Chapter 5: Friends and Enemies Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Edith Wharton [Newbold Jones] was born into a socially distinguished New York City family. Privately educated, Wharton was at home in both the United States and Europe, and she lived permanently in Paris from 1907 until her death. After an unhappy marriage, Wharton struggled against an aristocratic and narrow-minded New York high society when she wanted to obtain a divorce from her husband, and as time went on she became a leading advocate of divorce in the United States. A friend and student of the expatriate American wrier Henry James , she wrote with an interest in psychological characterization and in the manners of the aristocratic and very upper-middle-class families of old New York, often criticizing their morality and repressiveness. Her major novels are The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), The Custom of the Country (1913), Summer (1917), and The Age of Innocence, considered by many to be one of the most important novels to come out of the United States and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1920. Wharton's stories are collected in Crucial Instance (1901), Tales of Men and Ghosts (1910), Xingu and Other Stories (1916), Old New York (1924), and Ghosts (1937). "Roman Fever" appears in An Edith Wharton Treasury (1950). Author Links Edith Wharton This site features hypertexts of much of Wharton's work as well as a photograph and links to other Wharton sites. Perspectives in American Literature: Edith Wharton This site features an illustration of Wharton, links to other Wharton sites, a selected bibliography.

"Roman Fever" Edith Wharton Perspectives in American Literature: Edith Wharton

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