![]() ![]() In 1880, she had five poems published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly, an important literary magazine. Wharton published a poem under a pseudonym in the New York World in 1879. In 1878 her father arranged for a collection of two dozen original poems and five translations, Verses, to be privately published. In 1877, at the age of 15, she secretly wrote a novella, Fast and Loose. Washburn, a cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson who supported women's education. Consequently, the poem was published under the name of a friend's father, E. Her family did not want her name to appear in print since writing was not considered a proper occupation for a society woman of her time. At age 15, her first published work appeared, a translation of a German poem "Was die Steine Erzählen" ("What the Stones Tell") by Heinrich Karl Brugsch, for which she was paid $50. Her mother's criticism quashed her ambition and she turned to poetry. Wharton began writing poetry and fiction as a young girl, and attempted to write her first novel at age eleven. When her family moved to Europe and she was just four or five she started what she called "making up." She invented stories for her family and walked with an open book, turning the pages as if reading while improvising a story. Wharton wrote and told stories from an early age. Her mother forbade her to read novels until she was married, and Edith obeyed this command. Edith wanted more education than she received, so she read from her father's library and from the libraries of her father's friends. She considered these fashions superficial and oppressive. She rejected the standards of fashion and etiquette that were expected of young girls at the time, which were intended to allow women to marry well and to be put on display at balls and parties. While in Europe, she was educated by tutors and governesses. After the family returned to the United States in 1872, they spent their winters in New York City and their summers in Newport, Rhode Island. At the age of nine, she suffered from typhoid fever, which nearly killed her, while the family was at a spa in the Black Forest. During her travels, the young Edith became fluent in French, German, and Italian. From 1866 to 1872, the Jones family visited France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Wharton was born during the Civil War however, in describing her family life Wharton does not mention the war except that their travels to Europe after the war were due to the depreciation of American currency. Fort Stevens in New York was named for Wharton's maternal great-grandfather, Ebenezer Stevens, a Revolutionary War hero and General. Her father's first cousin was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor. She was related to the Rensselaers, the most prestigious of the old patroon families, who had received land grants from the former Dutch government of New York and New Jersey. The saying " keeping up with the Joneses" is said to refer to her father's family. Wharton's paternal family, the Joneses, were a very wealthy and socially prominent family having made their money in real estate. Edith was baptized April 20, 1862, Easter Sunday, at Grace Church. Frederic married Mary Cadwalader Rawle their daughter was landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. She had two older brothers, Frederic Rhinelander and Henry Edward. To her friends and family she was known as "Pussy Jones". Portrait of Wharton as a girl by Edward Harrison May (1870)Įdith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones on Januto George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander at their brownstone at 14 West Twenty-third Street in New York City. ![]()
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