The “vast gilded void” of Leisure: Energy and Work in The House of Mirth

Inspired by energy humanities, this article frames The House of Mirth (1905) as a novel with deep understanding of energy and labor. This article analyzes how Wharton effectively borrows from thermodynamic theories like entropy and inertia to juxtapose Lily Bart’s precarity with the elite. Against this inert milieu backdrop, Lily stands out as an energetic, if exhausted, worker. Reframed, her social status decline is a depletion of energy resulting from gendered labor. This highlights Wharton’s effective critique as her literalization of the effects of oppressive forces through work terminology and energy metaphors that portray the embodied, physic, exhaustive effects of exploitative conditions.