A selective list of online literary criticism for the American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and autobiographer, Edith Wharton, including signed articles by recognized scholars, peer and editor reviewed articles, and web sites that follow MLA guidelines for web pages.
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Balestra, Gianfranca. On Wharton's ambivalent feelings about the reading public and the market economy for literary work. "'For the use of the magazine morons': Edith Wharton rewrites the tale of the fantastic," Studies in Short Fiction, Wntr
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. From The Children to The Marriage Playground and back again: Filmic readings of Edith Wharton," Literature/Film Quarterly, 1999
Foata, Anne. A scholarly article on the French curate who was a lifelong friend of Wharton, Abbe Mugnier and his diary. "Edith Wharton and the Faubourg Saint-Germain: the diary of the Abbe Mugnier," Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1997
Gerard, Bonnie Lynn. "From tea to chloral: raising the dead Lily Bart- character in woman author Edith Wharton's book 'The House of Mirth'" Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1998
Grafton, Kathy. Article contends that Wharton's portrayal of the heroine's sexual awakening in Summer demonstrates an awareness of Freud "Degradation and forbidden love in Edith Wharton's 'Summer.'" Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1995
Hale, Judy. "Edith Wharton's ghost story 'Pomegranate Seed' reflects her view that women authors must not subjugate their writing to male standards" in "The repudiation of sisterhood in Edith Wharton's 'Pomegranate Seed.'" Studies in Short Fiction, Wntr, 1996
Inness, Sherrie A. On the importance of the indoors for Wharton as illustrated by her attention to domestic servants, in Edith Wharton's short stories. "Loyal saints or devious rascals": domestic servants in Edith Wharton's stories "The Lady's Maid's Bell" and "All Souls.'" Studies in Short Fiction, Fall, 1999
Jacobsen, Karen J. "Economic hauntings: wealth and class in Edith Wharton's ghost stories." College Literature, 01-JAN-08
MacNaughton, William R "The artist as moralist: Edith Wharton's revisions to the Last Chapter of The Custom of the Country," Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 2001
Menon, Pat. Article discusses Wharton's use of her personal experience in The Reef, "One way of understanding The Reef, then, is as the distillation of the personal into the impersonal-by removing the more melodramatic aspects of her own affair while retaining the emotional climate of betrayal, Wharton was able to go beyond the exploration of problems of sexual unfaithfulness to the difficulty of harmonising two contrasted approaches to life, approaches that may be loosely designated the "pragmatic" and the "idealist." "'Beings of Different Language': Pragmatist meets Idealist in Edith Wharton's The Reef." The New Compass: A Critical Review 2 (December 2003) Also Emsley, Sarah. "Sexual Purity and Relentless Indecision in Wharton's The Reef: A Reply to Pat Menon." The New Compass: A Critical Review 3 (June 2004)
Pizer, Donald. "The naturalism of Edith Wharton's 'House of Mirth.'" Twentieth Century Literature, Summer, 1995
Preston, Claire. An introduction to Edith Wharton by professor Claire Preston, from the Literary Encyclopedia
Salas, Angela M. Article defends Wharton's novella Sanctuary "Ghostly presences: Edith Wharton's Sanctuary and the issue of maternal sacrifice," College Literature, Spring 1998
Singley, Carol J. On the influence of Ernest Renan on Wharton's skepticism and her thoughts about her expatriation, "Race, culture, nation: Edith Wharton and Ernest Renan," Twentieth Century Literature, Spring, 2003
Schwarztrauber, Helmut. "A writer is dependent on his milieu: The Romancer Disinherited, Or: The Subversive Muse - E. Wharton's 'Souls Belated' (1899)," in EESE 8/2003
Totten, Gary The art and architecture of the self: Designing the "I"-witness in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, College Literature, Fall 2000
White, Barbara A. A review of Wharton's New England: Seven Stories and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Univ. Press of New England, 1995). Reviewed in Studies in Short Fiction, Spring, 1996, by Joseph Griffin
The Edith Wharton Society maintains an active listing of news and activities related to Edith Wharton and a filmography
A Teacher's Guide to Edith Wharton from Heath
Teaching resources for Edith Wharton from C-Span from their 2001 American Writers series
Wharton's home in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Mount, which is now a museum, and is in need of financial contributions
"Edith Wharton's World," an exhibit of paintings related to Wharton, from the Smithsonian
An Atlantic Monthly article describes the poetry and short stories by Wharton published there, with links to the original pieces. July 25, 2001 (taken offline)
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