Julia Grinnell Storrow Cruger (

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

, Julien Gordon; c. 1850 – July 12, 1920) was an American novelist. Because many of her books examined the American social world, she was known as the

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

of her day.

Family

Julia Grinnell Storrow was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France, c. 1850. She was the daughter of Thomas Wentworth Storrow of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and a grandniece of

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

Career

She married

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

veteran Col. Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger, grandson of

Stephen Van Rensselaer Stephen Van Rensselaer III (; November 1, 1764January 26, 1839) was an American landowner, businessman, militia officer, and politician. A graduate of Harvard College, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's mano ...

, who died in 1898, leaving her independently well off. She married broker Wade Chance in 1908; they separated after a year and were divorced in 1916. Cruger, who spoke French fluently, then moved to Paris for several years, returning to New York not long before her death. In 1892, Cruger and her husband were included in

Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream o ...

's "

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

's ballroom. Her first book was ''A Diplomat's Diary'' (1890); it and the next three novels all appeared first in serial form. Many of her novels closely examined the social world of New York and Washington, D.C., and she was known as the Edith Wharton of her day.

Selected works

* ''A Diplomat's Diary'' (1890) * ''Vampires: Mademoiselle Réséda'' (1891) * ''A Successful Man'' (1891) * ''A Puritan Pagan'' (1891) * ''Marionettes'' (1892) * ''His Letters'' (1892) * ''Poppaea'' (1895) * ''A Wedding and Other Stories'' (1896) * ''Eat Not Thy Heart'' (1897) * ''Mrs. Clyde: The Story of a Social Career'' (1901) * ''The Wage of Character: A Social Study'' (1901)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruger, Julia 1920 deaths 1850s births 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American novelists American expatriates in France French women writers American women novelists 20th-century American women writers Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century French women 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers