The Story Archive

The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton · 1913 CE · Novel · Modern / American · Modernist

Undine Spragg arrives in New York from Apex City with her father's money behind her and an unerring instinct for the next rung, trading one husband for a better-connected one and then for a French title. Divorce courts, Wall Street and the Faubourg Saint-Germain each turn out to keep their own price list. Wharton's most unsparing comedy sets American acquisitiveness loose across two continents.

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Attributes

Genre
SatirePsychological
Theme
Ambition & HubrisWealth & GreedClass & InequalityVanity & Beauty
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Anti-HeroFemme Fatale
Plot structure
Rags to RichesIronic Reversal
Emotional arc (story shape)
Rise (Rags to Riches)
Quest object (Greimas)
Wealth / Treasure
Symbol / motif
The HouseThe PortraitThe Mirror
Conflict
vs Societyvs Person
Mode / tone
SatiricalIronicRealist
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues