Edith Wharton was born in NYC in 1862. Though primarily known for her novels depicting the lifestyles of New York’s upper class in the early 20th century, Wharton was also a practitioner of the ghostly tale, a genre that she greatly esteemed. Wharton passed away in 1937, at the age of 75.
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
Perhaps because she is one of the most esteemed writers of the 20th century, Edith Wharton may not be immediately associated with the genre of horror. Today, she is probably best remembered for her novels The House of Mirth (1905) and The Age of Innocence (1920), which latter book copped her the Pulitzer Prize, as well as for her classic novella from 1911, Ethan Frome, a staple reading assignment for all English majors. In novel after novel, Wharton examined the members of the upper crust in turn-of-the-century NYC, a society and a town that she knew well by experience. But as she would reveal in her autobiography A Backward Glance, the author was a big fan of the ghost story as well, a shivery pot in which she would ultimately dip her quill on any number of occasions. After ... Read More
