As you know, we occasionally like to highlight specific authors throughout the year. One author that everyone knows the name of, but not everyone knows any intimate details about, is Edith Wharton. In the world of literature, Wharton’s literary accomplishments have made her a household name, albeit one usually associated with high school reading requirements! But Wharton wasn’t just a skilled author… despite being born into relative privilege she was also a social commentator who wasn’t afraid to confront the injustice of the social norms of her time! A true force to be reckoned with in the early 20th century. 

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Edith Wharton (born Edith Newbold Jones) was born on January 24th, 1862, in New York City. Wharton’s family belonged to the upper class of New York society, giving her access and opportunity to a world of luxury, culture and high society from a young age. However, her privileged upbringing became a double-edged sword, as her access to the people and views of the upper echelons shaped her perspective on almost all aspects of her life – society, class, love, and gender roles. Her first pieces were published when she was just 15 years old, an English translation of the German poem “Was die Steine Erzählen”, for which she was paid $50. Her family did not wish her name to be published publicly, and her mother refused to allow Wharton to even read novels until she was married. Though occasionally disheartening, these obstacles did not deter young Edith, and at just 16 her father arranged for a book of her poetry to be published under a pseudonym. She also had her poems published in Atlantic Monthly, New York World, and Scribner’s Magazine. Clearly, Wharton was destined for a literary life. 

Wharton married Edward “Teddy” Wharton when she was just 23. Teddy was a wealthy banker, and from the outside, it must have looked like a solid match for Edith. Unfortunately, their marriage was fraught with tension… Teddy was not interested nor supportive of Edith’s literary pursuits, and though they shared a love of travel, Teddy’s debilitating depression was eventually too much for Edith. That being said, their travels provided much inspiring worldliness for Wharton’s later works. 

Her first novel “The Valley of Decision” was published in 1902, and Wharton never looked back. A few short years later she published “The House of Mirth” (1905), a novel focusing it’s plot on the life of a young high-society woman who sees her life fall apart because she doesn’t adhere to common notions of what she ought to be. Wharton used her own life experiences to criticize the upper class, highlight their insincerity and false superiority – and Wharton gained a name for herself in the literary world. In 1911 she published “Ethan Frome”, further highlighting Wharton’s ability to create evocative worlds with vivid characters, once again imprisoned by their circumstances (though the rural farmer Ethan Frome is a world away from “The House of Mirth’s Lily Bart. More works followed – “The Custom of the Country” (1913), countless poems, and of course, “The Age of Innocence”. The latter being one of Wharton’s most famous works – earning her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921. Wharton was the first female to win the award. 

Wharton never slowed down. During WWI she was actively involved in relief efforts, organizing charity initiatives to aid refugees in France, and using her fame to help raise funds for the war effort. She addressed social issues and advocated for causes close to her heart – primarily those about gender roles, society and classism. Over her lifetime she produced fifteen novels, seven novellas, eighty-five short stories, books of poetry, books on design and travel. She wrote cultural criticisms, and a memoir. In 1937 she received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Yale University. She was the first woman to do so. 

Wharton indelibly impacted the American literary world, and her works have reached around the globe. Her frank, descriptive and beautiful prose highlighting the complexities of human nature and the constraints of society are unbelievably realistic. One of the most interesting parts about her writing is how she was able to capture society’s issues from all walks of life – from the poor and downtrodden to the unbelievably privileged elite. Throughout her works Wharton explored the human condition with depth and sensitivity.

Wharton died of a stroke on August 11th, 1937 at a country home in France, but one only needs to pick up one of her works to be transported back in time and live a new human experience. 

A phrase I have said for literal years of my life is this… “well, for the love of Thomas Hardy”. I used it in situations when another might say “Oh, for the love of god.” Now I was not equating Thomas Hardy with anyone’s god by any means, I just picked it up somewhere and used it fairly frequently. Assuming that this was a well-known idiom, I never stopped to question the quizzical looks from people on the receiving end of the strange turn of phrase.

Turns out that it is NOT a real expression. I looked it up online, expecting some awesome intellectual to have done the dirty work for me and found its origins. And nothing, nada… zilch. I felt vaguely certain that I had heard someone say it before, some classy lady, somewhere. It turns out I had! After extensive research, I found it was a phrase said by none other than Helen Mirren in the movie Inkheart, which came out in 2008, based on the book of the same name. So my embarrassing question is this… why are we not using this phrase more often? Try it out, if anything we can guarantee it’s good for a chuckle (on your end, of course… don’t forget the quizzical looks from the receiver).

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2nd, 1840, in a small hamlet east of Dorchester in Dorset, England. His family was of modest means, and though his father was a local builder, Hardy’s mother was well-read and literate and taught Thomas to read at an early age. He did well in school, but upon graduation at the age of 16 Hardy did not have the means to pursue a University education, and became an apprentice architect to a local man for several years. At the age of 22,  Hardy had worked enough to foster a move to London to attend King’s College where he did design work with his architectural skills. Despite his success there, Hardy never felt truly at ease in the city – he was keenly aware of the class divisions and became extremely interested in social reform – a key element that would make itself known in his later works. In 1867, after only five years in London, Hardy chose to return to the countryside and settled in Weymouth while beginning his writing career alongside working as an architect.

Our beautiful 1958 copy of Far from the Madding Crowd put out by the Limited Editions Club and signed by the illustrator!

Hardy began writing novels the same year he chose to leave London. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, could not find a publisher willing to work with it due to its highly political nature. In fact, Hardy’s friend and fellow author George Meredith even concluded that attempting further to get the story published might harm Hardy’s ability to have work published in the future. Deciding the cons outweighed the pros, Hardy shelved the book and went on to publish several novels in the 1870s, including Desperate Remedies (1871), Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) – a work he is well-known for today. Hardy, beginning by being published anonymously, quickly took credit for his works and was a prolific writer through the rest of his life. He went on to publish ten more novels after Far from the Madding Crowd (including Tess of the D’Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure – other popular Hardy titles), dozens of short stories, and several books of poetry.

Hardy’s written style has been classified as Victorian realism – he used his own experiences in London, seeing the detriments of such a classist society in England, to fuel his writing and criticisms of the social constraints found in all aspects of Victorian life. The human suffering caused by these limitations set upon people are constant themes in all of his works. In his own way, Hardy wished to banish the conventions found in society, religion, romantic relationships and friendships and live a freer life. Hardy also full-heartedly believed in fate, and its ability to change destiny, another theme commonly found in his characters’ journeys.

Hardy and his work were an influence on many, many creatives and authors both in his time and ever since – some of the more notable ones include D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Anais Nin, John Cowper Powys and W. Somerset Maugham. His courage to bring attention to the disadvantages of common societal roles was admittedly brave for his time. He is a great example of an author who broke literary norms to help lead us into modern day life. (Which, despite the myriad of problems we still face and propagate, has the advantage of being a much more liberated, independent society where anything is possible.) So a very Happy Birthday to him… and for the love of Thomas Hardy!