Edith Wharton was the author of Ethan Frome and many other celebrated novels. She was born in into a wealthy family in New York on January 24, 1862. The third child and only daughter of George Frederic and Lucretia Rhinelander Jones, the young Edith spent much of her childhood in Europe, mainly France, Germany, Italy. There she spent most of her time developing both her gift for languages as well as a deep appreciation for beauty – in art, architecture and literature. Returning to New York in 1872, Edith’s literary life soon began. Her parents enlisted the talented Anna Catherine Bahlmann as her governess. She was allowed access to her father’s library. At the age of 16, Verses, her volume of poems was privately published.
At age 17, Edith Jones “came out” into society,and started making rounds at the dances and parties in Newport and New York, all whilst observing the rituals of her privileged world. A world she would later happily skewer in her fiction. Her childhood soon ended with the death of her father in March of 1882, followed soon after by two romantic disappointments. Still unmarried at the age of 23, Edith was rapidly approaching “old maid” status. In 1885 she married Edward Robbins Wharton. Though not well suited for each other, the couple managed by filling their early married years with …show more content…
Instead of leaving to the safety of England or returning to the United States, Wharton chose to stay and devote herself to making a complex network of charitable and humanitarian organizations. Wharton established workrooms for unemployed seamstresses, hostels for refugees, and schools for children fleeing the war-torn Belgium. As a writer, Wharton was intent on witnessing the realities of war and was one of a handful of journalists and writers allowed on the front lines. In 1916, Wharton received the French Legion of Honor for her war
At age 17, Edith Jones “came out” into society,and started making rounds at the dances and parties in Newport and New York, all whilst observing the rituals of her privileged world. A world she would later happily skewer in her fiction. Her childhood soon ended with the death of her father in March of 1882, followed soon after by two romantic disappointments. Still unmarried at the age of 23, Edith was rapidly approaching “old maid” status. In 1885 she married Edward Robbins Wharton. Though not well suited for each other, the couple managed by filling their early married years with …show more content…
Instead of leaving to the safety of England or returning to the United States, Wharton chose to stay and devote herself to making a complex network of charitable and humanitarian organizations. Wharton established workrooms for unemployed seamstresses, hostels for refugees, and schools for children fleeing the war-torn Belgium. As a writer, Wharton was intent on witnessing the realities of war and was one of a handful of journalists and writers allowed on the front lines. In 1916, Wharton received the French Legion of Honor for her war