The Art of Irresolution in Edith Wharton’s “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell”

Cet article étudie la maîtrise dont Edith Wharton fait preuve dans la première histoire de fantômes qu’elle ait écrite, « The Lady’s Maid’s Bell », en particulier les ressorts narratifs auxquels elle a recours pour maintenir le lecteur dans l’indécision jusqu’à la fin de l’histoire et même au-delà. Ellipses, informations données a posteriori, insinuations, allusions, affirmations à double sens font partie intégrante de la structure de la nouvelle, mais c’est surtout l’utilisation de la première personne qui s’avère particulièrement efficace. En effet, la narratrice a une compréhension imparfaite des événements et se révèle incapable d’offrir un compte rendu clair au lecteur, qui se retrouve ainsi sur un seuil : à lui de décider s’il va le franchir ou non, à lui de réfléchir et de déchiffrer le texte sous-jacent de l’histoire

Le Queenborough d’Ellen Glasgow : cartographie d’une Babylone en devenir

For her "tragicomedies of manners", The Romantic Comedians (1926), They Stooped to Folly (1929) and The Sheltered Life (1932), Ellen Glasgow chose a common setting, the fictional town of Queenborough. Although she modeled it mainly on Richmond, Virginia, she meant it to represent "the distilled essence of all Virginia cities rather than the speaking likeness of one". The portrait she drew was dictated by the period, the turn of the century—a time of societal, economic and architectural changes. Queenborough stands at a crossroads, poised between a past holding it back and a future pulling it forward. Glasgow finds herself in the same predicament, wanting to welcome progress but simultaneously eyeing it with suspicion, as it entails industrialism. The city she presents is on the verge of becoming a new Babylon in a southern setting, especially in the last novel of the trilogy: limits between districts become blurred, the foundations of Virginian society are shaken, and the advent of progress is symbolized by a bad smell that invades formerly smart neighbourhoods. Queenborough acquires a metonymic dimension: it is Virginia, it is the South as a whole

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

A Haven for the Suffering Soul: Ellen Glasgow’s Lifelong Quest

International audienc

The word which made all clear? The Implicit and the Unsaid in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth

International audienc

Le Queenborough d’Ellen Glasgow : cartographie d’une Babylone en devenir

For her "tragicomedies of manners", The Romantic Comedians (1926), They Stooped to Folly (1929) and The Sheltered Life (1932), Ellen Glasgow chose a common setting, the fictional town of Queenborough. Although she modeled it mainly on Richmond, Virginia, she meant it to represent "the distilled essence of all Virginia cities rather than the speaking likeness of one". The portrait she drew was dictated by the period, the turn of the century—a time of societal, economic and architectural changes. Queenborough stands at a crossroads, poised between a past holding it back and a future pulling it forward. Glasgow finds herself in the same predicament, wanting to welcome progress but simultaneously eyeing it with suspicion, as it entails industrialism. The city she presents is on the verge of becoming a new Babylon in a southern setting, especially in the last novel of the trilogy: limits between districts become blurred, the foundations of Virginian society are shaken, and the advent of progress is symbolized by a bad smell that invades formerly smart neighbourhoods. Queenborough acquires a metonymic dimension: it is Virginia, it is the South as a whole

Inheritance in Ellen Glasgow’s ‘The Shadowy Third’

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From Fifth Avenue Residence to Boarding House: Setting in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth

International audienceAlthough the action of The House of Mirth begins in the upper-middle - class world and the heart of Manhattan, around Washington Square, that Edith Wharton knew so well, the reader is soon taken into successive parallel worlds that always go one notch down. All along the book, and particularly in the last pages, Wharton regularly draws on her intimate knowledge of the lay - out of the city, giving such specific geographical references that one might locate the characters on a map. These street scenes are pitted against indoor scenes which provide her with an opportunity to display what an eye she had for interior decoration. I shall therefore look at what specific places Wharton mentions and depicts and try to establish their function. However, since quite a number of scenes and episodes do not take place in New York (Book 1, for instance, depicts the Trenors’ country residence, while Book 2 opens in Mont e Carlo), one may perhaps question the actual usefulness of such a precise setting. Indeed, Wharton seems to indicate that the location does not matter much as long as it is a place favoured by the very rich, into which they displace the way of life they are used to pursuing in New York; in other words, New York is not just a city, it is a society. What is also interesting, in this novel, is that Wharton is not content with describing the world of the very rich and the replica that the nouveaux riches and up starts strive to create (cheap, vulgar, garish, uncouth). She is also quite incisive in her depiction of the living conditions of the lower and working classes (and one may wonder whether she had first - hand knowledge of them): Nettie Struthers’ place, the milliner’s, Lily’s room at the boarding - house, for example. A close look at the depictions of these places will lead me to try and assert their realism

Le Queenborough d’Ellen Glasgow : cartographie d’une Babylone en devenir

For her "tragicomedies of manners", The Romantic Comedians (1926), They Stooped to Folly (1929) and The Sheltered Life (1932), Ellen Glasgow chose a common setting, the fictional town of Queenborough. Although she modeled it mainly on Richmond, Virginia, she meant it to represent "the distilled essence of all Virginia cities rather than the speaking likeness of one". The portrait she drew was dictated by the period, the turn of the century—a time of societal, economic and architectural changes. Queenborough stands at a crossroads, poised between a past holding it back and a future pulling it forward. Glasgow finds herself in the same predicament, wanting to welcome progress but simultaneously eyeing it with suspicion, as it entails industrialism. The city she presents is on the verge of becoming a new Babylon in a southern setting, especially in the last novel of the trilogy: limits between districts become blurred, the foundations of Virginian society are shaken, and the advent of progress is symbolized by a bad smell that invades formerly smart neighbourhoods. Queenborough acquires a metonymic dimension: it is Virginia, it is the South as a whole

Corps féminin et échange symbolique : d’Edith Wharton à Ellen Glasgow

New Yorker Edith Wharton and Virginian Ellen Glasgow are often associated by literary critiques as both wrote novels of and were staunch defenders of the feminine cause. This article deals with their positions toward marriage and the financial dependence of woman through the portrayal of three female characters : Lily Bart in The House of Mirth (1905) and Undine Spragg in The Custom of the Country (1913) by E. Wharton, and Dorinda Oakley in Barren Ground (1925) by E. Glasgow. We shall use as a basis Claude Lévi-Strauss s and Pierre Legendre's remarks on the subject of exchange, as well as Charlotte Perkins Gilman's reflections on marriage. The three heroines are all confronted with marriage at some point in their lives ; none of them really reaches her goal and can be said to be truly happy. Of the three, only Dorinda manages to come to terms with the life she has made for herself, thereby revealing that Glasgow went one step further than Wharton in the advancement of the feminine cause.Intissar-Zaugg Brigitte. Corps féminin et échange symbolique : d’Edith Wharton à Ellen Glasgow. In: Revue Française d'Etudes Américaines, N°69, juin 1996. Femmes écrivains au tournant du siècle. pp. 39-57