Why is edith wharton important

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Author of The Age of Innocence , Ethan Frome , and The House of Mirth , she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. The third child and only daughter of George Frederic and Lucretia Rhinelander Jones, the young Edith spent much of her childhood in Europe, mainly France, Germany, Italy, developing both her gift for languages and a deep appreciation for beauty — in art, architecture and literature.

Her childhood ended with the death of her father in March of , followed by two romantic disappointments. In she married Edward Robbins Teddy Wharton. Though imperfectly suited for each other, the couple filled their early married years with travel, houses, and dogs. In , eager to escape Newport, Wharton bought acres in Lenox, then designed and built The Mount, a home that would meet her needs as designer, gardener, hostess, and above all, writer.

Every aspect of the estate—including its gardens, architecture, and interior design—evokes the spirit of its creator. In a letter to her lover, Morton Fullerton, Wharton revealed how much of herself she put into The Mount:. The Whartons would live at The Mount a short ten years.

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It was a transformational decade for Wharton, full of professional triumphs and emotional turmoil. Here she would write some of her greatest works, including The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome The Whartons sold The Mount in , and they divorced in In , when World War I broke out, Edith Wharton was wealthy, famous, recently divorced, and living in her favorite city, Paris.

Instead of withdrawing to the safety of England or returning to the United States, Wharton chose to stay and devote herself to creating a complex network of charitable and humanitarian organizations. Wharton established workrooms for unemployed seamstresses, convalescent homes for tuberculosis sufferers, hostels for refugees, and schools for children fleeing war-torn Belgium.

As a writer, Wharton was intent on witnessing the realities of war and was one of a handful of journalists and writers allowed on the front lines. In , Wharton received the French Legion of Honor for her war work.