The Legend by Edith Wharton (1916)
The story revolves around a mysterious and ancient legend that has been passed down through generations in a small village in the Pyrenees. The legend tells of a beautiful and evil spirit who was once imprisoned but managed to escape, bringing destruction and chaos to the village. A young woman named Sylvaine is believed to be the reincarnation of this evil spirit, and the villagers are torn between their fear of her and their fascination with her beauty. As the story unfolds, Sylvaine's true nature is slowly revealed, leading to a tragic confrontation that will determine the fate of the village.
By Edith Wharton · First published 1916 · Genre: Gothic Fiction, Romance, Drama · 6 chapters · 14,815 words
First lines
ARTHUR BERNALD could never afterward recall just when the first / conjecture flashed on him: oddly enough, there was no record of it / in the agitated jottings of his diary. But, as it seemed to him in / retrospect, he had always felt that the queer man at the Wades' must / be John Pellerin, if only for the negative reason that he couldn't / imaginably be any one else. It was impossible, in the confused pattern / of the century's intellectual life, to fit the stranger in anywhere, / save in the big gap which, some five and twenty years earlier, had been / left by Pellerin's unaccountable disappearance; and conversely, such a / man as the Wades' visitor couldn't have lived for sixty years without / filling, somewhere in space, a nearly equivalent void.
What this Textopian page supports
The Legend is listed on Textopian as a novella by Edith Wharton, dated 1916 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novella
- Author: Edith Wharton
- Date: 1916 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Gothic Fiction, Romance, Drama, Historical Fiction
- Length: 14,815 words
- Structure: 6 chapters, 194 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Legend by Edith Wharton
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Similar titles
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- Portents by Egerton Castle
- The Dawning by Alice Meynell
- The Maidens Prayer by Edith Nesbit
- Doutre Mort by Harriet Prescott Spofford
- Fair Rosamond by Bernard Capes
Genres
- Gothic Fiction — The story is set in a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere, typical of the Gothic Fiction genre.
- Romance — The plot revolves around a love story, which is a characteristic of the Romance genre.
- Drama — The story contains conflicts and emotional scenarios, which are common in the Drama genre.
- Historical Fiction — The story is set in a historical period, which is a feature of the Historical Fiction genre.
Tags
Gothic Fiction · Romance · Mystery · Supernatural · Fantasy · Historical Fiction · American Literature · Classic · Novella · Short Story · Ghost Story · Paranormal