Here is the biography of Edith Wharton:
Edith Wharton was an American novelist and short story writer born in 1862 in New York City. She was a member of the wealthy and well-connected Jones family, with her mother being a great-granddaughter of Lieutenant Colonel Ebenezer Stevens, an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Wharton's family was known for their real estate business, and her father was a first cousin, once removed, of the socialite Caroline Schermerhorn Astor.
Wharton spent her childhood traveling across Europe, where she became fluent in French, German, and Italian. She was educated by tutors and governesses and developed a love for reading, although her mother forbade her from reading novels. In 1871, Wharton suffered from typhoid fever while visiting the Black Forest of Germany, which almost killed her.
Wharton began writing her own fictional works from an early age and published her first work, an English translation of a German poem, in 1877. She used a pseudonym at the insistence of her parents, as a writing career was considered unbecoming for a "society woman" of her era. Wharton continued to write, publishing poems and translations in various literary magazines, but her family and social circle discouraged her from pursuing a literary career.
In 1879, Wharton made her debut as a socialite and was courted by Henry Leyden Stevens, but her family disapproved of the relationship. In 1882, her father died, and Wharton's mother moved to France, where Wharton eventually joined her. Wharton married Edward Robbins "Teddy" Wharton in 1885 and spent several months each year in Europe, developing a love for Italy.
However, Teddy's mental health began to decline, and the couple's travels ceased. Wharton struggled with asthma and depression in the late 19th century. The couple divorced in 1913, and Wharton moved to Paris, where she became involved in the war effort during World War I. She wrote articles about the war and helped found several organizations to support refugees and the war effort.
In 1916, Wharton was appointed a chevalier of the Legion of Honour by President Raymond Poincaré. After the war, Wharton settled in the French countryside, where she wrote her most famous novel, "The Age of Innocence", which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921. Wharton was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times but never won.
Wharton published her autobiography, "A Backward Glance", in 1934, which omitted some of the more difficult aspects of her life. She died in 1937 at the age of 75 due to a stroke and was buried with war hero honors in Versailles. Despite her passing, Wharton remains one of the most celebrated American writers of the 20th century, known for her astute criticism of the 19th-century upper class and her vivid depictions of a world that was long gone even when she wrote her novels.
