Tintner provides a detailed analysis of the complex interplay between Wharton and James—how they influenced each other and how some of their writings operate as homages or personal jokes. So deeply was James in Wharton’s confidence, Tintner argues, that he provided her with source models for a number of her characters. In addition, Wharton found in his fiction structures for her own, especially for The Age of Innocence.

Tintner also brings her considerable knowledge of art history to bear in her study of art allusions in Wharton’s work. Wharton’s response both to the Italian painters active before Raphael and to the English Pre-Raphaelites of a generation before her own is analyzed here in three essays. These pieces demonstrate Wharton’s sensibility to changes in art tastes and collecting, the inheritance of Rossetti’s revolutionary paintings in the unfinished novel, The Buccaneers, and the importance of home in The Glimpses of the Moon, as demonstrated by Wharton’s use of Tiepolo’s fresco in the church of Scalzi.

Tintner concludes by considering Wharton’s literary legacy and who Wharton has figured in the imaginations of recent writers, including Richard Howard, Louis Auchincloss, and Cathleen Schine. Tintner finds some part of Wharton’s personality or work evoked in a number of contemporary works and argues that this presence signals the beginning of an increasing influence.

Adeline R. Tintner, the author of numerous works on Wharton, James, and their circle, is an independent scholar living in New York City.

“Adeline Tintner, the author of eight books on Henry James, has drawn on her formidable knowledge to place Edith Wharton in many different literary contexts. Sixteen of the 29 essays in her book examine the affinities and literary debts linking Wharton and writer of her era. Tintner’s book is certain to lead even the most widely read scholar to new facts and more detailed knowledge of Wharton’s literary relationships.” —Edith Wharton Review

“In an age of academic obfuscation, master scholar Adeline Tintner not only presents clear ideas but also augments them with welcome background.” —Helen Killoran, Ohio University at Lancaster

“Every library and every lover of Wharton will have to have this rich new resource. Adeline Tintner’s work is always impeccably researched, vastly informative, and bears the stamp of Tintner’s invariable scholarly integrity.” –Krisin Lauer, FordhamUniversity