Edith Wharton - (1862-1937)
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Read other essays on Edith Wharton written by retired Rhode Island teacher Sue Huetteman and New York student Elana Schipano.
I. Biography
Edith Wharton was born to Lucretia Rhinelander Jones and George Frederic Jones on January 24, 1862 in New York City. She had two brothers who were considerably older, so
she grew up in the lifestyle of an only child. Wharton's family was very prominent and wealthy. Her ancestors on both sides had been among the founders of America. Because
of this, she was born into a well-established family of the Old New York generation. Even though her roots reached quite far back in American history, when Wharton was
three her family suffered financial problems resulting from the Civil War. Finding it cheaper to live abroad, Wharton's family traveled through Europe with her for six years. She
greatly enjoyed this time, for it offered an escape from the close confines of her high society life that limited her later experiences. During the trip, her father taught her to read
and write, as well as hiring a private tutor in every European city they traveled to in order for her to learn foreign languages. When she returned to America she finished her training
with a governess. Wharton spent most of her free time in her father's library, reading and beginning to write. At the age of 14 she finished her first novella, Verses
. Two years later she had it printed privately. Although her parents did not approve of her writing, they helped pay for it. One
person who did appreciate Wharton's writing was a long-time family friend, Walter Berry. Berry helped Wharton develop her writing. The two became very close friends for they
shared an intellectual interest that most people of her class did not value. Although Wharton did not like high society, on April 16, 1885 she married Edward Robbins
Wharton, a Boston banker, who also belonged to a prominent family. He was thirteen years her senior and prone to illness. They moved to a house in Newport, Rhode Island.
Wharton spent a great deal of time decorating their house with the architect Ogden Codman. Together they published a book, The Decoration of Houses, which sold well. It
had a great deal of information about Edith's decorating ideas. Her decorating style had a perfectionist quality that mirrored her literary work.
Edith and Edward were not very content in their marriage. As Edward's mental health got worse, Edith spent a lot of time in Europe, writing and having affairs, which was quite
scandalous at the time. High-class women didn't write, and for a married woman to have affairs was not a common occurrence. Their unhappy marriage ended in 1912 when the two
divorced. Edith moved to France where her writing was appreciated more and she could have a freer lifestyle. She befriended a large number of other writers, for whom she threw
numerous parties. She also entertained important, prominent people, such as Theodore Roosevelt. Although Wharton did act at times in ways that were then considered shocking, she was
also a very charitable woman. During World War I, she volunteered in the relief effort in France. For this, she was awarded The Cross of the Legion of Honor. She set up a place
for women and children with tuberculosis to stay, as well as writing The Book of the Homeless, the profits of which went to homes for refugees affected by the Battle at Flanders.
Edith Wharton won many honors during her lifetime, including the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence, and received a Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and
Letters. She also earned an honorary degree from Yale in 1923 and became a 1927 Nobel Prize nominee. Edith Wharton died on August 11, 1937 at the age of 75 from an apoplectic
stroke. She was buried at Versailles next to her lifelong friend, Walter Berry. II. Influences Edith Wharton's writing was very much influenced by her society. She lived at a time
when roles for women were very limited and guidelines for acceptable behavior were strict and specific. All her stories, except Ethan Frome, are about wealthy people, usually
women, who defy society by leading a life much like Wharton's. These stories take place during a time when traditional ideas were being questioned and there was a shift in who
made up the rich and influential families. During Wharton's lifetime, the old established families began to be replaced by new people who made money from oil and various new
industries. This meant the death of aristocratic Old New York, which even though she disliked it, was a familiar culture for her to touch in her times of need. In her novels, such as The House of Mirth
, this change usually causes an unbalancing of the main character's life, and is one of the very specific patterns in her writing.
Wharton was a severe critic of society. Frequently, her stories blamed many problems on the unwritten rules governing the life of the wealthy. Wharton was also quite an
outspoken critic of men, and a large number of the men in her stories appear weak or foolish. No one escapes harsh blows in her stories. III. Literary Criticism
Wharton had a very intricate style. She wrote with a lot of description, using flowery language and complex words. Although not everyone liked this style, which by the 1920's
many considered old-fashioned, too detailed and ornate, others thought it was precisely these detailed descriptions that made her writing perfect. Ernest Hemingway was one of
the people who found her work too flowery. His technique was more straightforward, while Wharton's was roundabout. Another complaint about her writing was its similarity to
Henry James' works. Although their writing shows an interest in similar themes, it is different in presentation and technique.
Wharton's stories about World War I are not considered her best work. Then, after the war, the popularity of her fictional writing style declined further because her stories were
directed toward a select group of people, the upper class. Another factor in her loss of status as an author was that as she started writing about the Midwest; her distance from
the setting of her stories gave them a detached feel. Despite these criticisms of her work, Wharton is still considered one of America's greatest female writers. IV. List of Works Novels: The Valley of Decision, 1902 Collections of Short Stories: The Great Inclination, 1899 Here and Beyond, 1926 Autobiographies: A Backwards Glance, 1934 Other: Verses, 1878 V. Websites
Sanctuary, 1903
The House of Mirth, 1905
Madame de Treymes, 1907
The Fruit of the Tree, 1907
Ethan Frome, 1911
The Custom of the Country, 1913
The Reef, 1913
Summer, 1917
The Marne, 1918
The Age of Innocence, 1920
The Glimpses of the Moon, 1922
A Son at the Front, 1923
Old New York (Four Short Novels), 1924
The Mothers Recompense, 1925
Twilight Sleep, 1927
The Children, 1928
Hudson River Bracketed, 1929
The Gods Arrive (sequel to above), 1932
The Buccaneers (unfinished), 1938
Crucial Instances, 1901
The Descent of Man, and Other Stories, 1904
The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories, 1908
Xingu and Other Stories, 1916
Certain People, 1930
Human Nature, 1933
The World Over, 1937
The Decoration of Houses, 1897
The Touchstone, 1900
The Joy of Living, 1902
Italian Villas and their Gardens, 1904
Italian Backgrounds, 1905
A Motor-Flight Through France, 1908
Artemis to Actaeon and other Verses, 1909
Tales of Men and Ghosts, 1910
Fighting France, from Dunkerque to Belfort, 1915
The Book of the Homeless, 1916
French Ways, and Their Meaning, 1919
In Morocco, 1920
The Writing of Fiction, 1925
Twelve Poems, 1926
VI. Sources Auchincloss, Louis. "Wharton, Edith Newbold Jones."
Notable American Women, a Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 3. Ed. Edward T. James. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. Brookner, Anita. Introduction.
The Collected Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1988. Bukouinsky, Janet. Women of Words. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1994.
Corbett, William. New York Literary Lights. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 1998. Curley, Dorothy Nyren and Maurice Kramer and Fialka Elaine, eds. Modern American Literature
. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1978. Draper, James P., ed. World Literature Criticism. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992. Trosky, Susan M., ed.
Contemporary Authors. Vol. 132. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. Wagner-Martin, Linda. "Wharton, Edith." World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia.
CD-ROM. Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc., 1998. This essay was submitted by students of Joan Brodsky Schur, a teacher at the Village Community School, in New York City.`