About Edith Wharton, author of Glimpses of the Moon

EDITH WHARTON wrote the novel Glimpses of the Moon in 1922. It was an international best-seller at the time and was made into a film in 1923. The 1922 New York Times review of Glimpses compared it to her previous novel, The Age of Innocence, which had received the Pulitzer Prize in 1920, “I think The Glimpses of the Moon a much better book; it is more interesting, more memorable and closer to the heart of things.”

In her long career, which stretched over forty years and included the publication of more than forty books, Edith Wharton (1862-1937) portrayed a fascinating segment of the American experience. She was a born storyteller, whose novels are justly celebrated for their vivid settings, satiric wit, ironic style, and moral seriousness. Her characters, such as Ellen Olenska in The Age of Innocence, Ethan Fromme, and the charming but ineffectual Lily Bart in The House of Mirth, are some of the most memorable in American literature. Often portrayed as tragic victims of cruel social conventions, they are trapped in bad relationships or confining circumstances. Her own life stands as an example of the obstacles that a woman of her time and place had to overcome to find self-realization. 1

Wharton designed and built The Mount in 1902 (Lenox, Massachusetts, overlooking Laurel Lake) based on the principles outlined in her influential book, The Decoration of Houses (1897), co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. This classical revival house represents the only full expression we have of Wharton’s architectural interests. The Mount is the only U.S. monument to Edith Wharton. 2

1 “Edith Wharton’s World - Portraits of People and Places, an exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery” http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/wharton/whar3.htm
2 “The Mount, Estate & Gardens,” www.edithwharton.org