Edith Wharton’s Paris

A unique look at the City of Light and what it meant to Edith Wharton both as a writer and as a creative woman. 

In celebration of Edith Wharton‘s birthday on January 24, The Gilded Gentleman takes a look at a very special part of Wharton’s life — her life in Paris. Edith Wharton knew Paris from her childhood and certainly made many trips there as a young married adult. But in her early 40’s, the city became something more for her — it became a place where she finally felt connected and grounded as a creative and artistic woman. And to her surprise, it was a place where she found romantic love with a man not her husband at a most unexpected time in her life. 

This episode takes a look at where and how Wharton lived in her years in Paris — and why and how she ultimately transferred her life to France leaving her American life behind, except in her most famous fiction. We’ll take a look at Paris the city as well, and how it was evolving in the early years of the 20th century, and just who some of the most artistic spirits were at the time such as Marcel Proust and Andre Gide and who became Wharton’s most influential mentors and friends.