257. Edith Wharton and Her Gilded Age

Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Edith Wharton came by her subject matter the old-fashioned way: she was born into a prominent New York City family, and was subjected to the mores of the city's high society circle from birth. This did not suit the plain, brainy young Edith even a little bit, much to her mother's horror, but Edith did eventually submit to an extremely unhappy marriage to a diagnosed megalomaniac (!), which ended in, you guessed it, a trashy divorce. But this episode contains way more than Edith’s life, writing and love affairs. We also explore the Gilded Age society that Edith lives in, but it is her aunt who really makes that society. Mrs. Mary Mason Jones is quite the OG legend in New York City, and the entire reason for the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”. Also included are Mrs. Paran Stevens, Oscar Wilde, a set of international locations, many love affairs, and a whole lot of Newport too.

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