"America at War: Edith Wharton on the national character in 1918” by Edith Wharton

Virginia Ricard (1)

1 CLIMAS - Cultures et Littératures des Mondes Anglophones

On February 8, 1918, in a series called “France and Its Allies at War: The Witnesses Speak”, Edith Wharton gave a lecture in French to an audience of about 400. Why had the United States entered the war with such enthusiasm? How could Americans, who were only interested in money-making, be ready to fight? The lecture, which appears here for the first time in English and in edited form, was an attempt to answer these questions. It reveals Wharton’s interest in the early American settlers’ lasting contribution to democracy, and displays her wide – and generally unsuspected – knowledge of American history. Virginia Ricard

Mots clés: American history; American literature; American national character

Domaines: Littératures; Histoire

Virginia Ricard. "America at War: Edith Wharton on the national character in 1918” by Edith Wharton. 2018. ⟨halshs-02532240⟩