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Novelist Edith Wharton

Leading the Way

Shadows (by Barnes, Djuna)
The Yellow Wallpaper (by Gilman, Charlotte Perkins)
Woolf Essays (by Woolf, Virginia)
Mrs. Dalloway (by Woolf, Virginia)
The Book of Repulsive Women (by Barnes, Djuna)
To the Lighthouse (by Woolf, Virginia)
The House of Mirth (by Edith Wharton)
Ethan Frome (by Edith Wharton)
The Age of Innocence (by Edith Wharton)
The story of Mary MacLane (by MacLane, Mary)

Edith Wharton was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Wharton combined her insider's view of America's privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of social and psychological insight. She was well acquainted with many of her era's other literary and public figures, including Theodore Roosevelt.

citation link: http://worldheritage.org/articles/Edith_Wharton

In recent months, there’s been a lot of conversation and action by women—and men—on behalf of the women’s movement. Approximately 2.6 million activists made a powerful statement on their recent journey to Washington D.C. to protest a new presidency and speak up for women’s rights. Other women around the globe unified via “Sister Marches,” held in Oakland, Bali, Tokyo, Nairobi, Prague, and beyond.

Within the last few decades, the role of women has certainly evolved and it continues to gain momentum. Women are making sure their voices are heard. More women are entering fields such as technology, which are generally dominated by men. Their voices are getting louder and their efforts are paying off—literally. Since 1996, there’s been a National Equal Pay Day, which is held every April with a mission to bridge the salary gap. Women are also achieving more success in leadership roles in both the corporate sector and in government.

Just like their sisters before them who fought for significant issues such as the right to vote, today’s strong, intelligent women continue to make contributions for the advancement of women.

In history, there have been many determined, independent women who have led by example. For the month of March we would like to feature the American novelist Edith Wharton. She was best known for being opposed to the oppressive norms that denied women their rights.

Wharton emerged as a huge literary figure in the early 20th century, during a time which neither women nor Americans in general were known to be effective writers. In spite of not being published until she was in her forties, Wharton was highly prolific, publishing over 40 different works in her life from novels and short stories, to poetry and nonfiction. A couple of her enduring works are The Age of Innocence, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921, and her second published novel, The House of Mirth, a social satire of American society of the time.

By Regina Molaro