Wharton, Edith
Wharton, Edith , née Newbold Jones ( 1862 – 1937 ),American novelist and short story writer, born in New York of a distinguished and wealthy New York family. She was educated privately at home and in Europe, where she travelled widely; she married Edward Robbins Wharton in 1885 and they settled in France in 1907 . The marriage was not happy; she suffered from nervous illnesses, and her husband's mental health declined in later years. They were divorced in 1913 . She devoted her considerable energy to a cosmopolitan social life, which included a close friendship with H. James , and to a literary career, which began with the publication of poems and stories in Scribner's Magazine. Her first volume of short stories, The Greater Inclination ( 1899 ), was followed by a novella, The Touchstone ( 1900 ), but it was The House of Mirth ( 1905 ), the tragedy of failed social climber Lily Bart,...
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