257. Edith Wharton and Her Gilded Age

Done & Dunne

Hemlock Creatives

History, True Crime

4.7 • 629 Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Edith Wharton came by her subject matter the old-fashioned way: she was born into a prominent New York City family, and was subjected to the mores of the city's high society circle from birth. This did not suit the plain, brainy young Edith even a little bit, much to her mother's horror, but Edith did eventually submit to an extremely unhappy marriage to a diagnosed megalomaniac (!), which ended in, you guessed it, a trashy divorce. But this episode contains way more than Edith’s life, writing and love affairs. We also explore the Gilded Age society that Edith lives in, but it is her aunt who really makes that society. Mrs. Mary Mason Jones is quite the OG legend in New York City, and the entire reason for the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”. Also included are Mrs. Paran Stevens, Oscar Wilde, a set of international locations, many love affairs, and a whole lot of Newport too. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Dun & Dunn. I'm Alicia, your hostess on this podcast journey, All Things Dominic Dunn.
0:07.8	Thank you for joining me today for something very different than our home tour of Bellevue Avenue that we have been on,
0:15.9	but still very, very much set within our Newport, Rhode Island and Gilded Age era. Today, I'm dropping
0:24.2	in the Gilded Age roller coaster ride of Edith Wharton, Chronicleer of the Gilded Age. This one was
0:33.7	originally covered on trashy divorces a dozen seasons ago.
0:38.7	We have often talked about Dominic Dunn here on Dunn and Dun chronicling his universe.
0:45.4	He does this in very much the same way as Edith Wharton did in her day.
0:52.6	They are both in the circle and outcast of the circle in their own
0:57.5	individual ways. Investigators, this one is packed with spiderwebs. Edith Wharton makes a little
1:04.5	place called Lans End in Newport Famous, and those acres have so much history that is all interconnected
1:13.0	through our very last block of Bellevue Avenue
1:15.9	that will weave together beautifully in our next episode.
1:20.6	Before we untangle that sticky wicket,
1:24.5	this week today was a perfect week to put this bigger story into the mix.
1:32.2	Focused on Edith Wharton coming in with one trashy divorce, one great love of her life,
1:38.5	one pretty trashy affair, and a whole life full of stories and interconnected spiderwebs.
1:46.3	Seriously all people, places, even the phrase keeping up with the Joneses.
1:52.5	This one is a Gilded Age journey not only of Edith, but the times of the Gilded Age.
2:00.6	We're also going to talk a lot about Edith's aunt, Mary Mason Jones, as well as Mrs. Paren Stevens, Edith's almost mother-in-law. I want to give a big shout out. Big thanks to Caroline W. for your email. This one is for you, my friend. I do hope all y'all
2:21.6	enjoy this little side detour today of the Gilded Age and its most famous chronicler Edith
2:28.8	Wharton. Let's investigate.
2:48.9	Oh, the Gilded Age. Pull off your corset, Stacy.
	...

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