Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862 in New York City to wealthy parents George and Lucretia Jones. Edith had two brothers Frederic and Henry. The family resided in New York City until Edith was four, when the family moved to Europe. The Jones family spent the next few years traveling throughout Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. Edith took a special liking to France and throughout her life she would visit France periodically. When the family moved back to New York Edith continued her private studies. She learned to speak French and German and studied literature, philosophy, art, and science. Edith took to reading and writing, and she enjoyed writing poetry as well as short stories. Her first work, Fast and Loose, was published in 1877, and a collection of her poems, Verses, was published in 1878. Edith's first major novel, The House of Mirth, was published in 1905.
While the Jones family was traveling throughout out Europe Edith's father became ill, thinking France would cure him the family vacationed up there for awhile, however in 1882 George Jones died on the French Riviera. Three years later on April 29 Edith married a banker by the name of Edward Robbins Wharton. Overall their marriage was not a happy one and after discovered affairs (on both sides) the couple split in 1913.
Apart from novels Edith wrote about a great deal of different things. She was fascinated by gardens and she wrote books on the different types of European gardens and landscape. She also co-wrote The Decoration of Houses in 1897 which was an architectural book. And Edith enjoyed writing ghost stories. Some of her most popular ghost stories were Tales of Men and Ghosts, Here and Beyond, and Ghosts.
Edith Wharton is most famous for her novel Ethan Frome, published in 1911. This novel is very short in length, only about eighty eight pages, but Edith Wharton conveyed a lot in eighty eight pages. Ethan Frome remembered as a classic novel because of the unique plot line, the well developed characters, the descriptive writing, and the bitter twist at the end of the story.
In 1920 Edith's book The Age of Innocence was published. In 1921 Edith returned to America from her home in France to receive the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton was the first woman ever to recieve the Pulitzer Prize for a fiction novel. This is quite an honor. In her life Edith Wharton composed 17 novels as well as several short stories and poems. Usually her work reflected her lifestyle in the upperclass society of New York City, however in some cases she took her writing in drastically different directions (for example Ethan Frome and Ghosts). In 193o Edith Wharton was elected into The American Academy of Arts and Letters. And in 1934 Edith's autobiography, A Backward Glance, was published.
On August 11, 1937 Edith Wharton died of a stroke at Pavillion Colombe, and was buried at Cimetiere des Gonards, in Versaille.
Work Cited
Merriman, C.D. "Edith Wharton - Biography and Works." The Literature Network: Online
Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays and Summaries. Jalic Inc., 2007. Web. 23
Aug. 2010. http://www.online-literature.com/wharton/
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Scribner, 1939. Print.
While the Jones family was traveling throughout out Europe Edith's father became ill, thinking France would cure him the family vacationed up there for awhile, however in 1882 George Jones died on the French Riviera. Three years later on April 29 Edith married a banker by the name of Edward Robbins Wharton. Overall their marriage was not a happy one and after discovered affairs (on both sides) the couple split in 1913.
Apart from novels Edith wrote about a great deal of different things. She was fascinated by gardens and she wrote books on the different types of European gardens and landscape. She also co-wrote The Decoration of Houses in 1897 which was an architectural book. And Edith enjoyed writing ghost stories. Some of her most popular ghost stories were Tales of Men and Ghosts, Here and Beyond, and Ghosts.
Edith Wharton is most famous for her novel Ethan Frome, published in 1911. This novel is very short in length, only about eighty eight pages, but Edith Wharton conveyed a lot in eighty eight pages. Ethan Frome remembered as a classic novel because of the unique plot line, the well developed characters, the descriptive writing, and the bitter twist at the end of the story.
In 1920 Edith's book The Age of Innocence was published. In 1921 Edith returned to America from her home in France to receive the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton was the first woman ever to recieve the Pulitzer Prize for a fiction novel. This is quite an honor. In her life Edith Wharton composed 17 novels as well as several short stories and poems. Usually her work reflected her lifestyle in the upperclass society of New York City, however in some cases she took her writing in drastically different directions (for example Ethan Frome and Ghosts). In 193o Edith Wharton was elected into The American Academy of Arts and Letters. And in 1934 Edith's autobiography, A Backward Glance, was published.
On August 11, 1937 Edith Wharton died of a stroke at Pavillion Colombe, and was buried at Cimetiere des Gonards, in Versaille.
Work Cited
Merriman, C.D. "Edith Wharton - Biography and Works." The Literature Network: Online
Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays and Summaries. Jalic Inc., 2007. Web. 23
Aug. 2010. http://www.online-literature.com/wharton/
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Scribner, 1939. Print.
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