Portal:Literature/Biography archive/2007, Week 4

Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer.

Between 1900 and 1937, Wharton wrote many novels; the first to be published was her 1905 masterpiece The House of Mirth, which constitutes the first of many large-scale efforts to expose the oppressive nature and intolerance of her old New York. An admirer of European culture and architecture, Wharton crossed the Atlantic 66 times. From 1907 on, she made her primary residence in France. First, she resided at 58 Rue de Varenne, Paris, in an apartment that belonged to George Washington Vanderbilt II. Then, in 1918, once the chaos of the Great War had subsided, she abandoned her fashionable apartment for the more tranquil Pavillon Colombe, whose erotic history intrigued her immensely, in nearby Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt. And finally, she acquired Sainte-Claire le Château, formerly a convent, in the southern village of Hyères, to which she retreated during the winters and springs.

Her best known work, The Age of Innocence (1920), won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. She spoke flawless French and many of her books were published in both French and English.