--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's…" description: "\"The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.\" — Michael Dirda" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png" --- # The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories… ![“The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.” quote by Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png) > “The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.” [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wharton's ghost tales combine refined social critique with chilling supernatural elements. **In simple terms:** Her stories blend society critique and horror. Key Takeaway Appreciate layered storytelling. Themes literature supernatural social critique Mood analytical thoughtful Type critical interpretive When to use this quote - book clubs - academic courses - creative writing - film adaptation Key Concepts gothic psychology class commentary Questions to Reflect On - How do social norms shape horror? - What makes a ghost story timeless? A Different Perspective The subtlety may be lost on modern readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ghost stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost-stories/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Savagery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/savagery/) [Surprised](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surprised/) ## Related quotes > [I love meeting booksellers and readers and hearing how they've read and received my stories. Often I'm surprised by which characters they've loved best,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-glass/i-love-meeting-booksellers-and-readers-and-hearing-how-they-ve-read/) [Julia Glass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-glass/) > [Halloween isn't the only time for ghosts and ghost stories. In Victorian Britain, spooky winter's tales were part of the Christmas season, often told…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/halloween-isn-t-the-only-time-for-ghosts-and-ghost-stories-in/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [In all my novels, a sense of place - not just geographic but social - is a critical element. I have always been drawn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-wiggs/in-all-my-novels-a-sense-of-place-not-just-geographic-but-social-is-a/) [Susan Wiggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-wiggs/) > [Edith Wharton was a natural story-teller. As plots do in real life, hers flow directly from character. Her prose is so effortlessly elegant that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/edith-wharton-was-a-natural-story-teller-as-plots-do-in-real-life/) [Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/) > [“Sam Anderson. “The Greatest Novel.” New York Magazine (outline). Jan. 9, 2011. New York is, famously, the everything bagel of megalopolises—one of the world’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sam-anderson-the-greatest-novel-new-york-magazine-outline-jan-9-2011/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She had such control of tone , in her text messages, she was the Edith Wharton of text messaging.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-gessen/she-had-such-control-of-tone-in-her-text-messages-she-was-the-edith/) [Keith Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-gessen/) > [If Edith Wharton lived in the Age of Innocence, surely we now live in the Age of Deception.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-meyer/if-edith-wharton-lived-in-the-age-of-innocence-surely-we-now-live-in/) [Pamela Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-meyer/) > [I live by Edith Wharton's rule to get rid of anything neither useful nor beautiful. So I put the TV out on the street.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-bank/i-live-by-edith-wharton-s-rule-to-get-rid-of-anything-neither-useful/) [Melissa Bank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-bank/) > ['The Buccaneers' was an Edith Wharton novel, and she never finished it, and a screenwriter adapted it for television.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-frain/the-buccaneers-was-an-edith-wharton-novel-and-she-never-finished-it/) [James Frain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-frain/) > [ “\[T\]he pain was unspeakable, worse than reading the collected works of Edith Wharton.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-hearne/t-he-pain-was-unspeakable-worse-than-reading-the-collected-works-of/) [Kevin Hearne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-hearne/) > [“Edith Wharton did have one potentially redeeming disadvantage: she wasn’t pretty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-franzen/edith-wharton-did-have-one-potentially-redeeming-disadvantage-she/) [Jonathan Franzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-franzen/) > [“You'll be amazed how much you have in common with Edith Wharton (who struggled to feel worthy of success), Louisa May Alcott (who badly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nava-atlas/you-ll-be-amazed-how-much-you-have-in-common-with-edith-wharton-who/) Nava Atlas > [I live by Edith Whartons rule to get rid of anything neither useful nor beautiful. So I put the TV out on the street.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-bank/i-live-by-edith-whartons-rule-to-get-rid-of-anything-neither-useful/) [Melissa Bank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-bank/) > [I love Edith Wharton. And I love old New York. Anything to do with New York.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leighton-meester/i-love-edith-wharton-and-i-love-old-new-york-anything-to-do-with-new/) [Leighton Meester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leighton-meester/) > [“I had written short stories that were thought worthy of preservation! Was it the same insignificant I that I had always known? Any one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-had-written-short-stories-that-were-thought-worthy-of-preservation/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## More by Michael Dirda > [Nearly all the writing of our time is likely to disappear in a hundred years. Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/nearly-all-the-writing-of-our-time-is-likely-to-disappear-in-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [I sometimes lie awake at night and try to imagine what would be the best period in history to spend one's seventy-odd years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/i-sometimes-lie-awake-at-night-and-try-to-imagine-what-would-be-the/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [To my mind, 'Dear Brutus' stands halfway between Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 'Into the Woods'. Like them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/to-my-mind-dear-brutus-stands-halfway-between-shakespeare-s-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [The goal of a just society should be to provide satisfying work with a living wage to all its citizens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/the-goal-of-a-just-society-should-be-to-provide-satisfying-work-with/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Most lyric poetry is about love, whether yearned after, fulfilled, or wistfully regretted; what isn't tends to consist of laments and cris du coeur…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/most-lyric-poetry-is-about-love-whether-yearned-after-fulfilled-or/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [“Books, by their very nature and variety, help us grow in empathy for others, in tolerance and awareness. But they should increase our skepticism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/books-by-their-very-nature-and-variety-help-us-grow-in-empathy-for/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [My gift, if that's not too grandiose a term, is one for describing novels, biographies, and works of history in such a way that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/my-gift-if-that-s-not-too-grandiose-a-term-is-one-for-describing/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Once we know the plot and its surprises, we can appreciate a book's artistry without the usual confusion and sap flow of emotion, content…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/once-we-know-the-plot-and-its-surprises-we-can-appreciate-a-book-s/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [My wife tells me I should check out 'Downton Abbey', but I gather that series might be almost too intense for my temperate nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/my-wife-tells-me-i-should-check-out-downton-abbey-but-i-gather-that/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [A reviewer's lot is not always an easy one. I can remember flogging myself to finish Harold Brodkey's 'The Runaway Soul' despite the novel's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/a-reviewer-s-lot-is-not-always-an-easy-one-i-can-remember-flogging/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [I once read that in vaudeville, it was often the straight guy who got paid more than the comic because that's the tougher job.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/i-once-read-that-in-vaudeville-it-was-often-the-straight-guy-who-got/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [From the late 19th to the early 20th century, the December issue of almost any general-interest magazine regularly featured a holiday horror or two.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/from-the-late-19th-to-the-early-20th-century-the-december-issue-of/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Neither my mom nor my dad ever bought me any comic books. Certainly not for Christmas. I suspect that doing so would have violated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/neither-my-mom-nor-my-dad-ever-bought-me-any-comic-books-certainly/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [For me, the two weeks between Christmas and Twelfth Night have come to be reserved for desultory reading. The pressure of the holiday is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/for-me-the-two-weeks-between-christmas-and-twelfth-night-have-come-to/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [I've always liked an easygoing, colloquial style. I like the kind of reviewer who is essentially a fellow reader, an enthusiast, a fan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/i-ve-always-liked-an-easygoing-colloquial-style-i-like-the-kind-of/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) [Explore all 131 Michael Dirda quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) ## More Ghost stories quotes > [The ghost story movie that scared me the most was The Changeling with George C. Scott. I think that's sometimes overlooked, but it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-ghost-story-movie-that-scared-me-the-most-was-the-changeling-with/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [I love ghost stories, I love to read them, and I love the idea of being haunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/micah-perks/i-love-ghost-stories-i-love-to-read-them-and-i-love-the-idea-of-being/) [Micah Perks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/micah-perks/) > [I read a lot of ghost stories because I was writing a ghost story. I didn't think at all I was writing a horror…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-hill/i-read-a-lot-of-ghost-stories-because-i-was-writing-a-ghost-story-i/) [Susan Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-hill/) > [How are we to account for the strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid which is so much involved in our love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-are-we-to-account-for-the-strange-human-craving-for-the-pleasure/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“I'd grown up hearing stories about the special hazards that girls faced. I knew where the bodies were found: naked on beaches or cut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-d-grown-up-hearing-stories-about-the-special-hazards-that-girls/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [I'm the boogeyman used to scare South Central kids when they tell ghost stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-heller/i-m-the-boogeyman-used-to-scare-south-central-kids-when-they-tell/) [Jerry Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-heller/) > [Most of the things that I remember from childhood wouldn't make a particularly good story: rescuing worms during rainstorms, our schnauzer attacking a wheel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-link/most-of-the-things-that-i-remember-from-childhood-wouldn-t-make-a/) [Kelly Link](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-link/) > [I love ghost stories. I remember when I was about 12, I read M. R. James' 'Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary' under the covers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-goodman-hill/i-love-ghost-stories-i-remember-when-i-was-about-12-i-read-m-r-james/) Tom Goodman-Hill > [As a child, I was a brat, and my parents didn't know how to control me. So they told me ghost stories, which stayed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bipasha-basu/as-a-child-i-was-a-brat-and-my-parents-didn-t-know-how-to-control-me/) [Bipasha Basu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bipasha-basu/) > [Ghost stories ... tell us about things that lie hidden within all of us, and which lurk outside all around us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-hill/ghost-stories-tell-us-about-things-that-lie-hidden-within-all-of-us/) [Susan Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-hill/) > [How to make a scary movie human, take a movie like Sinister. How can I make that guy so real so that the scary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethan-hawke/how-to-make-a-scary-movie-human-take-a-movie-like-sinister-how-can-i/) [Ethan Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethan-hawke/) > [What I'm always trying to do with every book is to recreate the effect of the stories we heard as children in front of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/what-i-m-always-trying-to-do-with-every-book-is-to-recreate-the/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [I might enjoy writing some ghost stories set in Japan because their whole idea about the spirit world is so interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-t-vollmann/i-might-enjoy-writing-some-ghost-stories-set-in-japan-because-their/) [William T. Vollmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-t-vollmann/) > [“Now, I have always loved ghost stories. Perhaps because people often seem to vaguely sense my own presence while rarely acknowledging it. I’ve been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-berk/now-i-have-always-loved-ghost-stories-perhaps-because-people-often/) Josh Berk > [Many people told me such convincing ghost stories that I felt that there really were ghosts, though I hadn't seen any. And though I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruskin-bond/many-people-told-me-such-convincing-ghost-stories-that-i-felt-that/) [Ruskin Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruskin-bond/) [Browse all 125 Ghost stories quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost-stories/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Dirda" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton-s-ghost-stories-surprised-me/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ghost stories" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton-s-ghost-stories-surprised-me/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf1/michael-dirda-3414_ghost-stories_the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton_1366034.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.” — Michael Dirda", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michael Dirda", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The savagery and power of Edith...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton-s-ghost-stories-surprised-me/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/the-savagery-and-power-of-edith-wharton-s-ghost-stories-surprised-me/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```