A Son at the Front (ePub)

Edith Wharton, born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862, in New York City, emerged as a preeminent American writer of the early 20th century. Coming from a wealthy and socially prominent family, Wharton broke barriers in a male-dominated literary world, employing keen social insight and critical acumen in her prolific body of work. Her narratives often dissect the intricacies of society, morality, and personal relationships, set against the backdrops of the upper-class milieu she knew intimately. A Son at the Front, published in 1923, illustrates Wharton's exploration of World War I's impact on society and the personal dilemmas faced by her characters. Unlike some of her more renowned novels such as 'The Age of Innocence' and 'Ethan Frome,' this work foregrounds her insight into the ravages of war and its reverberations on family and societal structures. Wharton's literary style is marked by its careful structure, incisive irony, and meticulous character development, making her fiction both precise and emotionally resonant. Her contribution to literature was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for 'The Age of Innocence,' making her the first woman to receive this honor. Wharton's legacy endures through her sixty-plus volumes of novels, short stories, essays, and other non-fiction, solidifying her stature in American letters.