Episode

The Age of Innocence: To the End

Podcast
Close Reads Podcast
Published
Jan 27, 2026
Duration seconds
5405
Processing state
not_requested
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https://closereads.substack.com/p/the-age-of-innocence-to-the-end
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https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/185970400/f03a757bd05042eca90d8f8216a77b00.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/close-reads-podcast-5585685/episodes/the-age-of-innocence-to-the-end
Markdown
/podcast/close-reads-podcast-5585685/the-age-of-innocence-to-the-end.md

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Summary

Welcome back to our series on Edith Wharton’s very complex (and wonderful) novel. This week, in discussing the ending, we find ourselves at, well, a loss for words. Nevertheless, we persist. We attempt to reckon with the complicated nature of May’s character, Newland’s fatalism and paralyzed life of the mind, the question of whether he’s a tragic character, how we may or may not re-think the countess in light of the ending, and much more! As always, happy listening! To learn about The Tapestry curriculum from the CiRCE Institute click here! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe