Some Things You May Not Have Known About Edith Wharton’s Dog Obsession

  • Leader
    December 2, 2023 10:27 PM CST

    Some of you may or may not know who Edith Wharton was.  I particularly did not, but found her love for her dogs and dogs in general very endearing.

    https://getpocket.com/explore/item/some-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-edith-wharton-s-dog-obsession?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

    If you know anything about Edith Wharton—besides the fact that she was a brilliant writer and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature, for The Age of Innocence, of course—it’s probably that she was an above-average dog-lover. And she was—to the point of near-obsession, and, I’d wager, some pretty clawed-up shoulders. Some say that Wharton, who had a troubled and childless marriage, substituted dogs for offspring, which may have some truth to it—but only some, since her love of canine companions started at the ripe old age of four, when her father gave her a Spitz called Foxy, a dog who, she said later, “made me into a conscious sentient person.” It seems only fair to honor Wharton’s memory with a few things you may not have known about her lifelong love affair with (wo)man’s best friend.