EDITH WHARTON: DOWNTOWN ABBEY DROPOUT, PULITZER PRIZE WINNER, LATE BLOOMER 

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

{Debra’s note: I’m republishing this to celebrate the 154rd anniversary of Edith’s birth.}

“True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision.” ~Edith Wharton

I’m not sure how I convinced my English husband to watch the first episode, but I thank Julian Fellowes’ superb writing for keeping him riveted. We had one memorable weekend of silk and corsets together.

, Elizabeth McGovern plays Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham, an American heiress who saves the ancestral home from bankruptcy. In reality, over a hundred American heiresses married into the English peerage during that era. They became veritable historical preservation league.

Late-blooming writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937) knew many of those real-life Cora Crawleys. If she’d been richer or prettier, she might have been one.

Edith Wharton’s World (Byron Co. Collection, Museum of the City of New York)

Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862 in New York City. Some say her great-aunts were the Joneses, as in “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Although her peers produced the real Cora Crawleys, Edith’s family went abroad in 1866 to live on the cheap. A string of European governesses taught her French, Italian, and German. She taught herself to read and began a life-long affair with books, the only love that remained faithful to her.

Edith’s writing aspirations surfaced early. She published a short story at age 15, but her parents belittled her efforts. In an unfinished autobiography, she wrote that they regarded her with fear, “like some pale predestined child who disappears at night to dance with ‘the little people’.”

They needed her to marry up the social ladder, or at least not plummet from it.

Edward “Teddy” Wharton was 12 years her senior, a friend of her brother. He had a magnificent trust fund. They wed when Edith was practically a spinster of 23 and lived the high life for a while—yearly trips abroad, a Georgian manse even Lady Grantham would envy.

But as in Downton Abbey, it’s no cliché: “Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

“Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.” ~Edith Wharton

Teddy was an alcoholic obsessed with barely-legal girls. Modern biographers think he also suffered from bipolar disorder. Divorce was out of the question. For the first twelve years of her marriage, Edith suffered debilitating ill-health.

Then something happened that none of her biographers adequately explain. At age 35, twenty years after her first publication, Edith started writing again. That book,

covered home decor for the genteel and prosperous, exhorting them to rethink their claustrophobic drawing rooms and abolish the “wobbly velvet-covered tables littered in geegaws.”

She published at least a book a year after that—travelogues, home decor, short story collections, plus two of her best-known novels, 

(1911). The advances and royalties made her rich in her own right.

In 1907, Edith discovered Teddy siphoning off her money to support his mistress. She left him and moved to Paris. In 1913, she divorced him. Finally, in her 50s, she could write without the insanity.

But World War I intervened. Edith became a passionate supporter of the Allies. She raised funds and helped create hostels for French and Belgian refugees. In 1916, she received a French Legion of Honour knighthood for her volunteer work.

a deft and devastating account of the machinations conducted in the heavy drawing rooms of her decor books.

Not surprisingly, Edith’s novels describe people trapped by their circumstances, unable to break free of suffocating social conventions.

, basically calls her the anti-Austen. Readers “habituated to the formula established by Jane Austen, with a tightly constructed happy ending” will find her difficult, even disturbing. Brookner concludes:

Born to great wealth, owner of beautiful houses, she was in essence that awkward creature, a born writer.

And once she started writing she never stopped. She died of a stroke at age 75, the pages of her unfinished book,

, scattered upon the floor. She experienced forty years of creativity, despite parental disapproval, a bad marriage, and war.

If you’re unfamiliar with Edith’s work, start with any one of these stunningly-adapted costume dramas (and don’t forget to invite your significant other): 

 (finished by another writer after Edith’s death) with Mira Sorvino. Edith based 

New York Times, January 19, 2012: For Edith Wharton’s Birthday, Hail Ultimate Social Climbers.

New York Times Slideshow: Edith Wharton Turns 150.

READY TO BLOOM? JUST NEED A LITTLE INSPIRATION?

Join the mailing list to receive one inspirational biography per month and the 2016 Later Bloomer Calendar, which celebrates the lives and achievements of people who followed their creative passions after age 35!

Thanks! Please check your inbox to confirm and receive your calendar.

This lady had some spunk…..thankyou for sharing Debra, fascinating as usual. be good to yourself

It’s easy to envy her wealth, but she had as many obstacles to overcome as anyone. Thanks, David!

14 Free Books By Literary Late Bloomers — Later Bloomer

[…] The Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1862-1937) — In 1921, Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for this […]

Debra, this post is right up my alley! I love Edith Wharton and everyone of her books! And then there’s Downton Abbey. My husband and I love, love, love that series! The writing is unbelievable with conflict in every scene. And the actors and costumes, they’re gorgeous! I do not know who the costume designer is but she is a genius. Well there’s another show on tonight! Happiness!

Thanks, Karen! Don’t hate me but…my in-laws sent the entire Downton Abbey Season 2 from London for Christmas. I’ve seen it all

What a well-researched, fabulous post, Debra! Just fascinating, and presented in an engaging and accessible way. I love your stuff.

Thanks, Kathy! That’s a HUGE compliment coming from you, since I know this is your area.

Another wonderful post, Debra! Thank you. (I must mull over the Brookner comment “…that awkward creature, the born writer.”)

I loved that quote, Pat. It made me regard Edith as more than a rich girl who wanted for nothing, so of course she could write. I think all writers are awkward creatures to a certain extent. It’s how we can see and say what others miss. Thanks for dropping by!

I really love reading about later bloomers–always inspiring to me! Thanks Debra!

Thank you, Coleen. That’s what I’m trying to do!

Fascinating post Debra. I love this series. i’m a late bloomer and it’s nice to know I”m not alone.

So glad you like it, Louise! Yup, we’re a big group.

Love this post! I’m a big Downton Abbey fan too. I just posted about it on my blog.

I’ve seen all of the films based on Wharton’s works. The Buccaneers was my favorite among them.

Hey Jennifer, thanks for stopping by. I love just about everything about that era, too. Not seen The Buccaneers yet, but my BFF and costume drama buddy says it’s gorgeous.

I’m one of those who is familiar with the name, but not the works. You can bet that’s gonna change. Thank you for this piece, an inspiration to this late bloomer.

Thanks, Denice! Wharton’s books are wonderful, but she’s been adapted spectacularly too, which is true for so few authors.

What a great premise for a blog. I had no idea Edith Wharton fell under the “late blooming” category, but she is definite proof that once you find what you’re supposed to be doing, there are no limits on achievement. I love your line “Forty years of creativity and a life well-lived, despite parental disapproval, a bad marriage and war.” Definitely good motivation to get cracking!

Hello Debra. So thrilled to have discovered your blog and what a treat this post is. Edith Wharton is a true inspiration, especially since I am also a later bloomer (born 1962, 100 years, 2 months after Edith). My husband and I are also stumbled onto “Downtown Abbey” and are enjoying it thoroughly. I loved “The Age of Innocence” too.

Hi Carol, thank you for stopping by! So glad you’re enjoying the blog. There’s something about that whole era I love. The clothing, the architecture…everything.

Would you like articles to your inbox, the 2016 Later Bloomer Calendar, and random gifts throughout the year?

Welcome! I\'m Debra, proud late bloomer & possessor of many passions.

At 36, I became an archaeologist. At 42, a martial artist. At 46, I married the love of my life! Now I write about fellow late bloomers while plotting my next grand adventure. Join me!

How Late Bloomer Charles Perrault Became Cinderella’s Secretary January 12, 2016

May Your 2016 Be Dangerously Weird January 1, 2016

Andrea Bocelli: Horseman, Winemaker, Lawyer, Late Bloomer December 22, 2015

Mary Norton: A Late-Blooming Author’s Big Magic December 11, 2015

Why Are Some People Late Bloomers? Pt. 2 October 17, 2015

Why Are Some People Late Bloomers? September 28, 2015

Grandma Moses: “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” September 7, 2015

Edgar Rice Burroughs: From Sharpening Pencils to Running a #Writing Empire September 1, 2015

As are you, Debra! Thanks for all you do! @DebraEve Claire, you are such a great inspiration to all of us! Claire Cook (@ClaireCookwrite) December 17, 2013 @media_pixels @walterm @DebraEve Thanks to each of you! It\'s a lovely piece, Debra. Grateful to be a "Late Bloomer." —Sue Monk Kidd (@suemonkkidd) July 9, 2012 @DebraEve I love your #LaterBloomers posts! as a later bloomer in her 30s, they\'re so heartening. thanks! Beth (@rebelpoetwoman) November 21, 2014