THE OTHER TWO, A Short Story by Edith Wharton

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  • Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
  • "The Other Two" by Edith Wharton is a story about Mr. Waythorn, who navigates the complexities of his wife Alice's past marriages. Waythorn, newly married to Alice, contends with the presence of her two ex-husbands, Haskett and Varick, in their lives. Haskett, the father of Alice's daughter Lily, visits their home regularly, while Varick requires Waythorn's professional assistance. Waythorn grapples with his discomfort and jealousy but eventually ......

Комментарии • 91

  • @danetteperez3863
    @danetteperez3863 Месяц назад +7

    Oh! My Goodness! “ she was as easy as an old shoe! A shoe that too many feet had worn ..”
    what a description!
    His esteem for her had certainly deteriorated so rapidly with contempt.
    “ A third of a wife”.

  • @PippaAT
    @PippaAT 3 месяца назад +32

    What a beautiful room. How I should love a drawing room like that.

  • @c.a.savage5689
    @c.a.savage5689 3 месяца назад +30

    The best line " ... she was as easy as an old shoe, an old shoe too many feet had worn...".

    • @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю
      @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю 3 месяца назад +7

      Yes, it was the nub of the story. And it was morbid somehow.
      at the same time.
      I wouldn't wish to be in her place

    • @Shineon83
      @Shineon83 2 месяца назад +2

      😂

    • @Shineon83
      @Shineon83 2 месяца назад +7

      @@ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю….You don’t think that Wharton was reflecting on her character? ….I believe that the emphasis on her many excuses for her two failed marriages -along with her ever-present, outward “calm”-reveal a woman with plenty of charm, but little depth or constancy

    • @c.a.savage5689
      @c.a.savage5689 2 месяца назад +4

      @@Shineon83 l would agree and add to that the more than sneaking suspicion that the wife is a shameless social climber, looking for the next better deal. Am l the only one to notice the "Cognac in the Coffee" error she makes? Someone has come for coffee recently and had cognac in their coffee. Wharton calls great attention to this by putting it at the end of a paragraph or chapter. Could it be husband #1? The man she left because she was young and he was poor? Now he's rich (husband #3 is helping him with his investments) and still handsome. Husband #3 asks if she's been seeing husband #2, to which she can truthfully say "No". Could divorce be far behind?

    • @leslieortenzi8875
      @leslieortenzi8875 2 месяца назад +1

      ​@@Shineon83Wharton was making a jab at men who see women as their possessions.

  • @emmahardesty4330
    @emmahardesty4330 2 месяца назад +8

    What a comedy this turns into, just like life--if we're lucky. Or maybe sanguine and smart.

  • @roelienpostma2367
    @roelienpostma2367 2 месяца назад +15

    Never heared such fine writing, filleting social relations to the core.....

  • @akristen4971
    @akristen4971 3 месяца назад +8

    From 46:21-46:47 the analogous symbolism of the cigars is amusing to me - sublime writing

    • @sugarfalls1
      @sugarfalls1 Месяц назад

      That's a great point!! She uses a lot of symbolism like other similar authors; Thomas Hardy & D.H. Lawrence, for example. She wrote another great short story called The Bunner Sisters where she uses the symbolism of clocks. Great short story.

  • @deborahdarling1799
    @deborahdarling1799 3 месяца назад +4

    Beautifully written. I just couldn’t sit as a voyeur in marital scrimmage uggggg

  • @lisakeeling9211
    @lisakeeling9211 3 месяца назад +4

    I admire those who can be civil in those circumstances . I don’t think I could do that. I think I married for life & when it failed. I was finished.

    • @denisemoore6134
      @denisemoore6134 2 месяца назад +2

      That is what makes us all so special, we all do things differently. There is not just one way.

  • @mattneillninasmom
    @mattneillninasmom 3 месяца назад +6

    A very "modern" set of circumstances for its time, (1904) and a harbinger of things to come in the century ahead when things would become even more complicated with "yours, mine, and ours..."

    • @hiwall4883
      @hiwall4883 Месяц назад

      Thank God for that! Women can own their own assets now. Women had no choice but to remarry back then, they owned nothing for themselves.

  • @debramonteiro9093
    @debramonteiro9093 3 месяца назад +5

    Very relaxing bed story... like to Have this type of content... similar soft stories would like to listen to

  • @hilaryeales1268
    @hilaryeales1268 3 месяца назад +17

    You post such great stories, I think my bedtimes are sorted for the next 3 months 😅

  • @kathleenellenford4816
    @kathleenellenford4816 2 месяца назад +3

    Thank you!

  • @VickiNikolaidis
    @VickiNikolaidis 3 месяца назад +10

    Great story. Only one small thing, they are Americans I think.

    • @akristen4971
      @akristen4971 3 месяца назад +5

      Yes, the story is set in NY - the narrator may be British but the story is about Americans

  • @margarethuman2299
    @margarethuman2299 3 месяца назад +10

    Did anything actually happen this story? I did doze off a bit and may have missed it.

    • @c.a.savage5689
      @c.a.savage5689 3 месяца назад +4

      Nothing happened. Other than Waythorn realising the implications of his wife being previously married. Plural.
      It is my guess, she'll leave husband #3 for husband #1, who now has lots of money... Is he the one who has cognac in his coffee??

    • @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю
      @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю 3 месяца назад +1

      😂nothing happened. You haven't certainly missed much

    • @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю
      @ОльгаИванова-б8п1ю 3 месяца назад +4

      ​@@c.a.savage5689no. It was the second one with cogniac in his coffee if im not mistaken)

    • @barbarabarclay6769
      @barbarabarclay6769 2 месяца назад +6

      Sometimes it is pleasantjust listeningto a story being beautifully read.

    • @denisemoore6134
      @denisemoore6134 2 месяца назад +7

      Human interactions happened.

  • @sg-vp2qg
    @sg-vp2qg 3 месяца назад +2

    To Neuralsurfer, could you kindly give the name of the artist of these beautiful pictures on your content? I would be so grateful!

    • @roelienpostma2367
      @roelienpostma2367 2 месяца назад +1

      Artificial Intelligence

    • @sg-vp2qg
      @sg-vp2qg 2 месяца назад

      ​@@roelienpostma2367Really? I know next to nothing about AI, but the pictures sure are pretty. Hmm.

  • @emilycorwith1119
    @emilycorwith1119 Месяц назад

    This is an AI narration? It's amazing.

  • @Lacantantesedivierte
    @Lacantantesedivierte 2 месяца назад +2

    What was that about the 3rd cup...with a laugh...word lost

    • @shirleynaylor9450
      @shirleynaylor9450 2 месяца назад +1

      And he took the proffered cup with a laugh.

    • @shirleynaylor9450
      @shirleynaylor9450 2 месяца назад +1

      The Age of Innocence. The Buccaneers. Edith is a wonderful writer and a keen observer of her time.

    • @Lacantantesedivierte
      @Lacantantesedivierte 2 месяца назад

      Strange​@@shirleynaylor9450

    • @angeldawson
      @angeldawson 2 месяца назад

      ​@@shirleynaylor9450 Thank you so much! I couldn't make it out either and thought perhaps the story had been cut - as sometimes happens! Thanks again!! 😅😊

  • @sandraeastern9720
    @sandraeastern9720 2 месяца назад

    “Vague feminine questions” ?

  • @Lacantantesedivierte
    @Lacantantesedivierte 2 месяца назад

    Very odd...3 husbands all together

  • @Hannah-jk3dk
    @Hannah-jk3dk 2 месяца назад

    I find the stories so mixed up and diverting and i even fail to follow. I guess its expert writing. Ah English is complex

  • @BlueButterfly-wk9dl
    @BlueButterfly-wk9dl 3 месяца назад +13

    Again another beautifully read story I am not someone who enjoys being read to and Now I make an Occasion out of your stories Many Thanks the best way to enjoy a rainy night

  • @kayvassiliou5746
    @kayvassiliou5746 2 месяца назад +9

    Brilliant female author - she foresaw a situation that would become a norm in future marriages divorces, exes, step children and connected relationships.

    • @sugarfalls1
      @sugarfalls1 Месяц назад +1

      Great point!! A future thinking Aquarius if there ever was one!

  • @luzvaldes1030
    @luzvaldes1030 3 месяца назад +11

    Lovely, placid story……think I could enjoy Edith Wharton again as it’s been ages since Ethan Frome

  • @phyllislovelace8151
    @phyllislovelace8151 3 месяца назад +22

    Thank you for these. A welcome change from the doom and gloom.

  • @novascheller5957
    @novascheller5957 3 месяца назад +12

    I haven’t read Edith Wharton… what an astute observer! Thank you…

    • @Elle-s2cents
      @Elle-s2cents 3 месяца назад +11

      I suggest The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth 🙂

    • @mazd8617
      @mazd8617 2 месяца назад

      My favourite novel is the wonderful "The House of Mirth".

  • @roelienpostma2367
    @roelienpostma2367 2 месяца назад +7

    Very well written and beautifully read!

  • @goldkhw
    @goldkhw 3 месяца назад +53

    That was a pleasant change. I'd like some more of those, please. Edith Wharton. A lady writer.

    • @gottasay4766
      @gottasay4766 3 месяца назад +3

      Would you call a man writer a gentleman writer?😊

    • @WVgrl59
      @WVgrl59 3 месяца назад +2

      ​@@gottasay4766why not

    • @littlebrookreader949
      @littlebrookreader949 2 месяца назад +1

      @@WVgrl59 I agree! 🥰 👍👍

    • @poetry6581
      @poetry6581 Месяц назад

      We must reclaim womanhood. Calling a woman a 'lady' is both patronising and controlling; 'girl' is denying her reality.

    • @poetry6581
      @poetry6581 Месяц назад

      The RUclips doco on Edith illustrates my point; how society controlled women.

  • @littlebrookreader949
    @littlebrookreader949 3 месяца назад +8

    I’ve never read her The Other Two. Edith Wharton is tops in my book! How sad for us all that she didn’t live long enough to complete Wives And Daughters. ❤️

    • @footfault
      @footfault 2 месяца назад +3

      Wives and Daughters was left nearly complete. It was written by Elizabeth Gaskell, not Edith Wharton.

    • @littlebrookreader949
      @littlebrookreader949 2 месяца назад +1

      @@footfault That’s right! I remembered the author wrong. I didn’t know it was almost finished when she died. The movie’s ending was odd to me. With her delicate health, I didn’t think Molly would go to Africa, but would stay behind like before. I couldn’t believe the author would do that with everyone’s beloved Molly. Thanks!

    • @footfault
      @footfault 2 месяца назад +1

      @@littlebrookreader949 Yes, Molly was very lovable! It's such a long book - the paperback I have is over 500 pages - that the reader really gets into that world, and is sorry when the book ends. I hope you've seen the 1999 BBC adaptation, which was quite faithful to the book, beautifully filmed and an excellent musical score.

    • @sugarfalls1
      @sugarfalls1 Месяц назад

      Wow, was that in response to D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers? Probably not. But that popped into my head.

    • @footfault
      @footfault Месяц назад

      @@sugarfalls1 Nope. Wives and Daughters is a very far cry from Sons and Lovers. Different authors, different era, different quality of writing!

  • @tressaverde
    @tressaverde 3 месяца назад +3

    This women may attribute more emotional intelligence to men the would be expected.

  • @judikingsman6132
    @judikingsman6132 2 месяца назад +3

    Have I missed something? Did this story end with tea? Did this story end at all?

  • @Shineon83
    @Shineon83 2 месяца назад +6

    I’ve known two women almost identical to Wharton’s Mrs. Weythorn: Charming, but shallow, lovely, yet extremely strategic, good-natured, yet gold-digging - and whose constant “unflappability” sometimes rode uncomfortably close to sociopathy….
    The immutable nature of human behavior, and the ability of certain writers to capture it is what, I believe, blesses certain writers with immortality….

  • @gillgallett4864
    @gillgallett4864 2 месяца назад +2

    Wonderful picture

  • @tracywilkes1314
    @tracywilkes1314 3 часа назад

    Too many adverts !

  • @rodoguzmanquin
    @rodoguzmanquin Месяц назад

    Excellent!!! What AI software do you use for your images? I love them.

  • @tressaverde
    @tressaverde 3 месяца назад +1

    Possibly it is an attempt to impart some.

  • @FairyTaleRetreat
    @FairyTaleRetreat 2 месяца назад

    They've become my bedtime companions, and I couldn't be happier!

  • @Lacantantesedivierte
    @Lacantantesedivierte 2 месяца назад

    Very odd story

  • @mares3841
    @mares3841 2 месяца назад

    🖋️

  • @henryworthington8261
    @henryworthington8261 2 месяца назад +1

    Intonation wrong, so hard to listen to.

    • @roelienpostma2367
      @roelienpostma2367 2 месяца назад +2

      Huh? On the contrary!

    • @footfault
      @footfault 2 месяца назад

      Yes, and many mispronunciations and misreading of words..."at her husband's INSTANCE." not the correct word "insistence" she had to return her pearls to husband #1. Terrible reader. I thought it was AI at first. Usually Brits are excellent readers (Hugh Fraser, etc.).

    • @marisamartin3664
      @marisamartin3664 2 месяца назад +1

      I felt she did it very well.

  • @Grace.allovertheplace
    @Grace.allovertheplace 2 месяца назад

    This was a lovely story about how intertwined life is, and how non complicated it can be if we have the desire to go easy on ourselves and the life we are leading! I loved this story! ❤

  • @KENEJ2005
    @KENEJ2005 3 месяца назад +4

    'dot, dot dot'? Eleven Labs narrator?
    Enjoyable nonetheless.
    Thanks for uploading.