Edith Wharton - (1862-1937)
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Read other essays on Edith Wharton written by New York students
Ilana Gross and Molly Avila and Elana Schipano.I. Background
During the 1920's wealthy Americans sought escape from confining traditions. Edith Wharton wrote, "...Catherine had never had beauty—a gift which, in the eyes of New York, justified every success, and excused a certain number of failings." 1 Greenwich Village became the center for the New York intellectuals and Newport was the literary center for New England, but the artistic exodus to Europe continued.
Edith Wharton was a New York socialite and Newport elite who traveled abroad extensively. With the divorce from her elder husband, she sought the Parisian scene where the talents of Henry James, Gertrude Stein, and "Les Six" flourished. ("Les Six"included Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and the only woman, Germain Tailleferre.) Ironically, it was in Europe that she first met Henry James. She counted him among her literary friends, admiring his analytical style.2 They both wrote of their homeland and an alter-self. Despite, or perhaps because of the depth of their friendship, she remained his devoted student and in his literary shadow.
Reflecting the liberal contemporary authors of her time, Wharton wrote social criticism, but it was her strong craft and characterization, and copious output that made her a respected author. Stressed by her failed marriage, her doctor advised her to write fiction as therapy. Her first stories were published in Scribner's magazine and a yearly output of novels followed. It was The House of Mirth that made Wharton a household name.
The Age of Innocence first appeared in four installments in the Pictorial Review. After extensive revision, it was published. In the novel, Wharton wrote, "The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they're going to get whatever they want, and that we almost always took it for granted that we shouldn't. Only, I wonder—the thing one's so certain of in advance: can it ever make one's heart beat as wildly?" 2
With the coveted Pulitzer Prize for literature, Edith Wharton was catapulted to the top of the male dominated literary world. "After all, it was to be expected." 3
II. Timeline of Wharton's Life
c.1862: Born Edith Newbold Jones, New York City, c. January 24; nickname: "Pussy"; raised in wealthy leisure class of NY; Newport summer home: Pencraig; father: George Frederic Jones; mother: Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander Jones
1878: Book of poems published
1880: Meets Henry Leyden Stevens (b.1859) of Newport
1882: Engagement terminated by Henry's mother, in battle over the family inheritance
1885: Married brother's friend, the unconventional Edward "Teddy" Wharton, April 29; lived in Pencraig Cottage in Newport from 1885-1893
1886: Parents lived in Europe for six years, avoiding Civil War post depression
1893: Whartons purchased an "incurably ugly" home known as "Land's End" in Newport, which was the basis of book with Ogden Codman, Jr.
c.1899: Moved to Lenox, MA; home called "The Mount"
1906: Edith Wharton moved to Paris
1912: Divorced her husband and joined the Parisian literary scene
c.1914-23: World War I, worked for Belgian Relief for which she was awarded the Legion of Honor; member of the National Institute of Arts and Medals, Gold Medal
1921: First woman to win Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence
1923: Only return trip to America to be the first woman to receive honorary doctorate from Yale University
1937: Died in St. Brice-sous Foret, France, August 11; Louis Auchincloss was her biographer.
III. Works by Wharton
The Decoration of Houses(1897),with Ogden Codman, first royalty check
The Greater Inclination (1899), contains TheTwilight of the God (short play)
The Touchstone (1900)
Valley of Decision (1902), challenged old vs. new American families
The Sanctuary (1903)
The Descent of Man and other Stories (1904)
The House of Mirth (1905), social realism and satire.
Madame de Treymes (1906), written as a transplanted Parisienne
The Fruit of the Tree (1907), evils of Industrialism
Ethan Frome1911), her first "best seller"
The Reef (1912)
The Custom of the Country (1913)
Summer (1917), about New England and Newport society
The Age of Innocence (1920), about New York society, Pulitzer Prize winner
New York (1924)
The Writing of Fiction (1925)
The Mother's Recompense (1925)
Twilight Sleep (1927)
Age of Innocence (1927), staged with Katherine Cornell as Ellen Olenska
The Children (1928), satirizing social anarchy
Hudson River Bracketed (1929)
A Backward Glance (1934), autobiography
The Buccaneers (1938), search for social order
The Age of Innocence (1993), made into movie with Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, and Daniel Day-Lewis
Others works: French Ways and Their Meaning; The Glimpses of the Moon, God's Arrive; Old New York: Four Novellas; Roman Fever and Other Stories; Short Stories; A Son at the Front
IV. Footnotes
1. Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence(NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1920);NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, Collier Books, 1993, p. 13
2. Ibid., p. 353
3. Ibid., p. 165
V. Other Sources
"100 Best Writers of the 20th Century And What You Can Learn From Them." Writer's Digest, Vol. 79, No.11, pp.12-25.
Bradbury, Malcolm and Mottram, Eric. The Avenel Companion to Englishand American Literature. Volume II, United States of America.NY: Avenel Books, pp.264-5.
Harding, James. The Ox on the Roof. Scenes from Musical Life in Paris in the Twenties. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1972, 261 pages.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Oxford History of the American People. NY: Oxford University Press, 1965, pp.909-11.
Scherman, David E. and Redlich, Rosemarie. Literary America. A Chronicle of American Writers from 1607 to 1952 with 170 Photographs of the American Scene that Inspired Them. NY: Dodd, Mean & Company, 1952, p.98.
VI. From the Web
Newport Notables site highlights Wharton's life in Newport, RI:
Also, try Internet searches (Wharton, Edith; Edith Wharton + biography) to locate
additional information. Here are some places to start: locate additional information. Here are some places to start: http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://search.msn.com
This essay was submitted by Susan Huetteman, a retired teacher in Rhode Island.