Classic Review - Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton

Madame de Treymes is a short story written by Edith Wharton in 1907.

You can read it at Project Gutenberg (Text Only) or for HTML or PDF versions here.

It is available as a "Penguin 60's Classic" from Amazon.com. If you like Edith Wharton or short small editions of classics I would recommend this.

Penguin 60's Classics are smaller and can literally fit in your pocket. Here is Madame de Treymes next to "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair:



Do not read the rest of this post if you are interested in reading Madame de Treymes.

**** SPOILER ****
This short story is really good yet can be pretty dense to read. Edith Wharton seems to never have had a hard time to make a sentence last forever (or in some cases half of a page). However in my opinion this adds to the class that this title provides. It is a wonderful story filled with lots of words I had to look up - and add to my vocabulary - and was entrenching enough that I continuously wanted to pick it up even when I knew I had other things I had to get done rather than read.

The only issue I have with this story is that it is definitely "timed". What I mean by that (I can't think of the exact word this moment) is that it was written in a time when the situation that is presented was probably very plausible but now in our day and age would not really be capable of happening. I mean it is possible but it would be very remote and obtuse.

The main character of the story John Durham would like to marry Madame de Malrive. Madame de Treymes is Madame de Malrive's cousin. The main crux of the story hinges on Mr. Durham wanting to marry Fanny Frisbee (the pre-Madame de Malrive) and Madame de Malrive not yet having a divorce from Monsiour de Malrive. What completely provides the pivot of why they cannot be together is that Madame de Malrive has a son and that son has been raised (along with Madame de Malrive after her marriage) in the Catholic faith. She does not want to depart from her son or have him taken away and she is afraid that will happen if she is granted a divorce from Monsiour de Malrive and then run away with Mr. Durham.

Throughout the story we follow Mr. Durham as he pledges to try and win Madam de Treymes influence in order for her to sway the family to allow Madam de Malrive a divorce so that she can marry Mr. Durham. One is led to believe that Mr. Durham may just be able to have the situation turn out the way that he hopes. He works with Madam de Treymes to allow Madam de Malrive to divorce.

Just when he is about to return to Paris to be with Madame de Malrive - to the life they had hoped for, Madam de Treymes allows herself to speak candidly with Mr. Durham about what she wanted out of the bargain to help him get the divorce for Madam de Malrive. Unfortunately and tragically what she wants is for the son to be taken away from Madam de Malrive to live with the family, because the family is more important that any one individual. Madam de Treymes confesses that while they are losing one individual in Madam de Malrive they are preserving the family by taking custody of the son upon the divorce.

So why do I say that this isn't something that could happen in our time? I only say that because Madam de Treymes says that the French courts have precedents where the father would keep the son no matter what the Mother's situation is (ie a better parent, a fit parent, has an income and home, etc) simply because he is Catholic and would retain him as Catholic. It is apparent that the custody of the son would be given to the father simply because it would be known that she had wanted to initiate the divorce instead of him and that because divorce is strictly forbidden to Catholics that this would be a sin against the family. It would be viewed as her trying to break up the family to pursue her life of sin.

There is an interesting point brought up about how Madame de Malrive would view Mr. Durham as an extension of her family - a new family. However this is viewed the opposite way by Madam de Treymes and the Malrive family. The mis-communication and assuming by both Madam de Treymes and Mr. Durham that each has the other's interests at heart is what makes this story woven together so nicely. It is a tragic story but nonetheless a very good one.

Perhaps getting a divorce today and having the son go to the father simply because he is Catholic is true today but I doubt it. Even if it is true, my initial thought was, "Why can't they just leave the country?" Oh how the times have changed since 1907.

**** End of SPOILER ****

This was a very quick and satisfying read. It was also my first title by Edith Wharton. I have to say that I think she will be one of my favorite authors to read. She is very witty with the situations that she puts her characters in and obviously had a very good command of the English language.

Have you read this?
Have you even heard of it?

I'd like to hear what you think!

Also a quick shout out to my buddy Scott Hall who has started The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I wanted to let you know that as of tonight I'm right there with you! Look for it in an upcoming Classic Book Review.