Category Archives: Edith Wharton

“A perpetual piecing together of broken bits”

Posted on March 14, 2012 by

One of my favourite novels by Edith Wharton is The Reef, which she wrote while she was working on the much longer novel The Custom of the Country. The Reef was published in 1912, and it’s been called the most … Continue reading →

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“Virtue is its Humphry Ward”

Posted on February 2, 2012 by

In the years after the Great War, Edith Wharton wondered about her future reputation. In my last post, I wrote about her feeling that her work was “either nothing or more than they know.” She wondered if she would begin … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday to Edith Wharton!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Today is Edith Wharton’s 150th birthday, and I’m thinking about ways to celebrate, in addition to rereading her work. There’s a short birthday video on the website of The Mount, the house Wharton designed and built in the Berkshires; there are … Continue reading →

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Austen and Wharton on Sunday

Posted on March 2, 2011 by

This Sunday, March 6th, I’ll be speaking on Jane Austen and Edith Wharton at a meeting of the Nova Scotia Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America.  It starts at 2:30pm; please email me (semsley at gmail dot … Continue reading →

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French Fact and American Fiction

Posted on August 4, 2010 by

I’ve been thinking recently about Edith Wharton’s use of place names in The Custom of the Country. It’s interesting that so many of the American place names she refers to are fictional, whereas most of the places in France are … Continue reading →

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