The Muse's Tragedy
Published in 1899 by Charles Scribner’s Sons (25th magazine), The Muse’s Tragedy was then printed in June 1899, as part of the collection of short fiction The Greater Inclination.
The first two parts of the short story reveal their meeting and the link that unites them: Mrs. Anerton was the muse of poet Victor Rendle that Danyers admired very much.
The short story addresses the themes of love, tragedy and artistic inspiration through Danyers’ point of view.
During her childhood, Edith was a brilliant girl and as a teenager she began to write a short story called "Fast and Loose".
Cultivated and keen on the world surrounding her, she will become close friend with Walter Berry, an expert in French literature.
Her success bothered her husband which made the couple unhappy; as a consequence, and because of Edward's instability, they broke up in 1911.
There, she rubbed shoulders with the great and the good of the French society: André Gide, Jean Cocteau, and Paul Bourget.
The success of Wharton’s career reached its peak in 1921, with the publication of The Age of Innocence, allowing her to win the Pulitzer Prize, and becoming the first woman to receive it.
After a first heart attack in 1935, Edith Wharton was transported to Pavillon Colombes two years later, where she died in August the 11th.
Their relationship grows increasingly stronger in a romantic environment, and Mrs. Anerton encourages Danyers to contemplate writing a book about Rendle for which she promises her help.
It informs the reader of an ellipsis: Danyers and Mrs. Anerton have spent a month together in Venice, but have not discussed the book project.
As the reader figures it out from the very beginning of the short story thanks to the title, The Muse's Tragedy's plot relies on some tragic aspects.
To conclude, tragic aspects of The Muse's Tragedy rely on Mrs. Anerton’s unsuccessful love towards Rendle.
Actually, a few clues foreshadow the unrequited love: the whole story is set in a poetic style and fraught with references to Rendle’s poem.
Therefore, we can interpret this writing style - that underlines the poetic aspect of the story - as a sign of the muse’s and the poet’s love.
The fact that Edith Wharton concludes her short-story with a written confession makes her choice even stronger and tragic since the emotions of Mrs. Anerton are clearly exposed for the first time in the story.
The narrator offers to the reader a biased picture of Mrs. Anerton, indeed, she is seen as a goddess, because of the inspiration she arose in her poet Rendle, and in other men.
The use of the different tenses can be pointed out: the narrator uses the preterit in order to relate Mrs. Anerton's state, it's a passive attitude.
On the contrary, Rendle's action is depicted with the past perfect that points up his active attitude: the poet seems to be the main participant.
Secondly, we can note this sentence: "my mind must have been to him (I fancy) like some perfectly tuned instrument on which he was never tired of playing".
Hence, the perception of the role of the muses in inspiration and artistic creation progresses until pointing out the major part that Mrs. Anerton played in Rendle's poetry.
