Edith Wharton (Edith Newbold Jones as a girl) is a well-known American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for the novel "The Age of Innocence." In 1993, the work was filmed by the famous director Martin Scorsese.
Edith has 20 novels and dozens of short stories published all over the world. Having written the famous novel The Age of Innocence in 1920, she became the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
Born in the USA, Wharton settled in France in 1907, which became her second home. The last time she visited her homeland in 1923 was to receive her doctorate at Yale University.
The writer passed away in 1937. She is buried in the suburbs of Versailles at the oldest cemetery Cimetière des Gonards.
Facts from the biography
The future writer was born in the winter of 1862 in the United States in an aristocratic rich family. The girl received a home education and from an early age became interested in literature. My father had a large library, Edith spent a lot of time reading books. At 11, she decided to try writing herself and composed her first story.
When her daughter grew up a bit, her parents sent her to Europe. She spent several years in Paris. There she met many famous representatives of the literary world. The famous writer Henry James, the brother of the famous psychologist William James, had a special influence on her further work.
Returning to her homeland, Edith married American banker E. Robbins Wharton. Their marriage did not become happy. The husband led a wild life, had lovers and squandered money in restaurants. A few years later Wharton decided to escape from her husband to France and in 1907 went to Paris. Edith was able to achieve an official divorce from her former spouse only in 1913.
In France, she met a young journalist Morton Fullerton. They had an affair, which for a long time was hiding from relatives, friends and acquaintances. Only the servant and friend Wharton, the writer Henry James, knew about the relations of young people. Edith wrote in her memoirs that only with Morton did she feel true love and care, gained female happiness.
When the First World War began, Wharton went to the front line, where she worked as a journalist. She has written dozens of articles for the French press. Edith also actively helped refugees and children who lost their parents, for which in 1916 she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
The writer did not want to return to her homeland, because all her friends and close people were in France, and she herself considered this country a second home.
Wharton died at the age of 75 and was buried in France at the oldest cemetery in the suburbs of Versailles.
