Edith Wharton’s Legacy
It is quite true that Edith Wharton has been a tremendous influence on me…I decided, largely because of her work, that it was time I wrote something.”
Why does Edith Wharton continue to seem credible and contemporary 80 years after her death?
One reason is the authenticity of her writing; she was a keen observer not just of society but of the human condition. You can find contemporary counterparts of her characters in today’s literature because the qualities she imbued them with are universal.
Her name is now used as shorthand to invoke style, character, place and time. “Wharton” has even become a verb! In a recent New York Magazine article, a socialite was described as spending most of her adult life Edith Wharton-ing her way through Manhattan’s upper crust.
Additional Testaments:
In this article, Wharton speaks to her audience intimately as she shares her creative process. It’s a piece that still feels relevant today, even though it was published in The Atlantic over eighty years ago.
