Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • Edith Newbold Jones Wharton: The full name of a prominent American novelist, short story writer, and designer who lived from 1862 to 1937. She is recognized for her insightful portrayals of upper-class American society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • The novel "The Age of Innocence" earned Edith Newbold Jones Wharton the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921.
  • Scholars often study the works of Edith Newbold Jones Wharton to understand Gilded Age society.

Advanced Usage

• The name is often shortened to Edith Wharton in common literary and academic discourse.
  • The Edith Wharton Society promotes the study of her life and works.

Variants and Related Words

• Wharton (surname): Often used alone to refer to the author, especially in an academic or literary context.
  • A Wharton scholar gave a lecture on the author's use of irony.
• Edith Wharton (common shortened form): The standard and most frequent way to refer to the novelist.
  • We are reading a short story by Edith Wharton.

Synonyms

• Author: A general term for a writer of books.
• Novelist: A writer of novels, which is her primary recognized profession.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• The Age of Innocence: The title of her most famous novel, which has become an idiom for a perceived period of social and moral simplicity.
  • He looks back on his childhood as a lost age of innocence.

Noun

1. United States novelist (1862-1937)