Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: What was Edith Wharton's last book?
The Buccaneers is the last novel written by Edith Wharton. The novel is set in the 1870s, around the time Edith Wharton was a young girl. It was unfinished at the time of her death in 1937, and published in that form in 1938. Wharton's manuscript ends with Lizzy inviting Nan to a house party to which Guy Thwarte has also been invited. The book was published in 1938 by Penguin Books in New York. After some time, Marion Mainwaring finished the novel following Wharton's detailed outline of the novel in 1993.
The village was home to the newly married Edith Tolkien, wife of famous author J. R. R. Tolkien, from March 1916 to February 1917. She moved to the village to be close to his camp on Cannock Chase. J. R. R. Tolkien himself lived in Great Haywood in the winter of 1916-17.
Charles Walton, born 12 May 1870, was a 74-year-old agricultural worker who had lived in Lower Quinton all his life. He was a widower who shared a small cottage, 15 Lower Quinton, with his thirty-three-year-old niece, Edith Isabel Walton, whom he had adopted thirty years previously upon the death of her mother. Walton was described as something of a loner who had earned a reputation as a trainer of horses in his youth. It is said that he did not socialise with his neighbours but that he was far from being disliked.
The central theme of "The House of Mirth" is essentially "the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be". Thus, it is considered by many to be as relevant today as it was in 1905. If its sole subject had been the excesses and lives of the rich and famous, by themselves, it is doubtful it would have remained popular for as long as it has. "The House of Mirth" continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication, possibly due to its timeless theme. That the life and death of Lily Bart matters to modern readers suggests that Wharton succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it."
While Murray prepared "Emma" for publication, Austen began "The Elliots", later published as "Persuasion". She completed her first draft in July 1816. In addition, shortly after the publication of "Emma", Henry Austen repurchased the copyright for "Susan" from Crosby. Austen was forced to postpone publishing either of these completed novels by family financial troubles. Henry Austen's bank failed in March 1816, depriving him of all of his assets, leaving him deeply in debt and losing Edward, James, and Frank Austen large sums. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had made to support their mother and sisters.
The book was published in 1940, within a year of "The Grapes of Wrath", and by the same publisher. 
The cabin that appears on the cover of the newest edition was located in Knott County, Kentucky, where Still lived for about 50 years.
During her time at Chawton, Jane Austen published four generally well-received novels. Through her brother Henry, the publisher Thomas Egerton agreed to publish "Sense and Sensibility", which, like all of Jane Austen's novels except "Pride and Prejudice", was published "on commission", that is, at the author's financial risk. When publishing on commission, publishers would advance the costs of publication, repay themselves as books were sold and then charge a 10% commission for each book sold, paying the rest to the author. If a novel did not recover its costs through sales, the author was responsible for them. The alternative to selling via commission was the selling the copyright, where an author received a one-time payment from the publisher for the manuscript, which occurred with "Pride and Prejudice". Austen's experience with "Susan" (the manuscript that became "Northanger Abbey") where she sold the copyright to the publisher Crosby & Sons for £10, who did not publish the book, forcing her to buy back the copyright in order to get her work published, left Austen leery of this method of publishing. The final alternative, of selling by subscription, where a group of people would agree to buy a book in advance, was not an option for Austen as only authors who were well known or had an influential aristocratic patron who would recommend an up-coming book to their friends, could sell by subscription. "Sense and Sensibility" appeared in October 1811, and was described as being written "By a Lady". As it was sold on commission, Egerton used expensive paper and set the price at 15 shillings.
Reviews were favourable and the novel became fashionable among young aristocratic opinion-makers; the edition sold out by mid-1813. Austen's novels were published in larger editions than was normal for this period. The small size of the novel-reading public and the large costs associated with hand production (particularly the cost of handmade paper) meant that most novels were published in editions of 500 copies or less to reduce the risks to the publisher and the novelist. Even some of the most successful titles during this period were issued in editions of not more than 750 or 800 copies and later reprinted if demand continued. Austen's novels were published in larger editions, ranging from about 750 copies of "Sense and Sensibility" to about 2,000 copies of "Emma". It is not clear whether the decision to print more copies than usual of Austen's novels was driven by the publishers or the author. Since all but one of Austen's books were originally published "on commission", the risks of overproduction were largely hers (or Cassandra's after her death) and publishers may have been more willing to produce larger editions than was normal practice when their own funds were at risk. Editions of popular works of non-fiction were often much larger.
She taught in schools in both Indianapolis and Chicago. She wrote for the "Chicago Tribune" under the pseudonym "Nora Marks" from 1888 to 1890, and later became publisher of the Little Chronicle Publishing Company, Chicago; this published several of her own works, along with other educational books and the "Little Chronicle", an illustrated newspaper intended for young children. Whilst she wrote both fiction and non-fiction, the former mostly romances and the latter mostly educational books, she is best known for her 1912 novel "Greyfriars Bobby". This popular work recounted the famous story of the eponymous dog; most of the modern versions of the story seem to stem from her form of the tale. Many details of the book, especially those regarding the dog's master are inaccurate; until recently it was assumed that she had no opportunity for original research of her setting. It seems likely that she worked from the basic story and embellished it from her own imagination. The story, however, "is" lovingly detailed; the descriptions of the geography may be somewhat confused, but effort was clearly made to get names correct, and to get across the atmosphere of the city. Unusually for someone with no connection to the country, her portrayal of the local accent was convincing and strongly phrased; this suggests it is possible she picked up the story directly from Scottish immigrants to the Midwest.
Edith Mary Tolkien (21 January 1889 – 29 November 1971; "née" Bratt) was the wife and muse of novelist J. R. R. Tolkien, and the inspiration for his fictional characters Lúthien Tinúviel and Arwen Evenstar.
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The story takes place in the fictional village of Highbury and the surrounding estates of Hartfield, Randalls, and Donwell Abbey and involves the relationships among individuals in those locations consisting of "3 or 4 families in a country village". The novel was first published in December 1815 while the author was alive, with its title page listing a publication date of 1816. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian–Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters and depicts issues of marriage, gender, age, and social status.
Frisch's second novel, "An Answer from the Silence" ("Antwort aus der Stille"), appeared in 1937. The book returned to the theme of a "manly act", but now placed it in the context of a middle class lifestyle. The author quickly became critical of the book, burning the original manuscript in 1937 and refusing to let it be included in a compilation of his works published in the 1970s. Frisch had the word "author" deleted from the "profession/occupation" field in his passport. Supported by a stipend from his friend Werner Coninx, he had in 1936 enrolled at the ETH Zurich ("Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule") to study architecture, his father's profession. His resolve to disown his second published novel was undermined when it won him the 1938 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Prize, which included an award of 3,000 Swiss francs. At this time Frisch was living on an annual stipend from his friend of 4,000 francs.
One example of a character in literature has been described as being a recipient of 'slut-shaming' is the character Lily Bart in Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth".
In April 1974, while on a book tour in the USA, Frisch launched into an affair with an American called Alice Locke-Carey who was 32 years his junior. This happened in the village of Montauk on Long Island, and Montauk was the title the author gave to an autobiographical novel that appeared in 1975. The book centred on his love life, including both his own marriage with Marianne Oellers-Frisch and an affair that she had been having with the American writer Donald Barthelme. There followed a very public dispute between Frisch and his wife over where to draw the line between private and public life, and the two became increasingly estranged, divorcing in 1979.
On July 29, 1942, Fenton's debut novel, “A Place in the Sun,” was published by Random House to positive reaction on both coasts. This from "The New York Times":
“Fenton’s [book] is notable for its sensitive portrayal of a young man who lived with the inferiority of a physical handicap. [He] does a masterly job of balancing the forces which molded the character of Rob Andrews…[and] he succeeds in giving the story the glow of human fulfillment.”
Out west, the "Los Angeles Times" critic had this to say:
“Rob Andrews is a cripple, but he is also an everyman struggling to find his role in living. But the symbol never obscures the story. This does not follow a pat pattern. It is a strange and powerful tale, with deep tragedy, groping for meaning, and many scenes of lyrical beauty. There’s humor in it too…Mr. Fenton’s narrative is as absorbing as it is meaningful.”
Over the next few years, others continued to champion the novel. San Francisco book critic Joseph Henry Jackson included a chapter from the novel in "Continent’s End", his 1944 anthology of California writing. In 1946, Carey McWilliams, one of the most prolific, talented and influential of all western writers of non-fiction, placed Fenton's novel in high company in his remarkable (and still in print) "Southern California Country: An Island on the Land":
"No region in the United States has been more extensively and intensively reported, of recent years, than Southern California...And yet, offhand, I can think of only four novels that suggest what Southern California is really like: "The Day of the Locust" by Nathanael West, "Ask the Dust" by John Fante, "A Place in the Sun" by Frank Fenton, and "The Boosters" by Mark Lee Luther. "
Fenton's second novel, titled "What Way My Journey Lies", arrived in late April, 1946 to similar acclaim. It's the story of a war-weary WWII veteran returning home to a life filled with changing worldviews and difficult choices. Again, "The Los Angeles Times":
“Fenton has a deft facility in that most difficult of all the novel’s techniques—the overlaying, underlying and intertwining of the many moods that go to make up life…The dialogue is marvelous, more right than Parker or Hemingway and more human.”
More recently, historian Kevin Starr used Fenton's “tightly written, highly philosophical second novel” as a good example of the challenges faced by returning WWII veterans in "Embattled Dreams", the sixth volume in his "Americans and the California Dream" series.
Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, was poorly received locally. According to Erick city clerk Nyla Tennery, "I can remember plainly when the book came out my parents and other people who stayed here were just real upset. That book gave all Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma people a shiftless, bad name, like that was the only kind of people who were here."
There is no better reflection of the impact Fahrenheit 451 Books had on this small coastal California town than in what the celebrated novelist P.D. James entered into the bookstore's scrapbook: "Fahrenheit is my idea of a perfect bookstore." The success of Fahrenheit 451 Books was largely due to the competency and commitment of its owner, who stated less than a month before passing the keys to a new owner that "to say I own a bookstore, it's a title of respect and integrity and honesty." In an article for American Bookseller, Zimmerman discussed her core philosophy of bookselling. "Discussing books," she wrote, "with customers and local writers; sponsoring literary events; having a finger on the pulse of current American thought through the knowledge of forthcoming books and my customers' requests; having the ability to disseminate hard-to-find information--these were the daily rewards of bookselling."
The House of Mirth is a 1981 American television film directed by Adrian Hall. It is based on Edith Wharton's novel of the same name. It stars Geraldine Chaplin as the protagonist, Lily Bart. The film was part-funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was broadcast on WNET on 2 November 1981.
The author George Orwell lived in a small cottage at no 2 Kits Lane, known as The Stores, in the village from 1936 to 1940, and at occasional weekends (when he was otherwise mainly in London) until he gave up the lease on the cottage in 1947. A commemorative plaque was placed there in 1989 by Hertfordshire County Council. This plaque is however not accurate, in that it refers to Orwell living at the Stores until 1940, whereas he had the lease until April 1947, and did stay at the house from time to time until at least the time of Eileen's death. He had married his first wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy at the village church on 9 June 1936. Orwell wrote his notable book "Animal Farm" in 1944 probably much of it while he was at the village and certainly drew on his experiences there for inspiration, especially Manor Farm and The Great Barn. The farm in the village is, as in the book called Manor Farm.
"Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Volume 1 was originally published in 1961 after some early difficulties. Beck, Bertholle, and Child initially signed a contract with publisher Houghton Mifflin, but Houghton Mifflin grew uninterested in the project. Child recalled one editor telling her, "Americans don't want an encyclopedia, they want to cook something quick, with a mix." Beck, Bertholle, and Child refused to make requested changes to the manuscript, and Houghton Mifflin abandoned the project, writing that the book, as it stood, would be "too formidable to the American housewife." Judith Jones of Alfred A. Knopf became interested in the manuscript after it had been rejected. After spending several years in Paris, Jones had moved to New York, where she grew frustrated with the limited ingredients and recipes commonly available in the United States. Jones felt that the manuscript would offer a lifeline to middle-class women, like her, who were interested in learning how to cook French cuisine in America, and predicted that "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", "will do for French cooking here in America what Rombauer's "The Joy of Cooking" did for standard [American] cooking." While Jones was enthusiastic about the book, Knopf had low expectations and invested very little into promoting it. In order to generate interest in the book, and without support from Knopf, Child appeared on several morning talk shows in 1961 to demonstrate recipes, which she later cited as the impetus for her own cooking show, The French Chef.
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romantic novel by Jane Austen. It charts the emotional development of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage and money during the Regency era in Britain.
At the age of 10, she begged her mother to buy her a Remington typewriter, on which she "pecked [her] stories two fingered". At 12, she watched the televised version of the film "Devil Girl from Mars" (1954) and concluded that she could write a better story. She drafted what would later become the basis for her Patternist novels. Happily ignorant of the obstacles that a black female writer could encounter, she became unsure of herself for the first time at the age of 13, when her well-intentioned aunt Hazel said: "Honey ... Negroes can't be writers." But Butler persevered in her desire to publish a story, even asking her junior high school science teacher, Mr. Pfaff, to type the first manuscript she submitted to a science fiction magazine.
Edith Wharton's final novel circulated positive and negative reactions from critics. It was often referred to by the New York Times as the "unfinished novel." The main questions asked by critics were: "Is this really her legacy?" and "Was there enough left of the book to publish in the first place?" According to close friends to Wharton such as her literary executor Galliard Lapsey stated the story was brought to her intended conclusion.
Time Magazine also wrote an editorial on her last novel in 1938. It begins with, "Death last year ended Edith Wharton's work on a novel that might have been her masterpiece.She has written 29 chapters of a book apparently planned to run about 35 chapters. The story had reached its climax; the characters were at a moment in their careers when they were compelled to make irrevocable decisions. While Mrs. Wharton left notes suggesting how she intended to end the novel, she gave no hint of how she intended to solve its moral and esthetic problems."
The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine "Pictorial Review". Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Appleton & Company. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Though the committee had initially agreed to give the award to Sinclair Lewis for "Main Street", the judges, in rejecting his book on political grounds, "established Wharton as the American 'First Lady of Letters'". The story is set in the 1870s, in upper-class, "Gilded-Age" New York City. Wharton wrote the book in her 50s, after she had established herself as a strong author, with publishers clamoring for her work.
"The Age of Innocence" was a softer and more gentle work than "The House of Mirth", which Wharton had published in 1905, and which was set in the time of her childhood. In her autobiography, Wharton wrote of The Age of Innocence that it had allowed her to find "a momentary escape in going back to my childish memories of a long-vanished America... it was growing more and more evident that the world I had grown up in and been formed by had been destroyed in 1914." Scholars and readers alike agree that "The Age of Innocence" is fundamentally a story which struggles to reconcile the old with the new.
After the affair ended, Wharton, who was fiercely guarded when it came to her private life, requested that Fullerton destroy every letter she had ever sent him in order to avoid any scandal. The affair itself, although suspected, was not confirmed until the 1980s. Fullerton had ignored Wharton's request and had kept all of her letters, which were eventually published as a book, "The Letters of Edith Wharton", in 1988. The affair probably helped inspire an erotic fragment for "Beatrice Palmato", a novel that Wharton outlined but didn't pursue, given that the incestuous father-daughter relationship at its core would make it unpublishable.