The Selected Short Stories of Edith Wharton

by Edith Wharton

A collection of twenty-one of Edith Wharton's best short stories includes "A Journey," "The Descent of Man," "Mr. Jones," and "All Souls"

Genres: Classics, Fiction

First published March 28, 2012

About the author

Edith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.

Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.

Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.

Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.

Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.

Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.

Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.

In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.

Reviews

[Tree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. This is a collection of lesser known works and based on what I read, none are very good. A collection like this would benefit someone who loves Wharton and wants to read everything she wrote, but I’m not that reader. If anything, it was a good lesson for me in my own writing and how to improve it. I’m sure many of the stories in this collection were early works, before Wharton became the writer so many people love.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I think I've developed a bias toward contemporary fiction (something I thought I'd never say), an author like Wharton pulls me back in. Her keen observations of closed societies are unparalleled these days (at least in American fiction, maybe because we've lost some of those subcultures) and her ghost stories still keep me up at night. Loved the variety of this collection. Would be thrilled to read it again.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each and every one of these stories is outstanding-- tart or droll or meditative.
And a few are deliciously spooky. I am particularly fond of "All Souls," an uneasiness-inducing tale of haunting activities in a modern house.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Wharton’s novels and wanted to try her short stories. I enjoyed them overall. There were some genuinely beautiful pieces of prose and some astute personality characterizations. Still, they were hit or miss, and I’m not sure non-Wharton readers would like them. Probably 3.5/5

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not think I was going to enjoy this collection of short stories. The cover of the book and settings of the stories in the long ago past gave me the impression it was going to be a dry, stuffy reading experience, even though I most enjoyed Ethan Frome. Instead, I found myself mostly engrossed in these tales and the author's writing. Her style of writing is quite interesting in that she always begins her stories in a way that made me feel like I'd better really pay attention, especially to the character names, as one never knew how many characters there might be in each tale, a characteristic common to some of the old masters of writing. However, it soon became clear that she avoids over-populating her stories, and within a few pages the train was rolling and I was on board. Some of the stories seemed to be poking fun at socialites, social propriety, and upper crust people, not unlike Oscar Wilde; others were melancholic and wistfully sad or tragic. However, my favorite stories in this book were the ghost stories, of which there are at least three or four, all of them wonderful. Ms. Wharton (or however one is to address this wildly talented writer; did she even have time to get married while writing this many books and stories?) never goes for the obvious in these stories, but keeps you guessing 'til the end. If you like romanticism without gushiness, it's within these pages, as are large, foreboding homes and estates full of flickering candles, creaking sounds, and shadowy secrets. All in all, it is easy to see why this woman was such a popular writer in her time, and oh my God was she a prolific writer! She was a veritable writing machine. I think they should re-issue this collection with a less piss-elegant cover, for the writing obviously displayed humor, psychological insight into its characters, troubled relationships, and things that go bump in the night. If this large volume of selected short stories is any indication (and she wrote many more!) then I am more than ready to tackle House of Mirth and perhaps re-visit The Age of Innocence again, which I wasn't too fond of the first time around.

[Kleineleopardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Journey 4/5
The Pelican 3/5
Souls Belated 3/5
The Descent of Man 3/5
The Mission of Jane 2.5/5
The Other Two 2/5
The Dilettante 4/5
The Lady Maid's Bell 4/5
The Legend -/5 (abgebrochen)
The Eyes 3/5
Xingu 3.5/5
Autres Temps... 3/5
Kerfol 4/5
The Long Run 3/5
A bottle of Perrier 4.5/5
After Holbein 4/5
Mr. Jones 4/5
Pomegranate Seeds 3/5
Roman Fever 3/5
Duration 2/5
All Souls' 3/5

[Gail Kennon]

excellent collection...good stories written in some of the best sentences ever crafted.