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1	Infinite regress: the problem of womanhood in Edith Wharton's lesser-read works Smith, Alex 01 May 2015 (has links) Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Wharton’s heroines are ordinary women who fight to secure material comfort and create selves that satisfy their emotional and sexual needs. These women often find that the two goals are mutually exclusive, since society strictly dictates appropriate behavior. This code of behavior stems from their relation to men: as objects to be won, as wives, and as mothers. In many instances, women are not even aware of their prescriptive roles and confuse their search for self with a search for security. Material comfort does not nurture Wharton’s heroines’ inner selves and they feel a metaphysical dissatisfaction, often seeking to find contentment through divorce or affairs. What they find in either case is that the cure to their ennui is not material, but mental. Wharton’s women seek a transcendent self—a self that is not dependent upon popular notions of respectability; a spiritual state that is independent from any attachment to social imperatives. Edith Wharton Feminism Womanhood Bunner Sister Autres Temps The Pretext Souls Belated Mother's Reccompense Wharton, Edith -- 1862-1937 Man-woman relationships Manners and customs Women's rights Sex discrimination against women Self (Philosophy) Necessity (Philosophy) Authors, American -- 20th century Women intellectuals -- United States

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Infinite regress: the problem of womanhood in Edith Wharton's lesser-read works