BY EDITH WHARTON A SON AT THE FRONT THE GREATER INCLINATION THE TOUCHSTONE CRUCIAL INSTANCES THE VALLEY OF DECISION SANCTUARY THE DESCENT OF MAN THE HOUSE OF MIRTH THE FRUIT OF THE TREE THE HERMIT AND THE WILD WOMAN TALES OF MEN AND GHOSTS ETHAN FROME THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY XINGU THE WRITING OF FICTION IN MOROCCO FIGHTING FRANCE ITALIAN BACKGROUNDS A MOTOR FLIGHT THROUGH FRANCE ARTEMIS TO ACTEON THE DECORATION OF HOUSES CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS INTRODUCTION I had known something of New England village life long before I made my home in the same county as my imaginary Starkfield; though, during the years spent there, certain of its aspects became much more familiar to me. Even before that final initiation, however, I had had an uneasy sense that the New England of fiction bore little except a vague botanical and dialectical-resemblance to the harsh and beautiful land as I had seen it. Even the abundant enumeration of sweet-fern, asters and mountain-laurel, and the conscientious reproduction of the vernacular, left me with the feeling that the outcropping granite had in both cases been overlooked. I give the impression merely as a personal one it accounts for Ethan Frome, and may, to some readers, in a measure justify it. So much for the origin of the story; there is noth |