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Classic Authors: Edith Wharton

© Susan Jensen

George Frederic and Lucretia Jones, both of impeccable lineage, held an honored place in New York society. On January 24, 1862, Edith Newbold Jones entered their gilded world. The little girl received instruction on how to be a proper young lady. Although her creativity reared its head early in her life–she began making up stories as a child, even writing a novella in her adolescence–such pursuits were not encouraged among members of the upper-class. She never attended formal schooling, but received her education from a governess, and the books she borrowed from her father's extensive library. Her education, however, was not deemed as important as finding a suitable husband.

Edith Jones became Edith Wharton when she married Robbins Wharton, a Boston banker, in 1885. Ten years her senior, Robbins proved to be stuffy, and possessed of an intellect which could not match Edith's own. The miserable union ended in 1913, when the couple divorced. Rumors of Robbins' infidelities abound, but Edith's own extra-marital affair with Morton Fullerton is well documented.

Although Edith had written a novella as a teenager, she did not publish her first book until she was 35 years old. She co-authored The Decoration of Houses (1897) with her friend Ogden Codman, Jr. She had hired Codman to redecorate her summer home, and found that they shared a passion for simplicity in architecture and home furnishings. Both disliked the heavy, dark style that prevailed during the period, and decided to write a book on their ideas. The book remains a must read for architects and decorators.

Valley of Decision (1902) was Edith's first novel, but it was The House of Mirth (1905) that launched her writing career, and earned her reputation as a serious author. Her 1920 novel Age of Innocence earned her a Pulitzer Prize, the first in fiction to be given to a woman.

By 1907, Edith Wharton had settled in France, where she first met her lifelong friend and mentor, Henry James. She spent her time in Europe writing steadily, entertaining friends, gardening, and visiting with important writers, politicians, and thinkers.

During World War I, Edith emerged herself in relief work. She organized and ran war charities, established refugee shelters and convalescent homes, and distributed medical supplies at the front. Using her skills as a writer, she detailed what she saw around her in a series of essays, through which she urged the United States to support France. For her efforts, Edith Wharton became one of the first women to receive the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

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