Reading Wharton with Pain: On Rest, Practices, and Care

Critics have widely regarded Edith Wharton's Twilight Sleep (1927) as an ironic novel about pain: a satire of modern life's supposed promise that pain can be avoided. This essay argues that Wharton's novel is as much about managing pain as it is about avoiding it. I consider the novel in light of experiences of chronic pain and illness, both Wharton's and my own. My analysis finds that while the novel's satire targets the fleeing of pain, the text also engages aspects of life lived with pain. The characters demonstrate constant fatigue, a symptom of pain's presence; they undertake mental, physical, and care practices as modes of pain management; and the text's formal structures suggest chronic pain's duration. By focusing not on direct representations of pain but on how pain can condition a life (and a narrative), I elucidate the ongoing value of making a distinction between managing pain and avoiding it.