Edith Wharton

By: Hermione Lee

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive biography of one of America's greatest writers, from the author of the acclaimed masterpiece Virginia Woolf.

Born in 1862, Wharton escaped the suffocating fate of the well-born female, traveled adventurously in Europe and eventually settled in France. After tentative beginnings, she developed a forceful literary professionalism and thrived in a luminous society. Her life was fed by nonliterary enthusiasms as well: her fabled houses and gardens and the culture of the Old World, which she never tired of absorbing. Yet intimacy eluded her.

With profound empathy and insight, Lee brilliantly interweaves Wharton's life with the evolution of her writing, the full scope of which shows her to be far more daring than her stereotype as lapidarian chronicler of the Gilded Age. In its revelation of both the woman and the writer, Edith Wharton is a landmark biography.

Listen to the classics: explore our list of Edith Wharton titles.

©2007 Hermione Lee (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Lively . . . Insightful . . . Thorough and intelligent . . .This meticulous, generous biography is likely to suffice for a long time . . . One can at last grasp the full range of Wharton’s writing and the full power of her energy.” (Diane Johnson, Washington Post Book World)

“A splendid biography, extremely rich in social and historical detail, a telling picture of the many years Wharton’s life spanned . . . Biography is usually the revenge of little people on big people . . .but Lee is subtle and big-hearted enough to understand her subject . . . Lee never reduces Wharton’s books to veiled autobiography, just as she is never reluctant to interpret them in the light of Wharton’s life . . . A sophisticated, finely written portrait . . . Edith Wharton would have been horrified by the ‘indiscretions’ in this biography, but it is the balanced, richly detailed, and researched portrait she deserves.” (Edmund White, The New York Review of Books)

“A rich tapestry. There is so much here . . . Edith Wharton shimmers with details about a vanished world, and Lee . . . brings it to vivid life.” (Jacqueline Blais, USA Today)

Fascinating Life

I really enjoyed this biography, even though I have next to nothing in common with Wharton. You have to admire Wharton's love of gardens, her high standards, her organizational skills, insatiable reading of books, her devotion to France during the war. At the same time, the author does not shy away from her subject's anti-semitism and racism - which I think a lot of other biographers deliberately stay clear of. I really appreciated how the author deals with Wharton's inability to appreciate the next generation of writers. It will spur me to read more of Wharton's books, and watch the movie adaptations.

Hermione Lee's Edith Wharton

Brilliant! So enjoyable. I'll read the book now in its entirety. What a real pleasure.

Abridgement is rough

This is a heavily abridged version of Lee's 800-page biography. Sometimes the abridgement is rough--once I got confused about where we were.

The reader does a very nice job; her French accent is very good (Wharton was fluent in French and lived in Paris for the last decades of her life, so there are many French passages in her letters.)

Lee is a brilliant biographer, famous for her work on Virginia Woolf. This biography got more mixed reviews, though I'm not sure why. I haven't read Lee's Woolf biography, but I've read her very first book which walks through all of Woolf's novels in order, and it is splendid. (That book is harder to find now; it's from back in the 70s.)

I thought I knew Edith Wharton before . . .

wonderfully indepth and well-rounded perspective of a woman we tend to think of as single faceted. Her life was much more than I had ever imagined it to be. I will go back and read her works with.a much deeper appreciation of the real woman behind the words.

Gardens Over Great Novels

Edith Wharton admirers will enjoy this biography. My only regret is history of her greatest novels were overshadowed by gardening plans, relationships with architects/designers and her war work. These are all part of her make-up but not what make her a dynamic and vital writer of the human condition as it thwarts itself against class and station. I was looking forward to a feast and was moderately happy with a tasty sandwich.

Abridged version favors life over works

As an abridgment this isn't bad, but other reviewers have complained that this version focuses on gardens instead of Wharton's works. That's true, but it seems to have been a conscious decision to give a more rounded picture of Wharton than another retelling of Ethan Frome might have done. Lee's biography is huge (800+ pages) but well worth reading in full fpr those whose interest is piqued by this version.

Pronunciation

Incredibly, the reader - starting in Chapter 2 - mispronounces the word “library” - two times in the same sentence. And in at least one other occasion. She says “libary.” Incredibly annoying!

Reads like a text book.

One of the driest narratives, both in text and the reading, I've ever listened to. No passion or sympathetic prose .

Who Knew . . . ?

that Wharton's life would make such a snoozer? Sure, I knew she had roots in New York society; but I had no idea she was a Francophiliac snob, a racist, and an antisemite. I've enjoyed her novels over the years, and I had looked forward to learning more about her from this book. Unfortunately, what I learned made me dislike her. The book is unevenly paced, flying across Wharton's family history, childhood, and early married years, then spending what seemed like ages on her gardening and French pretentions. Most irritating were the extended passages from the journals she kept while in France--read in French, without translations. My advice is to read the Wharton classics and skip the bio.

If you like Bohemian History, I don't

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I didn't care for this book. She may be old "Knickerbocker money" but she publishes her love life like a who's who of Montmartre. Kind of reminded me of "Moulin Rouge" the movie, of the slums of Montmartre. I don't mind hearing about who is a mistress of whom, I do mind hearing about the love letters and salacious discussions about stuff.

What could Hermione Lee have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I honestly think she did as best as she could with the publication. When there is little to write about, you get your hands on what you can write about.

What didn’t you like about Kate Reading’s performance?

Just fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Grossed out.