Edith Wharton-American Author

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) American Writer

Born as- Edith Newbold Jones "Keeping up with the Jones'" is said to be a statement derived from her family's social status. 

 

Edith Wharton and her first book "The Design of Houses"

Edith Wharton is the first woman to be awarded in 1921 the Pulitzer Prize for literature for her novel "The Age of Innocence". She was born in New York City, in her parents' brownstone and spent her early childhood in Newport R.I., NYC, and traveling in Europe, particularly France, Italy, Germany and Spain, where she became fluent in French. She was educated by tutors and governesses. She had a craving for knowledge, but was forbidden by her mother from reading 'novels', so instead she extensively read a variety of classics, philosophy, history and poetry from her father's and her father's friends libraries. She started writing in her youth and described herself at the age of 5- walking around with an open book and making up stories about what was happening within the pages.

She 'came out' into New York society at age 17 and at the tender age of 20 her father died. After the death of her father, her mother packed up and went to live in France. Edith was a keen observer of the society of the gilded age, having been a member of it and she wrote about it with criticism in her works. After a failed engagement to a man her family did not approve of, and fearful of being labeled as an old maid, societal pressure lead her to marry Edward (Teddy) Wharton, a man 12 years older than herself but she said he had a youthful nature, loved animals and the outdoors as she did, and enjoyed traveling as much as she did. After extensive traveling at the beginning of their marriage, Teddy was having frequent severe bouts of depression so they settled down and purchased a property in Land's End near called The Mount. She thought the house was very ugly so she set about remodeling the place, recreating a grand entrance and landscaping the property with gardens. At that time she co-authored her first book "The Design of Houses" with designer Ogden Codman Jr. Edith expended much of her energy planning the design of the house and gardens and her husband continued to have deteriorating mental health. She also suffered from some ill health and depression at this time as well. Eventually the couple sold the estate and divorced. Edith moved away to Paris, France.

The Mount, in Lenox MA.where she lived, is now a National Historic Monument.

When World War 1 broke out in 1914 in Europe, Wharton chose not to come back to the safety of the United States and stayed in France. She directed and was influental in many charitible and relief organizations formed at the time to help those whose lives had been upended by the war. She helped organize schools for displaced children, employment for those whose jobs were disrupted, hostels for those left homeless from bombed cities, and hospitals for tuberculosis sufferers. She witnessed firsthand the realities of war and was a reporter on the front lines writing for the New York Times during this time period. After the war she decided to move to the quiet of the French countryside and remained on the continent until her death at the age of 75 in 1937. 

 

 

The Book of the Homeless, Wharton edited it for the benefit of those displaced by the war.

She was awarded with an appointment to the Legion of Honor by the government of France for her war relief efforts. She mingled with may famous individuals in her time such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, and Theodore Roosevelt. Wharton wrote about the upper crust of the gilded age, in which she lived, and often criticised it. She notes that she never had a good relationship with her mother in her biography and cariacatures of her mother often appear in various characters in her writings. A repeated theme in her writing, lending credence to gothic themes, is Wharton's use of the house as a character, a physical presence, and a part of the characters' in her books moods and emotions. 

Ethan Frome, Wharton's gothic novella, stands out in her works because of its rural setting and the unpriviledged nature of its characters and the harsh conditions of their lives. It is said to be parrtly inspired by a real sledding accident which took place in Lenox, MA in 1904. Wharton met and worked with one of the survivors of that accident. The books severe setting and stoic characters are the set up for a gothic story, the name of the town and consequent setting act as one of the characters in the book and this setting was influenced by the author's early life in the New England area. Frome, though a quick read, is an emotionally haunting tale which uses irony to add a sardonic twist to the story.

Quotes from Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

"Even though he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but a ruin of a man."

"That man touch a hundred? He looks as if he was dead and in hell now."

"Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away."

Partial listing of the works of Edith Wharton (fiction and non-fiction):

The Decoration of Houses 1897

Italian Villas and their Gardens 1904

Italian Backrounds 1905

The House of Mirth 1905

Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort 1915

In Morocco 1917

The Age of Innocence 1920

Old New York 1924

A Backward Glance 1934

Various Short Story Collections: Roman Fever and Other Stories, The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton, The New York Stories of Edith Wharton

Three Poetry Collections 1898, 1909, 1926

The Book of the Homeless (Editor) 1916 ; a collection of essays, art, poetry, and music put together for the purpose of raising funds for displaced civilians during WW I.

Various film and play adaptations of her works from 1918 to the present.

The Mount, her former home, is a National Historic Landmark in Lenox MA.