I recently received a wonderful gift from my father... his stamp collection!! (All of the un-cancelled stamps, so I can use them on my snailmail creations!!) 💌📬 As I was perusing my treasures I came across an Edith Wharton stamp.
It got me thinking about The Age of Innocence, one of my favorite books of all time. (I just recently loaned my copy to a fellow bibliophile. 🥰📚)
This year marks the 100th anniversary of it’s publication!! I first read the book back in 1994. Mr. Murphy and I had only been married a couple years. We were young, poor and in love...with each other and books. We decided to spend a little of our meager income on a classic literature book of the month club! (Yes, we are nerds.📚🧐)
We had just seen the most recent movie version of The Age of Innocence, staring Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Rider. It was a beautiful movie and I loved it so much I wanted to read the book. (My favorite part of the movie was the narration by Joann Woodward. Her beautiful voice reading Edith’s lovely words!! 🥰)
Serendipitously, The Age of Innocence was one of our book of the month selections!! The book, of course, was even better than the film. If you’ve never read the book or seen the movie, I recommend both. The themes of societal conventions, love, marriage, scandal, innocence, hypocrisy, traditions, change and double standards are timeless and thought provoking. Edith won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Age of Innocence, her 12th novel, becoming the first woman to ever win it.
I watched a documentary about Edith and was just as fascinated by the woman as I was by her work. She was so brilliant and interesting. Born in New York in 1862 to a wealthy family, Edith’s life must not have been too different from the high society families she wrote about. She opposed the oppressive feminine ideals of the time and desired to get a better education than most girls received. She read extensively and wrote poetry and fiction as a child. She wrote her first novel at the age of 11 and was first published at the age of 15!! Despite her obvious talent her family discouraged her from writing professionally. She married Edward Wharton in 1885. They both loved travel and spent time together abroad. She published a few poems, a short story, did some travel writing and wrote a two-act play during the years 1889-1901.
At the age of 40 she published her first novel, The Valley of Decision. After that, she really started cranking out the work. Over the next 30 years she would write numerous poems, short stories and novels. She is best known for her psychological examinations of characters dealing with changes in society. And I love the way she can turn a phrase. 🥰 🎶
When WWI broke out she traveled to Paris to support the French war effort. She did much humanitarian work including running a workroom for unemployed women and opening a hostel for Belgian refugees. She was able to raise over $100,000 for refugee aid. At the age of 53 she started writing for Scibner’s as a war correspondent sending back reports from the front lines!! She was awarded the Legion of Honour, France’s highest honor, for her war work by the French president.
You can still visit her famous home and gardens, The Mount, in Lennox, Massachusetts (which is on my “Literary Locations Bucket List”!!! 🤩)
The anniversary of her death is August 11, 1937. In honor of Mrs. Wharton and the 100th anniversary of The Age of Innocence, I encourage you to read her books and write someone a letter telling them all about it!!
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