“Autres Temps…”
Old judgments linger
StorylineReturning to New York after years abroad, Mrs. Lidcote discovers that her daughter’s divorce has met with a freedom she herself was denied. She begins to hope that a more forgiving society might have room for her, too.
“When she was alone, it was always the past that occupied her.”
THE SHORT SHOT EDITION
A new age. The same closed door.
Returning to New York after years abroad, Mrs. Lidcote discovers that her daughter’s divorce has met with a freedom she herself was denied. She begins to hope that a more forgiving society might have room for her, too.
- EditionShort story
- Estimated reading time47–59 minutesStory · extras excluded
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At a glance
- Work
- Short story
- Author
- Edith Wharton
- Original language
- English
- Format
- Paperback
Read the opening
Mrs. Lidcote, as the huge menacing mass of New York defined itself far off across the waters, shrank back into her corner of the deck and sat listening with a kind of unreasoning terror to the steady onward drive of the screws.
She had set out on the voyage quietly enough,--in what she called her "reasonable" mood,--but the week at sea had given her too much time to think of things and had left her too long alone with the past.
When she was alone, it was always the past that occupied her. She couldn't get away from it, and she didn't any longer care to. During her long years of exile she had made her terms with it, had learned to accept the fact that it would always be there, huge, obstructing, encumbering, bigger and more dominant than anything the future could ever conjure up. And, at any rate, she was sure of it, she understood it, knew how to reckon with it; she had learned to screen and manage and protect it as one does an afflicted member of one's family.
THE EDITOR’S TAKE
The rules have changed. Has the welcome?
Why “Autres Temps…”?
- Wharton catches the gap between welcoming words and the arrangements people actually make.
- A mother’s hope for her daughter becomes inseparable from her own longing to belong.
- The smallest pauses, invitations and changes of subject carry enormous emotional weight.
A question to savor
When society's rules change, who gets to benefit—and who remains marked by the old ones?
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