Category Archives: Edith Wharton’s Birthday

“A perpetual piecing together of broken bits”

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”

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!

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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