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TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY:
Celebrating the Birthday of EDITH WHARTON
(born in 1862)

Edith Wharton was born into a tightly controlled society at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage.

Wharton broke through these structures to become one of America’s greatest writers. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel.

She was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.



Edith Wharton continues to seem credible and contemporary 80 years after her death. One reason is the authenticity of her writing; she was a keen observer not just of society but of the human condition.


Contemporary counterparts of her characters can be found in today’s literature because the qualities she imbued them with are universal.


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