Edith Wharton's Career In The Literary World

During a time when women had little influence in the literary world, it was the beginning of a literary career for one woman. When she was only eleven years old she wrote her first novel and her writing only continued to grow from there (Wooldridge 17). Edith Wharton has written 46 books altogether throughout her career as a writer and has influenced many people along the way (“American Novelist” 80).

Wharton was born into a wealthy and socially prominent New York family on January 24th, 1862 (Grolier Library 78). Her parents are George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Rhinelander, who have two older boys along with Wharton. She is said to have been a “mistake” and her mother treated her rather coldly as a child. Wharton had an awfully lonely childhood because of this (Leach 15, 21, 25). She was educated at home and later went on to learn Italian, German, and French (Grolier Library 78).

As a young child Wharton became interested in writing, but her parents discouraged her. They believed she should not be so engrossed in such things as writing and poetry (Woolridge 11, 24). In 1885 Wharton

Wharton also become the first woman to receive an honorary Litt D from Yale (1923). Although Wharton did many great things for the literary world, she was also a big influence to the world outside of literature. During WW1 she ran the Children of Flanders Rescue Committee which helped 600 orphans escape from Belgium. In 1914 Wharton established the American Hostels for Refugees, which gave shelter and food to those made homeless by World War 1. This organization helped 9,330 people and raised $100,000 (Leach 77, 78). Wharton was given the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1916 and Orphan of Leopold in 1919 for what she had done during the war (Grolier Library 78). A friend of Wharton’s once said that she “speaks less of her good works than anyone I know” (Leach