Edith Wharton Birth:
Edith Newbold Jones [Wharton] was born on January 24, 1862 to George Frederic and Lucretia Jones. Her parents were descendants of English and Dutch colonists who became wealthy from their shipping, banking, and real estate businesses. They were considered an aristocratic New York family. Edith lived in Europe for six years with her family. She returned to the United States when she was ten years old and lived in a fashionable area of Manhattan.Edith Wharton Death:
In August 1937, Edith Wharton suffered a stroke and died in France. She is buried in the American Cemetery at Versailles.Edith Wharton Education:
Although Edith Wharton was intellectually inclined, her parents did not send her to school with her brothers. Instead, she educated herself by reading books from her father's library and received lessons from her governess. Her upbringing was considered proper and expected for a debutante.Edith Wharton Marriage:
In 1885, Edith married Edward Robbins Wharton. "Teddy" was a banker from Boston and came from a similar social background, but artistic or intellectual interests did not interest him. As a result, their marriage lacked something that Edith needed from life. She felt empty. In 1907, she discovered that her husband had taken money from her to set up a mistress in Boston. This revelation, along with her desire to pursue writing, lead to their separation. They eventually divorced in 1912.Lines from "A Backward Glance":
"My last page is always latent in my first; but the intervening windings of the way become clear only as I write."Lines from "Ethan Frome":
]"I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story."If you know Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know the post-office. If you know the post-office, you must have seen Ethan Frome drive up to it, drop the reins on his hollow-backed bay and drag himself across the brick pavement to the white colonnade: and you must have asked who he was."
Lines from "The Age of Innocence":
"On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York."Lines from "The House of Mirth":
"Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of the Grand Central Station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart."Lines from "The Custom of the Country":
"'Undine Spragg--how can you?' her mother wailed, raising a prematurely-wrinkled hand heavy with rings to defend the note which a languid "bell-boy" had just brought in."Edith Wharton Brief Biography:
(1862-1937) American writer. Edith Wharton is an important figure in American literature, with works like Ethan Frome, Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, and other works. She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize.Wharton's life was very active outside of these domestic troubles. She was a relief volunteer in France during Word War I. In 1905, she published the book that made her famous, "The House of Mirth." Other popular books included: Ethan Frome (1911), The Reef (1912), The Custom of the Country (1913), Summer (1917), and The Age of Innocence (1920), which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921.
Edith Wharton writes about her wartime experiences in The Marne (1918) and A Son at the Front (1923). She also created a collection of short stories, poems, articles, translations, and reviews. She wrote her best when she was portraying the manners of New England America at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Heavily influenced by her friend Henry James, she depicted the contradictions of upper-class society.
