The Scandals of Edith Wharton

Gilded Age author, poetess, architect, interior designer and eventual Catholic enthusiast Edith Wharton (1862-1937) recorded upper class American life. If a reader followed just her novels (The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth), you could be at place at any dinner or ball in glittering New York, London or Paris. With the death of her father at age 20, the death of her young fiancé and her subsequent marriage to mentally ill Teddy Wharton (1850-1928), her life was punctuated by crisis and tragedy. Escaping into her own affairs, friendships and novels, Wharton's approach to mental illness was governed by duty. While Teddy's condition has been hard to understand due to Edith's destruction of her many letters, this video attempts to shine a light on what one of American's pre-eminent voices saw during her marriage.

Sources:

Hermione Lee, Edith Wharton, New York: 2007

The Mount, Edithwharton.org

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