximo relieve y, al mismo tiempo, sin ornamentos añadidos ni trucos de ropaje o iluminación. Ése era mi cometido si quería contar la historia de Ethan Frome; y todavía creo justificado mi esquema, que recibió la inmediata y rotunda censura de los pocos amigos a quienes se lo esbocé para tantear su opinión. En realidad, me parece que, si bien es imposible evitar cierto tono superficial en una historia en la que intervienen personas refinadas y de carácter complejo, a las que el simple espectador imagina e interpreta gracias a la intervención del novelista, no tiene por qué existir ese inconveniente si el espectador es también refinado y la gente a la que interpreta personas sencillas. Si es capaz de ver cuanto sucede en su entorno, no iremos en absoluto contra la verosimilitud permitiéndole ejercer esa facultad; es bastante natural que actúe como intermediario comprensivo entre sus personajes rudimentarios y los espíritus más complejos a quienes trata de presentárselos. Pero todo esto es bastante evidente, y sólo necesitan explicación quienes nunca han considerado la narrativa un arte de composición.

Creo que el verdadero mérito de mi obra reside en un detalle menor. Tenía que encontrar el medio de que mi tragedia llegase a oídos de su narrador de manera natural y descriptiva a la vez. Podía haberlo sentado frente a alguna comadre del pueblo que le hubiera servido en bandeja la historia completa en pocos segundos, pero entonces habría falseado dos elementos esenciales de mi narración: en primer lugar, la arraigada reticencia y la incapacidad de expresarse propias de la gente que me proponía describir; y, en segundo lugar, el efecto de «redondez» (en el sentido plástico) que se produce al dejar que su historia nos llegue por mediación de personas tan distintas como Harmon Gow y la señora de Ned Hale. Cada uno de mis cronistas contribuye a la narración sólo en la medida en que ambos son capaces de comprender lo que les parece un caso complejo y misterioso; y sólo el narrador de la historia posee capacidad suficiente para verlo todo, explicarlo de forma sencilla y situarlo en el lugar que le corresponde entre sus categorías más amplias.

No pretendo que se me reconozca originalidad alguna por haber seguido un método del cual La Grande Bretêche y The Ring and the Book* me habían dado el ejemplo perfecto. Mi único mérito tal vez consista en haber intuido que el procedimiento empleado en esas obras podía aplicarse a mi modesta historia.

He escrito este breve análisis (el primero publicado hasta ahora sobre uno de mis libros) porque creo que lo único que puede interesar algo al lector como introducción de un autor a su obra es por qué decidió escribir la obra en cuestión y los motivos que le llevaron a elegir determinada forma y no otra. El artista ha de sentir casi instintivamente estos objetivos fundamentales, los únicos que pueden formularse de modo explícito, y obrar en consecuencia, antes de que se introduzca en su creación ese algo más imponderable que hace que la vida circule por ella y la proteja un tiempo de la decadencia.

Me contaron esta historia varias personas, poco a poco, y, como suele suceder en tales casos, cada vez era una historia distinta.

Si conoce usted Starkfield (Massachusetts), sabrá dónde queda la oficina de correos. Si conoce la oficina de correos, habrá visto a Ethan Frome llegar, soltar las riendas de su bayo de lomo hundido y cruzar cansinamente la acera de ladrillo hasta la columnata blanca: y seguro que se ha preguntado quién era.

Fue precisamente allí donde lo vi yo por primera vez hace varios años, y la verdad es que me impresionó mucho su aspecto. Todavía era el personaje más sorprendente de Starkfield, aunque ya sólo era una ruina de hombre. No destacaba por su elevada estatura, pues los «nativos» se diferenciaban claramente por ser larguiruchos de los de origen extranjero, más rechonchos, sino por el aire vigoroso e indiferente, pese a una cojera que le frenaba los pasos como el tirón de una cadena. Había algo lúgubre e inaccesible en su rostro y estaba tan rígido y canoso que lo tomé por un anciano y me sorprendí mucho al enterarme de que sólo tenía cincuenta y dos años. Me lo dijo Harmon Gow, que había conducido la diligencia de Bettsbridge a Starkfield en la época anterior al tranvía, y que conocía la crónica de todas las familias de su trayecto.

–Está así desde que tuvo el accidente; y de eso hará veinticuatro años en febrero –me dijo Harmon entre pausas evocadoras.

El «accidente» (según supe por el mismo informador), además de dejarle la cicatriz roja que le cruzaba la frente, le había contraído y deformado tanto el lado derecho que le costaba un claro esfuerzo dar los pocos pasos que mediaban entre su calesa y la ventanilla de correos. Solía acudir desde su granja todos los días hacia el mediodía, y, como ésa era la hora en que yo iba a buscar la correspondencia, a veces me lo cruzaba en el porche o esperaba a su lado, pendiente de los movimientos de la mano que repartía al otro lado de la rejilla. Me fijé en que, pese a su puntualidad, casi nunca recibía más que un número del Bettsbridge Eagle, que se guardaba sin mirarlo en el bolso hundido. Pero, de vez en cuando, el encargado de correos le entregaba un sobre para la señora Zenobia (o señora Zeena) Frome, que normalmente llevaba en la esquina superior izquierda, bien visible, la dirección de un fabricante de medicamentos y el nombre del producto. Ethan Frome se guardaba también estos documentos sin mirarlos, como si estuviera demasiado acostumbrado a ellos para interesarse por su número y variedad, y se marchaba, con un silencioso cabeceo de despedida al encargado de correos.

En Starkfield le conocían todos, y le saludaban con comedimiento adecuado a su semblante serio; pero respetaban su actitud taciturna y sólo en contadas ocasiones le salía al paso algún anciano del lugar para cruzar unas palabras con él. Cuando esto sucedía, escuchaba en silencio con los ojos azules clavados en la cara de su interlocutor, y contestaba en tono tan bajo que nunca pude oír lo que decía; luego subía con rigidez a su calesa, agarraba las riendas con la mano izquierda y partía lentamente hacia su granja.

–¿Fue un accidente muy grave? –le pregunté a Harmon, viendo alejarse a Frome, y pensando lo gallarda que debía resultar aquella cabeza enjuta y atezada, con su mata de pelo claro, sobre aquellos hombros vigorosos antes de que se deformasen.

–Gravísimo –afirmó mi informador–. Más que suficiente para matar a cualquier hombre. Pero los Frome son fuertes. Ethan llegará a los cien años.

–¡Santo cielo! –exclamé.

En aquel momento, Ethan Frome, tras subir a su asiento, se había inclinado para comprobar la estabilidad de una caja de madera (también con la etiqueta de un farmacéutico) que había colocado en la parte de atrás, y le vi el semblante como debía ser cuando se creía

Comentarios para Ethan Frome

[eadieb-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Ethan Frome is a story with a tragic ending. It expresses the power of love and how far one will go for love. Even though Ethan is married, his love for Mattie Silver causes the two to partake in an unthinkable act. Edith Wharton uses this theme, illicit love to present "a drama of irresistible necessity." The emotion of Mattie and Ethan was very evident and could be felt by the reader. It's hard to believe that anything so classic could be such a page turner. This novel is recommended for anyone who wants to read a short, simple love story.

[rozax_1 · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

I enjoyed invasive oral surgery more than I enjoyed reading this book. All three of them, actually. The first one made me rather sick, due to the general anesthesia. At least the dentist provided anesthetics during the procedure. There was nothing dulling the pain of reading this book. It should NOT be on the required reading list for any high school.

[sbsolter · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I think there was supposed to be some deeper metaphor in the story, but it didn't do much for me.

[juglicerr · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is a very well written and constructed, but rather nasty and ugly story. I would recommend it most to fans of Shirley Jackson. Others may find that their dislike for the plot overwhelms any admiration for the prose.

[shadowofthewind · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I often shy away from the classics because of their length. It’s quite daunting to read something with very old language at great length. Many of them are so long because they told in parts in periodicals, the more parts, the more funds for the author. My favorite quote about long books comes from Kurt Vonnegut in the introduction of his short story collection Bagombo Snuff Box: ““Reading a novel, War and Peace for example, is no Catnap. Because a novel is so long, reading one is like being married forever to somebody nobody knows or cares about.” As a result, I skipped over Ethan Frome often. I put the book on the list when I added some of the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die on my list. I picked it up and was surprised by how much I really loved it. Wharton is a master at quiet storytelling, how the characters and the landscape tell the same story. The character’s desperation is palpable, but oh so quiet like a snowy winter evening, all sounds muffled. Something ominous hangs in the air, it slowly builds, and at the last moment, the big reveal. It’s no wonder she was a master at ghost stories. A young woman in Starkfield on business, sees Ethan Frome, and with it the story of life in a small town and the desperation to get out of it. Ever burdened with his parents poor health and then his wife, he sees life in a young Mattie, his wife Zeena’s cousin. For a year he has an unhealthy fixation on her that represents the yearning for something new, to get out of the small town, to make a fresh start. As time wears on, Zeena begins to suspect something and the action of all three lead to a terrifying reality. This would be a great book for a discussion. It’s short with such strong symbolism of the town, the weather, the characters and their actions. It ends like a ghost story, something you definitely wouldn’t expect. Favorite passages:Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. 18He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing unfriendly in his silence. I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Gow had hinted, the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters. P. 22His father's death, and the misfortunes following it, had put a premature end to Ethan's studies; but though they had not gone far enough to be of much practical use they had fed his fancy and made him aware of huge cloudy meanings behind the daily face of things. P.30But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it. He did not even know whether any one else in the world felt as he did, or whether he was the sole victim of this mournful privilege. Then he learned that one other spirit had trembled with the same touch of wonder... P.33For years that quiet company had mocked his restlessness, his desire for change and freedom. "We never got away-how should you?" seemed to be written on every headstone; and whenever he went in or out of his gate he thought with a shiver: "I shall just go on living here till I join them." But now all desire for change had vanished, and the sight of the little enclosure gave him a warm sense of continuance and stability. P.44All the long misery of his baffled past, of his youth of failure, hardship and vain effort, rose up in his soul in bitterness and seemed to take shape before him in the woman who at every turn had barred his way. She had taken everything else from him; and now she meant to take the one thing that made up for all the others. P.85For the life of her smile, the warmth of her voice, only cold paper and dead words! P. 92Confused motions of rebellion stormed in him. He was too young, too strong, too full of the sap of living, to submit so easily to the destruction of his hopes. Must he wear out all his years at the side of a bitter querulous woman? Other possibilities had been in him, possibilities sacrificed, one by one, to Zeena's narrow-mindedness and ignorance. And what good had come of it? She was a hundred times bitterer and more discontented than when he had married her: the one pleasure left her was to inflict pain on him. All the healthy instincts of self-defence rose up in him against such waste... P. 93The inexorable facts closed in on him like prison-warders handcuffing a convict. There was no way out-none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished. P.95

[joririchardson · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I chose to read this as the first of Edith Wharton, due to it's small size. I loved her writing style, and plan on reading the rest of her books as well."Ethan Frome" was the romantic, sad story of a man who became caught up in a loveless marriage to a woman who is very sick. Ethan struggles between his contradictory feelings of love and guilt when he begins to develop deep feelings for their servant girl Mattie, who is also his wife's young cousin.This book is beautiful in it's simplicity and precise dialogue, never too drawn out, never including a scene or word that is not necessary and relevant to the story. An intriguing plot and the three well written main characters made me enjoy reading this book very much.Don't read this if you are in the mood for a cozy, warmly romantic story, however.A tragic, heartbreaking story of love and loss.

[tess_schoolmarm · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Hauntingly sad and beautifully written describes Root #89, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. This reminds me of the works of George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. It is the story of Ethan Frome and his icecube of a wife, Zeena, who is also a hypchondriac. Zeena's cousin, Mattie, comes to live in and help and of course she is verbally abused by Zeena. This abuse and neglect draw Ethan and Mattie together. Zeena notices the attraction and sends Mattie off. ""The inexorable facts closed in on him like a prison-warder handcuffing a convict. There was no way out—none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished." The story is told as a flashback, 24 years in the past and takes place in the brutal northeast of Massachusetts. This may be the best book I've read thus far in 2017!

[tess_w · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Hauntingly sad and beautifully written describes Root #89, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. This reminds me of the works of George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. It is the story of Ethan Frome and his icecube of a wife, Zeena, who is also a hypchondriac. Zeena's cousin, Mattie, comes to live in and help and of course she is verbally abused by Zeena. This abuse and neglect draw Ethan and Mattie together. Zeena notices the attraction and sends Mattie off. ""The inexorable facts closed in on him like a prison-warder handcuffing a convict. There was no way out—none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished." The story is told as a flashback, 24 years in the past and takes place in the brutal northeast of Massachusetts. This may be the best book I've read thus far in 2017!

[majesdane-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I love it; the prose is beautiful. Everyone I've ever met seems to hate this book. It's Wharton's most famous book. Make of that what you will.

[drfuriosa · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Not a favorite.

[k6gst · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Louis Auchincloss, a favorite of mine, thought very highly of Edith Wharton, and wrote a short biography. They were from the same world, though separated by a couple of generations.

I found this charmer about doomed, wasted lives, forbidden passion, and deathwish tobogganing in the bleakest patch of late 19th century New England to be more fun when I read the dialogue aloud in an old-timey Yankee accent.

The ending is a bang-up twist.

I enjoyed it, but I’m ready to read about rich people’s problems again.

[siok-76276 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A thin book but it contains so much within its pages. The sorrow weighs you down. Anytime you think you are unfortunate, think of Ethan Frome. He wanted to pursue happiness but was thwarted every time. Finally, he agreed to a suicide pact with Mattie, the girl he loved, by sledding into a tree. But he changed his mind at the last minute. He didn't save themselves but ended up crippling himself and paralyzing Mattie. It was the wife he wanted to leave who nursed Mattie who ended up disgruntled. And the three of them lived in the same house. What misery!

[n.w.moors-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Ethan Frome is a classic. I don't remember ever reading it though I saw the movie with Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette a long time ago. Both of my sons love this book and talk about it frequently. The younger one mentioned it recently, and I decided to give it a read.
Ethan Frome is married to Zeena, a hypochondriac. They're very poor but have taken in Zeena's cousin Mattie Silver to help Zeena around the house. Mattie is everything Zeena isn't; she's young and a breath of fresh air in Ethan's life.
This book is deservedly a classic. The pacing of the plot is excellent with the beginning and end told by a third-party narrator and the main story told as it happened. The setting is western Massachusetts in the small fictional town of Starkfield, and the author captures the scenery and time period well. The dialogue fits, and the ending is a surprise.
I'm glad they encouraged me to read this book. It truly is a must-read.

[bookconcierge · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Digital audio narrated by C M Hebert

From the book jacket: Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena’s vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.

My reactions:
I love Edith Wharton’s writing. I love the way she explores relationships and unfulfilled desires. The tension is palpable, the yearning almost unendurable.

She’s a little heavy-handed with the allegory / metaphor in this case. The setting is Starkfield, Massachusetts, in winter; as if the reader needs a reminder of how depressing and lacking in color Ethan’s life is. Though I was reading in the midst of a summer heat wave, I felt chilled. And then I felt that spark of attraction between Ethan and Mattie. Felt Ethan’s heart soar with the possibilities, only to sink with the realization that he was trapped in a device of his own making.

C M Hebert does a fine job narrating the audio book. He reads at a fine pace, and his tone is suitable to the material. After listening, however, I also picked up the text and read through several passages. I think I prefer the text so that I can savor Wharton’s writing.

[narshkite · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

I read this to satisfy a Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a book you were assigned and hated or did not finish.

Positive Bonnie thought "You hated Faulkner in college and have come to love his work, maybe the same will happen for Ethan Frome." Positive me is feeling mighty disappointed because this is straight up shit. The book is far worse than I remembered. The first half is nothing but unbelievably boring people doing mundane things. Think Big Brother without the possibility of sex. The story is so loaded with symbolism (oh the barren cold!) that I get why high school teachers love it as a teaching tool, but for the common reader it is ridiculous. The second half pivots into nauseating melodrama acted out by people who, until the very moment of DRAMA suffered from clinically flat affect. Suddenly they long for one another in a manner common among 12 year old girls and those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and launch themselves into a tragic final act that made me laugh so hard I almost gave the book another star for bringing the (clearly unintentional) fun. You will never look at pairs sledding the same again.

[rainpebble_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton; (5*); VMC; the Classics; New England; (dark); VIRAGO MONTHLY AUTHOR READ; (1911)

One of Wharton's very best, if not her best! The story is about the seamier side of life and what can happen in a cold clime when one makes a snap decision. Sometimes one ends up paying for that second in time for the remainder of their lives.
This is a wonderful, but dark, Wharton novel. Very intense and very good. Highly recommended.

[deltaqueen50 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a haunting tragedy told in a quiet subdued manner that nevertheless I found emotional and moving. The author wastes not a single word in this short bleak novel that speaks so eloquently. I was totally taken up by this story which I read by internet installments through the Daily Lit program.

Originally published in 1911, it is set in a fictitious New England village and tells the sad story of Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and Mattie a young relative of Zeena’s who has come to live with the Fromes’ in order to help the sickly Zeena. Ethan develops feelings for Mattie, and we learn that she returns these feelings. Of course Zeena picks up on this and makes arrangements for a serving girl to be hired and for Mattie to leave. At different points in the story I was sympathetic to all three of these characters. They were caught up in something that could never end well but Edith Wharton’s ending left me speechless. This was a story that pointed out exactly how trapped people were by the rules of society, and in particular how difficult it was for a woman to chose any path that was not strictly what was required of her.

This beautifully written novella evokes feelings of pain, isolation, desperation and, of course, regret. The cold, sparse setting was perfect for this sad morality tale, but a word of warning, this book is not for people who are looking for a happy ending. For me, Ethan Frome was a story to savour and will long be a story that I remember as just about perfect.

[pilgrimjess · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

“They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods.”

An engineer finds himself spending the winter in the small New England town of Starkfield. The narrator becomes intrigued by a mysterious and isolated local farmer Ethan Frome who scrapes out a meagre living whilst tending to his demanding wife Zeena. He sets out to learn about Frome's life and the tragic accident that Ethan had some twenty years earlier. The narrator questions the locals but during a violent snowstorm he is forced into an overnight stay at the Frome homestead. He finally comes to learn the details of Ethan’s “smash-up”.

Ethan Frome is a tale of missed opportunities and of characters trapped in circumstances they seem unable to escape. Moral and social constraints on individual desire is perhaps the book's most prominent theme. Again and again, Wharton displays the hold that social convention has on Ethan. Caring for the sick and the lame become to define Ethan’s life. Firstly years before the novel begins he tends to his ailing mother and when she dies he has to care for his hypochondriac wife.

Much of the imagery in the book is built around cold, ice and snow thus the author is able to emphasize that the harsh New England's winters can have a psychologically stifling force. Most readers will no doubt agree that whilst we initially find beauty in the drifts, flakes, and icicles, but after a prolonged period of time these same wintry scenes often become oppressive. So the weather becomes more and more bleak in tune with the tone of this tale.

This is only a novella and as such quite a quick read but is nonetheless a powerful tale filled with rich, at times unsettling, vocabulary. Well worth the read IMHO.

[librisissimo · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Substance: What was audacious and ground-breaking in 1911 is just old-fashioned and obvious today.The plot was clear as crystal from the end of chapter one (yes, she even writes that clichéd line, among others); however, the arc of the story is well-crafted, and the seeds of the final tragedy are fairly planted.
Unfortunately, Ethan is boring, and Mattie is too too precious; the most interesting character is Zeena, who hints at submerged suspicions that Wharton never really develops, and who would have made a satisfying psychological study if she had been treated as something more than just an obstacle to Ethan's happiness.
In addition, I don't think Wharton really motivates his change from dutiful responsible-ness to reckless irresponsibility between one chapter and the next (the motivations are accessible, just not explained).
Style:
Wharton overuses suggestive punctuation, and the narrative is full of annoying and intrusive slang-quotes - almost every paragraph had one or more words marked out, and all of them are now part of our everyday language, but the sole idiomatic word I didn't know had none.

As for historical "color" and regional description, there is more and better writing in Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.

[addictedtomorphemes · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Blackstone Audio, narrated by C.M. Hebert

I think this may have been Wharton's warning to her readers to avoid making a hasty decision on whom you will marry. Avoid the shrews! Ethan Frome was the most handsome man in his little town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. He was a quiet man with dreams of becoming an engineer. He thought running his father's farm would be temporary, but he was devoted to caring for his ailing parents before they died. He received help one winter from a woman named Zeena; and once both parents were gone, Ethan realized he had gotten used to her and asked her to stay. They married and shortly after, she started evidencing what surely must have been hypochondria (and general laziness). Her days were spent lying in bed with her false teeth in a glass, complaining about her symptoms, and working Ethan to the bone to provide for her.

When Ethan was 28 and Zeena 35, they took in Zeena's cousin, Mattie Silver. She was to help with the household chores and whatever else Zeena desired. She was there for about a year when Ethan started becoming quietly fascinated by her happiness and vibrancy--such a polar opposite from his wife and his life in general. Zeena notices, and we witness what transpires from her jealousy, manipulation, and mean-spiritedness. Ethan has been given one difficulty after another in his life and takes it on the chin. You can't help but wish for him to be pulled from his life's downward spiral and have his brief moments of hope for a different life to be fulfilled.

[epictale · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Bottom line: "Ethan Frome" (EF) is a kick-ass great book.

My son (a Wharton fan) suggested it as an introduction to Wharton's writing, but cautioned that it was a glum tale. Even reading the book while living alone in chilly northern Japan last winter, I felt mesmerized by the quality of Wharton's writing and her sympathetic tone.

The story was very compelling, the main characters all seemed plausible and worthy of sympathy, and the agony of unrequited passion between Ethan and Mattie felt palpable. Maybe I am naive...but, for me, the ending was a great surprise. It pleased and saddened me. Finally, the author's masterful and confident prose floored me as well. Not to sound like a pedantic twit, but Wharton's use of semicolon constructions struck me as unusually impactful and exemplary.

[lauralkeet · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Despite being a huge Edith Wharton fan, I put off reading this book for years. I picked it up after reading Henry James’ Daisy Miller, to see how Wharton handled a short novel about love and loss. The two novels deal with somewhat different themes, but Wharton’s treatment is far superior. Ethan Frome’s hypochondriac wife Zeena is needy and bed-ridden, and takes Ethan for granted. His days are enlivened by Mattie Silver, a destitute cousin who manages the household in exchange for room and board. Wharton paints a vivid scene of Frome’s isolated New England farmhouse in the middle of a snowy winter, with horse-drawn carriages taking people and goods to and from the town:

The afternoon was drawing to an end, and here and there a lighted pane spangled the cold grey dusk and made the snow look whiter. The bitter weather had driven everyone indoors and Ethan had the long rural street to himself. Suddenly he heard the brisk play of sleigh-bells and a cutter passed him, drawn by a free-going horse.

When Zeena travels overnight to see a doctor in another town, Ethan and Mattie spend their first evening alone sitting in front of the fire enjoying one another’s company. But when Zeena returns, the romantic tension between Ethan and Mattie is palpable, and not lost on Zeena. Manipulative and determined, Zeena sets events in motion that change their lives forever.

I’m amazed that in just 100 pages I became so emotionally invested in the fates of Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena. This is not a happy story, but it is brilliantly written.

[lkernagh · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is my first Wharton read, which was recommended by a couple of other readers here on LT as something I could easily fit into my October reading plans. One of the things I really liked about this one is Wharton's ability to paint a realistic picture of a northern winter in a small farming community where life can be a hard scrabble and everyone knows - or thinks they know - everyone else's business. Wharton has the ability to tell a story in straightforward language, almost with a meagerness of descriptive prose, as if she was writing in a manner to reflect the bleak the New England winter landscape of its setting. The book is described as being "a powerful tale with compelling characters trapped in circumstances they seem unable to escape." From a strictly character analysis perspective, I am not quite sure I wholly agree with that statement. For me, Mattie is nothing more than a vehicle - and a bit of an air-headed one at that - to drive the story forward. Ethan has his interesting aspects but I found him to be limited, and not just by his circumstances. It is really Zeena who I found to be the most compelling of these three characters and I found myself pondering over her character more than the other two.

Overall, a great introduction for me to Wharton's writing style and I will be adding more of her books to my future reading list.

[santhony_35 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. After sampling about a dozen more well-known offerings, I was left to select those with which I was less familiar. That is how I came across Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

This is essentially a novella that relates the sad life of Ethan Frome, a poor New England farmer who, after enduring an unhappy marriage to a sickly woman eight years his senior, falls in love with his wife’s destitute cousin, twenty year old Mattie, who has come to live with them. If you like stories with happy endings look elsewhere. A look at life on a late 19th century New England farm, coupled with the customs and mores of that society made this an entertaining “read”. The reader in this case was a poor choice, making Ethan sound like an old man when, in fact, he was 28 years old.

[hadriantheblind · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

Dreadful and boring.

[jwhenderson_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

My favorite of Edith Wharton's novels are those set in the center of the New York Society of the "Gilded Age". By contrast Ethan Frome is set in the fictional New England town of Starkfield, where an unnamed narrator tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with dreams and desires that end in an ironic turn of events. The narrator tells the story based on an account from observations at Frome's house when he had to stay there during a winter storm.
The novel is framed by an extended flashback. The first chapter opens with an unnamed narrator spending a winter in Starkfield. He attempts to learn about the life of a mysterious local figure named Ethan Frome, a man who had been injured in a horrific “smash-up” twenty-four years before. Frome is described as “the most striking figure in Starkfield”, “the ruin of a man” with a “careless powerful look…in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain”. Throughout the novel Ethan Frome makes ample use of symbolism as a literary device. Reminiscent of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (also set in New England), Edith Wharton uses the color red against the snowy white background of her Massachusetts setting to symbolize Ethan's cousin Mattie’s attraction and vitality as opposed to his wife Zeena, as well as her temptation to Ethan in general. Wharton uses the cat and the pickle dish to symbolize the failing marriage of Ethan and Zeena; the cat symbolizes Zeena’s presence when Ethan and Mattie are alone, and when it breaks the pickle dish, this symbolizes the final fracturing of the marriage that is rapidly coming as Mattie and Ethan slide closer and closer to adultery.
The story is tragic and very dark in character. Yet Wharton's prose style makes it worth every moment spent reading about Ethan Frome.

[lisamorr · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I don't know how Wharton packed so much emotion in 103 pages. While reading it I felt the cold of the severe winters, the quiet of the countryside and the anguish of Ethan Frome. A sad, sad story about people who got together who shouldn't have and how some families just can't get out of a rut.

Great read - 5 stars.

[ricefun · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A short but powerful story. Wharton is a master of soft-footed suspense. Her tales are delicate, and her language is gentile, so it is always a gut-wrenching surprise at the end when a powerful, life-suspending event occurs. I don't read Wharton to feel happy, but I do read her to feel elevated and immersed in my senses as her stories unfold.

This particular story has three strong but broken characters. Told in flashback after learning early that some tragic, body-mangling event has occurred in the past, I was compelled to keep reading because I so wanted these characters to have some moments of wholeness and grace. Those moments exist, but through a glass dimly. I can only hope that some easing of heavy burdens happens for Ethan and his two women in some unwritten future.

[sandydog1_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Not sure why this is considered one of her weaker works. I've read a couple others and this seemed to be the same-o story of failed love.

Although a novella, it plodded like an old arthritic sorrel, through the hoary, biting ghostly whisps of evening snow, on an inky country road...

[moonshineandrosefire · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A farmer in turn-of-the-century New England struggles to survive and to make his farm successful. First he is tethered to the land by his helpless parents; then by his ailing wife. When Ethan's wife's alluring cousin comes to stay, she and Ethan become trapped in a hopelessly passionate love affair. Trapped by fear of public condemnation and the bonds of a loveless marriage, Ethan starts down a path which could eventually lead to tragedy for all involved.

I had originally wanted to read this book after seeing the movie with Liam Neeson. Mareena and I caught the last part of the movie and were shocked at how sad it was. I love a sad book and Mareena loves the classics. I give this book an A+!