The Age of Innocence: To the End episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 27, 2026 · 1H 30M

The Age of Innocence: To the End

from Close Reads Podcast · host David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White

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

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 27, 2026

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