Editing Edith Wharton (section)

===Themes===
{{Conservatism US}}
Versions of her mother, Lucretia Jones, often appeared in Wharton's fiction. Biographer [[Hermione Lee]] described it as "one of the most lethal acts of revenge ever taken by a writing daughter."{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=35}} In her memoir, ''A Backward Glance'', Wharton describes her mother as indolent, spendthrift, censorious, disapproving, superficial, icy, dry and ironic.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=35}}

Wharton's writings often dealt with themes such as "social and individual fulfillment, repressed sexuality, and the manners of old families and the new elite."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Mulalic|first=Almasa|date=2012|title=Material Details in Edith Wharton's Writings|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301944958|journal=Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies|volume=5|pages=95–107|via=ResearchGate}}</ref> [[Maureen Howard]], editor of ''Edith Wharton: Collected Stories'', notes several recurring themes in Wharton's short stories, including confinement and attempts at freedom, the morality of the author, critiques of intellectual pretension, and the "unmasking" of the truth.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/141-remarks-on-edith-whartons-_collected-stories_-by-editor-maureen-howard|title=Remarks on Edith Wharton's Collected Stories by editor Maureen Howard|last=Howard|first=Maureen|date=2001|website=Library of America}}</ref> Wharton's writing also explored themes of "social mores and social reform" as they relate to the "extremes and anxieties of the Gilded Age".<ref name=":0" />

A key recurring theme in Wharton's writing is the relationship between the house as a physical space and its relationship to its inhabitant's characteristics and emotions. Maureen Howard argues "Edith Wharton conceived of houses, dwelling places, in extended imagery of shelter and dispossession. Houses – their confinement and their theatrical possibilities ... they are never mere settings."<ref name=":1" />