Edith Wharton: A Woman in her Time

by Louis Auchincloss

extremely rare,very good condition

Genres: Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Louis Stanton Auchincloss was an American novelist, historian, and essayist.

Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents, Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story. Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin, the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society.

Reviews

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading a nonfiction book by Louis Auchincloss is like sitting and talking with him over coffee or martinis. Edith Whartonfelt like that, a bit chatty, a tiny bit gossipy, plenty of Auchncloss insight, a little bit biography, a bit literary criticism, some good pictures.

[Deborah Harps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures were great. Some interesting information given. Not in-depth or complete. Enjoyed reading all the same.

[MaryJo Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very old (1971) biography of Edith Wharton. It is short and so not very detailed but it does have many photographs which gave me a good sense of her looks and her lifestyle.(opulent) It also critiqued several of her major novels. I was interested in it because I just read "The Age of Desire" a new novel about certain events in her life and wanted to find out if any of the novel was based on fact.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this biography as part of the Summer Reading Program at Morrisson Reeves Library. I appreciated the photo's in the book, there were some I hadn't seen of Edith and her life. It really was published as a sort of coffee-table book, and done quite nicely for a 70's publication.

The actual text of the biography left much to be desired. It was a quick read, but the pace of the text matched the depth of the bio. Edith is framed in glowing terms, only hedging slightly on the rough edges of her character. This was published before scholars revealed her affair with Fullerton, so I give some grace on not revealing that bit. Her life-altering sea voyage with Teddy is never mentioned, and it feels like her whole life is boiled down into about 20 sweeping sentences. I'm unsure of whether this is due to lack of scholarship that was still to be revealed, or if it was just Auchincloss' lack of interest in her life.

Auchincloss does dive in to many of her most popular texts. I rarely agree with his characterizations though. He highlights woks as her "best writing" that I don't agree with - and really takes her later writing to task as having lost quality and focus. My opinion tends to see value in all stages of her writing, albeit that it does clearly change after her divorce and the war.

One thing is clear, Auchincloss connects personally with Wharton. In several places he reveals his personal ties to the author - covering "chats" he's had with her close friends and family, talking about "my edition" of certain publications, and maintaining a light, fireside tone throughout the book. This book makes me look forward to the newer biographies that offer much more depth about Wharton as a person AND and author.

[Angela Sawtelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A photo essay with good biographical information and review of her books. Interestingly, the novels that the author doesn’t consider up to Wharton’s usual standard are the ones I like the most.