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"Edith Newbold Jones Wharton in hat with fur muff" by Unknown - Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton_in_hat_with_fur_muff.jpg#/media/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton_in_hat_with_fur_muff.jpg

The Life of Edith Wharton

 

          Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24th, 1862 in New York City into one of the more prestigious of the existing New York elite. Though no Vanderbilt, her family was similar in its well-monied Dutch and British origins – even being supposed by some to be the same Jones family to have spawned the adage “Keeping up with the Joneses’ – and the young Edith was kept up in a certain type of style, with a particular sort of education as was expected of young elites of well-pedigreed families (Armitage). Early in her life the American Civil War came to a close. Around this time, her parents decided to leave for Europe, taking her and her two far-older brothers with them on tour. There, they traveled the continent for six years while the young Edith was tutored and excelled at her studies (Armitage).

          As time passed and the family returned to the states, her precocious gift for the written word love of reading were not cherished by her parents. Instead, seeking to stamp them out, she was forbade from reading novels until she was married though she had already penned one at the age of eleven (Edith Wharton, 75…). A strong-willed young woman, Edith nevertheless sought out what she could from books and decried the expectations of young women within her social circle. These trappings of society, however, were not easily undone. Following a failed engagement which had come after a long two-year courtship, Edith was summarily married off to an elite gentlemen of similar social standing named Edward Wharton (Armitage).

          It was not until around the age of forty, several years into her childless marriage, that Edith began seriously writing again and attempted once more to be published. Partially spurred on by her deep love of the new home that she designed and called “The Mount,” the middle-aged Edith Wharton found there a sense of peace and empowerment. It was on the grounds of that house that she authored her many books and short stories – one of which, The Age of Innocence, made her the first-woman winner of the Pulitzer Award (Edith Wharton – Background). On August 11th, 1937, the still-working Wharton suffered a stroke while abroad in France, dying at the age of seventy-five (Edith Wharton, 75). Lauded by many for her acerbic critiques of what for her were the modern American elite and her literary fecundity, Edith Wharton has long retained her status as an iconic writer from the turning of the early 20th century up to the present.

 

"Edward Harrison May - Edith Wharton - Google Art Project" by Edward Harrison May (1824 - 1887) (Details of artist on Google Art Project) - KgEeLEaKCfosdA at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Harrison_May_-_Edith_Wharton_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg#/media/File:Edward_Harrison_May_-_Edith_Wharton_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
"Edith Newbold Jones Wharton in hat with fur muff" by Unknown - Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton_in_hat_with_fur_muff.jpg#/media/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton_in_hat_with_fur_muff.jpg
"Edith Newbold Jones Wharton" by E. F. Cooper, Newport, Rhode Island - Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton.jpg#/media/File:Edith_Newbold_Jones_Wharton.jpg
"Edward Harrison May - Edith Wharton - Google Art Project" by Edward Harrison May (1824 - 1887) (Details of artist on Google Art Project) - KgEeLEaKCfosdA at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Harrison_May_-_Edith_Wharton_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg#/media/File:Edward_Harrison_May_-_Edith_Wharton_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
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