Edith Wharton: An Extraordinary Life

In this first fully illustrated biography of American writer Edith Wharton, the author combines insightful personal history with comparisons of how elements of Wharton's life and milieu were reflected in her writing. The more than 300 illustrations include numerous personal photos--some taken by Wharton herself.

This profusely illustrated biography of Wharton (1862-1937) concentrates on the American writer as a continental traveler whose aesthetic appreciation of architecture and interior design found expression in the homes she maintained. Although she was best known for novels portraying upper-class society ( House of Mirth , 1905), Wharton also wrote about home decoration ( Italian Villas and Their Gardens , 1904). Dwight, a freelance writer and lecturer, skillfully details, with accompanying illustrations, Wharton's acute visual sense with which she designed the rooms and gardens of her homes in the U.S. and Europe. In this adequate account of Wharton's life, the author covers her divorce and her love affair with Morton Fullerton, as well as her friendships with writer Henry James and art critic Bernard Berenson. Also documented is the well-organized war relief for WW I refugees that Wharton established in Paris. Photos. Reader's Subscription Book Service alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Unlike other recent biographies that focus either on the literature (Shari Benstock, No Gifts from Chance, LJ 6/15/94) or on Wharton's social contexts (Susan Goodman, Edith Wharton's Inner Circle, LJ 5/15/94), Dwight's work demonstrates the centrality of architecture, travel, and gardening to Wharton's life and work. The chapters are organized around Wharton's many travels and explore the development of Wharton's aestheticism as she encounters a variety of artistic styles and theories. The greatest strength of the book is the lavish illustrations, which show clearly that Wharton was an architect of space as much as an architect of character. Indeed, after Dwight's biography one can never again read The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth without inhabiting the grand spaces that Wharton describes. A fine complement to the works of Benstock and Goodman. Highly recommended.
Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.