Edith (Newbold Jones) Wharton—novelist, short-story writer.

Born in New York City, 1862. Educated at home but spent much time abroad when she was young. Mrs. Wharton is a society woman and a great lover of outdoors and of animals. Chevalier of the Legion of Honor of France.

Suggestions for Reading

1. Mrs. Wharton’s friendship with Henry James and the derivation of her methods from his suggest an interesting comparison of the work of these two writers. For this comparison, books treating of similar material should be chosen; for example, Mrs. Wharton’s The Custom of the Country or Madame de Treymes with Mr. James’s Portrait of a Lady or The Ambassadors. The result will show that Mrs. Wharton, having an essentially different type of mind, has worked out an interesting set of variations of Mr. James’s method.

2. Mrs. Wharton’s novels of American social life should be studied and judged separately from her Italian historical novel (The Valley of Decision) and from her New England stories, Ethan Frome and Summer.

3. Two special phases of Mrs. Wharton’s work which call for study are her management of supernatural effects in some of her short stories and her use of satire.

4. Her short stories offer a basis of comparison with those of Mrs. Gerould ([q. v.]), another disciple of Mr. James.

5. Has Mrs. Wharton enough originality and enough distinction to hold a permanent high place as a novelist of American manners?

6. Use the following criticisms by Mr. Carl Van Doren as the basis of a critical judgment of your own. Decide whether he is in all respects right: