Considered the Grande Dame of American letters, Edith Wharton wrote 40 books in 40 years, including The Age of Innocence, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize for Literature, thus becoming the first woman to do so.
In 1904, a magazine commissioned Wharton to write a series of articles about gardens, and she and her husband set off on a 4-month tour of Italy. The resulting book, Italian Villas and Their Gardens, influenced a generation of garden designers. Wharton considered herself a better landscape architect than she did a novelist, and would build and design a home and garden called The Mount, in Lennox, on a vast acreage. Here she wrote her greatest works, including The House of Mirth (1905) and Ethan Frome (1911). But while her writing was prolific, her marriage was not, and she and her husband divorced, childless, in 1913. He had been keeping a mistress in Boston, she discovered, embezzling money from her trust fund.
“If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.”
― Edith Wharton
Wealthy, famous and single, Edith Wharton moved to Paris, her favorite city, and began dating an English journalist. Her social circle was made up of famous literary figures and politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt. When World War I broke out, rather than go into hiding, she reported bravely from the front lines. She established complex charities to help war-torn children, tuberculosis patients and refugees, and established workrooms for unemployed seamstresses. In 1916 she received the French Legion of Honor for these efforts.
Wharton then moved to the countryside where bought a restored convent and completed her seminal work, “The Age of Innocence,” satirizing the Old New York society that she had once been a part of. She returned to the U.S. to accept the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, as well as an Honorary doctorate from Yale, but lived out her life in France. Wharton was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928, and 1930.
“To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom.”
― Edith Wharton
Note:
In 2022 Blooming New York Inc. created 10 ft tall jaw-dropping floral mannequin of Edith Wharton as a part of floral show "FEMMES". Through the energy of the flowers, the spirit of Edith Wharton delighted and oozed confidence and flair. Flowers included calla lilies, chrysanthemums, carnations, and a variety of roses. The dahlias and zinnias on the base just were orbs of delight. The stock flowers in shades of peach and yellow were also a nice contrast to the red rosed dress.
