Author Focus

Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

In her long career, which stretched over forty years and included the publication of more than forty books, Edith Wharton portrayed a fascinating segment of the American experience. She was a born storyteller, whose novels are justly celebrated for their vivid settings, satiric wit, ironic style, and moral seriousness.

Major Works:

• The Decoration of Houses (1897)
  
• The Greater Inclination (1899)
  
• The Touchstone (1900)
  
• Crucial Instances (1901)
  
• The Valley of Decision (1902)
  
• Sanctuary (1903)
  
• Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904)
  
• The Descent of Man and Other Stories (1904)
  
• Italian Backgrounds (1905)
  
• The House of Mirth (1905)
  
• The Fruit of the Tree (1907)
  
• Madame de Treymes (1907)
  
• The Hermit and the Wild Woman, and Other Stories (1908)
  
• A Motor-Flight Through France (1908)
  
• Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verses (1909)
  
• Tales of Men and Ghosts (1910)
  
• Ethan Frome (1911)
  
• The Reef (1912)
  
• The Custom of the Country (1913)
  
• Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort (1915)
  
• Xingu and Other Stories (1916)
  
• The Book of the Homeless (1916)
  
• Summer (1917)
  
• The Marne (1918)
  
• French Ways and Their Meaning (1919)
  
• The Age of Innocence (1920)
  
• In Morocco (1920)
  
• the Glimpses of the Moon (1922)
  
• A Son at the Front (1923)
  
• Old New York (1924)
  
• The Writing of Fiction (1925)
  
• The Mother's Recompense (1925)
  
• Twelve Poems (1926)
  
• Here and Beyond (1926)
  
• Twilight Sleep (1927)
  
• The Children (1928)
  
• Hudson River Bracketed (1929)
  
• Certain People (1930)
  
• The Gods Arrive (1932)
  
• Human Nature (1933)
  
• A Backward Glance (1934)
  
• The World Over (1936)
  
• Ghosts (1937)
  
• The Buccaneers (1938)

Links:

• Atlantic Online: The House of Wharton - traces Wharton's publication history in The Atlantic Monthly, including poems and stories.
• Domestic Goddesses: Edith Wharton - biography and selected critical essays about Wharton.
• Edith Wharton's World - portraits of people and places from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
• Edith Wharton Society
• Edith Wharton - An overview with biocritical sources.
• PAL: Edith Wharton (1862-1937) -Chapter 7: Early Twentieth Century
• ClassicNotes: About Edith Wharton - Biography of Edith Wharton written by Harvard students
• Books and Writers - Edith Wharton
• Georgetown - Edith Wharton.