heiress

The Gilded Age of American literature occurred between the post Civil-War era and the early twentieth century, roughly the late 1880’s to the early 1910’s, when American businessmen rose to new heights of economic prosperity and began establishing social connections to the European aristocracy. Even though the American economy was flourishing at this time compared to that of Europe, wealthy Americans did not possess the same status due to their lack of titles and Old World culture. Rich Americans represented a less prestigious “new money” class whereas, for example, the English dukes and their peers with whom many wealthy American families desired association and connection through marriage were classified as “old money.” During the Gilded Age, upper-class Americans may often have earned more in annual income than their European counterparts, but socially Americans were seen by Europeans as backward, naive, and innocent. This social conflict became the backdrop for the increasingly pessimistic literature of the age: as one critic writes, “American novelists increasingly turned to a realistic—and sometimes quite critical—portrayal of life, rejecting the romantic idealism characteristic of the pre- Civil War period” (Author). These novelists began creating more realistic stories reflecting the new economic era when young women desired fortune and titles as a result of marrying European aristocrats.

Significantly, in the 21st-century, too, many contemporary American authors have returned to the period of the 1880s and 90s, and to the subject of the naive American abroad, as fodder for best-selling novels and hit television shows: Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs, , and AH by DG, for example. (Transition and talk about DG and how ...

... middle of paper ...

...This is shown clearly throughout several examples in the novels. Henry James’, Daisy Miller, is more cynical, whereas Daisy Goodwin’s, The American Heiress, is more jovial. It is said that “The American Girl has the advantage of her English sister in that she possesses all that the other lacks.”; even though Daisy and Cora are both from the same country, they are polar opposites who compliment one another. Since these books are portrayed to be during the roaring twenties, these affluent characters resemble some families that can be found in society now. With the gap between the wealthy and impecunious currently and back in the belle- époque ear, it can be easily seen that we are presently in a Gilded Age. Not only economically speaking, but with the resurgence of Gilded Age themed literature and entertainment, but we seem to be centered around this period of time.