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No Gifts from Chance: A Biography of Edith Wharton
Praise for the first edition (published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1994): "Here, at last, is Edith Wharton in all her power, her ambitions, and her angers. For the first time we have a biography using new material and allowing us to acclaim an accomplished though prejudiced woman, one who was against women's suffrage, who surrounded herself with famous men, yet was...more
Paperback, 546 pages
Published
March 1st 2004
by University of Texas Press
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Oh what a life. To have traveled in Europe before McDonalds and The Gap got over there would be glorious! Its hard to imagine living during her time and having the lesiure to write and create. I bet she never knew they made movies out of her books...my favorite being "Ethan Frome" with Liam Neeson.
I'm enjoying this biography infinitely more than Hermione Lee's. Benstock's style is much more engaging, allowing the biography to feel more like a story about a woman named Edith Wharton rather than the pretentious (and inaccurate!) dissertation that is Lee's biography.
UPDATE: I've read a little too much Wharton. Need a break.
UPDATE: I've read a little too much Wharton. Need a break.
I first read this book in 2004 and have since reread it. It's the only biography I've read more than once, due largely to Benstock's engaging writing style and the thorough treatment of the material. You won't really know Edith Wharton until you read this book. Fascinating. It just flies.
Wharton's life, though full of privledge and wealth, was far more complex than I knew before reading her biography. Her work in Europe during the Great War alone is enough to make this biography worth the read.
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