Nominations for EWS Board and Offices: Deadline Extended

14 April. Deadline extended to July 1, 2008, for EWS Secretary and Executive board nominations. Nominations invited for EWS Executive Board and Secretary positions. Completed nomination forms should be returned by email to BOTH L.Rattray@hull.ac.uk and SSTowheed@aol.com.

Change of Venue for Edith Wharton and History Conference

The following message will be sent to participants in the Edith Wharton and History Conference, but it should also be read by those intending to attend the conference who have not yet registered. See also the conference site for any updates.

--Donna Campbell

Dear Participants:

We are writing to inform you that we had to make some changes to the location of the Edith Wharton Conference. The conference was fully planned out, when we suddenly learnt that the Seven Hills Inn was being sold and could or would not accommodate us. Even though our contract with them has a stipulation that the contract would hold even in the case of a sale, the Inn refused to honor that contract since the inn will undergo transitional repairs during the time of our planned stay there. We had no choice but to relocate the conference. It will now be held at The Crowne Plaza at One West St., Pittsfield, MA, 01201. The Crowne Plaza is a modern conference center/hotel , which is 8.7 miles from The Mount. The website is www.crowneplaza.com. The phone is (413) 499-2000. Crowne Plaza is a Priority Club member, and we look forward to enjoying the vastly upgraded hospitality that they offer. Please see the bottom of this letter for a new menu choice for the banquet.

We also, unfortunately, cannot be certain that The Mount will be open, since it is threatened by foreclosure. We are keeping an eye on that situation every week. However, if it is open, members of the Edith Wharton Society have volunteered to drive those who need transportation to The Mount. All this said, the conference itself is no different than it was planned ; it is still a juried conference, the location is still in the beautiful Berkshire area, and the cost for accommodations will be somewhat lower: Thurs. night is $119 and Fri. night is $139. Seven Hills is now in the process of refunding room deposits to the credit cards on which those deposits were charged. We are looking for a vibrant exchange of ideas on Edith Wharton. We therefore hope that you will still come to the conference, but we would like you to let us know as soon as possible if these changes will affect your plans so that we can plan out the conference to its final shape. We will be accepting Conference registrations until April 30. If you have any additional questions, please contact Margaret Murray at drmpm@snet.net .

With many thanks, and looking forward to seeing you in June,

All best regards,

Hildegard Hoeller, P resident, Edith Wharton Society

Margaret Murray, Vice-president, Conference Director

If you have already registered, please send your new dinner selection to:

Dr. Carole Shaffer-Koros
Kean University
School of Visual and Performing Arts
1000 Morris Ave.
Union , NJ 07083

___Prime Rib ___Grilled Salmon with citrus sauce ___Chef’s Choice Vegetarian Entrée

Registration Form for Edith Wharton and History Conference

June 26-28, 2008
Crowne Plaza

One West Street

Pittsfield , MA 01201

(413) 499-2000

Registration fee of $125 includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 coffee breaks, cocktail party and banquet dinner.

Graduate Student rate: $100; undergraduates may register by the day, to include breakfast, lunch and coffee break, for $15 each day, with student i.d.

Reservation for rooms should be made at Crowne Plaza ; ask for the Edith Wharton Society rate, which is $119 for June 26, and $139 for June 27.

Questions about the Conference should be directed to Margaret Murray at drmpm@snet.net

Conference Registration (include check for $125; students should include copy of student ID), mail to:

Dr. Carole Shaffer-Koros
Kean University
School of Visual and Performing Arts
1000 Morris Ave.
Union , NJ 07083

NAME:__________________________________________________________

AFFILIATION:____________________________________________________

MAILING ADDRESS______________________________________________

EMAIL:________________________________________________________________

PHONE:________________________________________________________________

AMOUNT ENCLOSED: _________$125 _________$100 __________$15

BANQUET ENTRÉE (pick one):

___Prime Rib ___Grilled Salmon with citrus sauce ___Chef’s Choice Vegetarian Entrée

The Mount in danger of foreclosure

From the New York Times:

Landmark Massachusetts Building Where Wharton Wrote Faces Foreclosure


By CHARLES McGRATH
Published: February 23, 2008

The Mount, Edith Wharton’s estate in Lenox, Mass., is in danger of being put in foreclosure, says Stephanie Copeland, president of Edith Wharton Restoration, the organization that owns and maintains this stately residence and its surrounding gardens.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Since 2002, Ms. Copeland explained by phone this week, the Mount, which is open to the public — much of it has been restored in recent years to match the period when Wharton lived there — has been covering its operating expenses by borrowing from the Berkshire Bank in nearby Pittsfield. It now owes the bank some $4.3 million, and in mid-February, when it failed to meet a scheduled monthly payment of $30,000, the bank sent a notice that it intended to start foreclosing unless the default was remedied promptly, Ms. Copeland said.

To stay open, she added, the Mount needs to raise $3 million by March 24. “The bank has really been very patient,” she explained. “They’re eager to help us work this out.”

If the Mount succeeds in raising that sum, Ms. Copeland said, an anonymous donor is waiting in the wings who has pledged to match it. The money could be used to help restructure the bank loan and to settle another outstanding debt, roughly $2.5 million, that the Mount incurred from a private lender in 2005 to buy Wharton’s 2,600-volume library from George Ramsden, a British book collector. The Mount also owes Mr. Ramsden roughly $885,000, to be paid off in nine yearly installments, and recently it defaulted on a scheduled payment to him, too.

“The situation is quite serious,” Sandra Boss, interim chairwoman of the Mount’s board, said in a telephone interview from London, where she works. “On the one hand, the Mount is winning awards for preservation and is internationally renowned as an institution. And it’s well run from an efficiency perspective. We’ve made great progress by cutting costs and raising revenues. On the other hand, our current debt levels are unserviceable and unsustainable. We’re not in control of our own destiny unless we can mount a restructuring of our debt.”

New Collection of Wharton's Ghost Stories

I'd just like to let you know - from Peter Owen Publishers in London - that we have recently published The Demanding Dead - http://www.peterowen.com/pages/fiction/Demanding%20Dead.html, the collection of ghost stories by Edith Wharton (a companion piece to the Ghost Feeler). Members of the EWS should feel free to contact us at admin@peterowen.com with any queries etc.
Thank you

Michael O'Connell

CFP: Edith Wharton Panels at MLA 2008

The Edith Wharton Society will sponsor two sessions at the MLA conference in San Francisco on December 27-30, 2008.

1. WWWD? What Would Wharton Do? Edith Wharton and Politics

What do we know about Edith Wharton’s politics? Her political persuasions? Her views on personal and institutional political responsibility in the modern world? What political concerns did she have? Was her writing ever meant to put forth any political thought, position, or agenda that she might feel important? What were her views on war? On the social problems facing the American public in the 1920s and 1930s? How applicable are her views to the current American scene? Please send abstracts (about 500 words) and short CV's by March 15th to Linda Costanzo Cahir (lcahir@kean.edu or Kean University, 1000 Morris Ave. Willis 103B, Union, NJ 07083).

2. Edith Wharton and the ‘Other Half’

This panel seeks to explore all aspects of Edith Wharton’s relationship to urban poverty. All approaches are welcome, as are papers connecting Wharton to other figures. Please send abstracts of 250-300 words and 1 page cvs to Hildegard Hoeller at hilhllr@aol.com by March 10th. This panel is organized by the Edith Wharton Society.

Glimpses of the Moon Musical

Glimpses of the Moon -- A Jazz Age Musical


Many of you had the opportunity last year to see and enjoy A Time to Be Born, a musical that my talented wife, Tajlei Levis, wrote and which had a critically-acclaimed sold-out run at the Lucille Lortel Theater off-Broadway as part of the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival. The New York Times called it "an elegant adaptation ... full of catty wit and jitterbugging ... with a jazzy score and enough catchy songs to make the running time fly by."
So I am thrilled and quite proud to let you know that Tajlei has written a new show, Glimpses of the Moon -- A Jazz Age Musical, which will have its world premiere later this month at the famed Algonquin Hotel Oak Room.
Based on the novel by Edith Wharton, Glimpses of the Moon is a romantic comedy and the first musical written specifically for the clubby and elegant Oak Room -- a venue which has served as the launching pad for Harry Connick Jr., Michael Feinstein, Andrea Marcovicci, Diana Krall and notable others.
Set in 1922, an age of anything but innocence, Glimpses of the Moon follows the jazzy whirl of Manhattan society, from champagne-soaked dinner parties to luxurious vacation cottages and back to New York's elegant hotels. With plenty of friends, but little money, Susy Branch and her friend Nick Lansing devise a clever scheme to live beyond their means. They’ll marry and live off the wedding gifts, while they help one another find and trade up to suitable millionaires. The plan works perfectly – until they fall in love.
The show is directed by Marc Bruni (Assoc. Director of Legally Blonde and Grease) and features a terrific Broadway and off-Broadway cast of six. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113945.html Each performance will also showcase a different special guest star appearing as a cabaret singer from the 20’s. Currently slated to appear are Tony-nominees Liz Larsen (The Most Happy Fella and Law & Order), Alison Fraser (The Secret Garden and Romance/Romance) and Anita Gillette (Chapter Two ); and Emmy Award winner Susan Lucci (All My Children).
Opening night is (Monday) January 21st, with an initial eight-week run (through March 10th). Performances are every Monday evening at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available by calling the Oak Room at (212) 419-9331 or by email at BMCGURN@algonquinhotel.com. More information is available at: www.GlimpsesOfTheMoon.com. -- The show is quite fun. I hope you will be able to come.

Recent queries at the Wharton Society Site

Here are some recent unanswered queries received at the Wharton Society site. If you have some answers, please sent your replies to whartonqueries at gmail.com and I'll post them. --Donna Campbell

Ethan Frome: what happened after his mother's death?

Ethan Frome is presented for the defense, a man on the way to adultery with a dependent in his own home but not yet completely conscious of his desires and not yet planning to carry them out. His wife believe something that has not occurred Therefore we should excuse and pity him.
Does no reader see that in the quarrel near the end of the story Zeena says "my family said at the time that you could do no less than marry me after---"
Ethan is horrified as though both had decided never to mention what had taken place after his mother's death. He retreats into dreams because he does not want his mistake to be repeated. What do you readers think?

12/22/07

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PBS adaptation of a Wharton story?

Several years ago, PBS ran what I believe was a one-part Masterpiece Theatre based on a Wharton story about a young rural girl whose boyfriend was killed in an industrial accident. He left her money to pursue her musical studies, and she went to Paris to study piano. However, her teacher recommended she switch from piano to voice, and she eventually becomes a major American opera singer.

Can you tell me the title of that short story and if it is available on DVD?

Steffan Aletti
sbaletti at aol.com 12/22/07

***************
The Reef: Unexpected Obstacle? I’ve just read The Reef and I have a question: What is the “unexpected obstacle” that Anna telegraphs Darrow about at the beginning of the novel? The reader is never given a clue. Is incest an unheralded subplot of this novel, or is the telegram just an obvious plot device to get Darrow and Sophy Viner together? The scene with Anna and Owen before Darrow arrives seems innocuous, but I wonder if there was something going on between them. And at the end, when Anna bids a tearful goodbye to Owen, is there more to it than the fact that Sophy is out of Owen’s life?

Brian Kelly 11/10/07
************

"The Valley of Childish Things"

Could you please tell me where and when The Valley of Childish things was published?

Regards,

Allyson Bird.
***********

Hudson River Bracketed

i am teacher in litterature. i am preparing a course on edith wharton 's books " hudson river bracketed" and " the gods arrive". i am looking for papers and comtemporary rewiews about these two books in order to make a bibliography, can you tell where i can find them on your website or anywhere else on the web?

thanks for your help
christel Manrique
litterature teacher 9/29/07

***************
Ferrigiani

I work in the education department at the Ponce Art Museum. Right now we are involved in a project sponsored by the NEA, The Big Read.For this project the Museum chose The Age of Innocence. I would like to know if the Ferrigiani mentioned by Old Mrs. Mingott ,who modelled her hands in Rome really existed. If so, can you tell me were to find information about him? I would be very grateful for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Ana E.Bauza 9/29/07

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Edith Wharton: A Portrait by Augustus M. Gerdes?

I am working with a collector who has what may be an early painting of Edith Wharton by Augustus M. Gerdes, a friend of Morton Fullerton. Mr. Gerdes was a painter who studied in Paris and would have had the financial background to be in the circle of artists, writers and other collectors. His lifelong passion was art and collecting. Descendants of his family have felt for years that there may have been more than a friendship between Mrs. Wharton and Mr. Gerdes. Do you or any of your members have any information on Augustus M. Gerdes and Edith Wharton? Thank you for your assistance in this matter and I have no problems with my name and email being posted.

John Coker 6/21/07

Age of Innocence on TCM December 28, 2007

The 1934 adaptation of Wharton's The Age of Innocence will be shown on Turner Classic Movies at 6:30 a.m. ET (3:30 a.m. PT) on December 28, 2007. This film is not available on VHS or DVD, so its periodic showings on TCM are the only way to see it.

Wharton sessions at MLA 2007

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dith Wharton Sessions at MLA 2007

Saturday, 29 December

513. Beyond Pro- or Anti-: Toward the Politics of Race in Edith Wharton’s Fiction

1:45–3:00 p.m., Grand Suite 2, Hyatt Regency

Program arranged by the Edith Wharton Society

Presiding: Meredith Lynn Goldsmith, Ursinus Coll.

1. “Reading the ‘Sojourn in Exotic Lands’: Edith Wharton’s ‘Xingu,’” Laura Anne Lomas, Rutgers Univ., Newark

2. “‘Constitutional Restlessness’: The Ambiguity of Race in The Custom of the Country,” John Bruni, Colorado School of Mines

3. “The Age of Innocence and Reconstruction-Postreconstruction Contexts,” Jonathan Hayes, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
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Sunday, 30 December

745. Edith Wharton and Illness, Followed by Business Meeting

1:45–3:00 p.m., San Francisco, Hyatt Regency

Program arranged by the Edith Wharton Society

Presiding: Hildegard Maria Hoeller, Coll. of Staten Island, City Univ. of New York

1. “Standing Tall or Lying Still: The Impact of Spinal Impairment on Individual Subjectivity in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and The Fruit of the Tree,” Cyndy Hall, Univ. of California, Riverside

2. “Circulatory Disorders in The Custom of the Country,” Caroline Guény, Université de Paris 3, Sorbonne Nouvelle

3. “Wandering Women and the Dangers of Contagion in Edith Wharton’s The Old Maid and ‘Roman Fever,’” Lisa L. Tyler, Sinclair Community Coll., OH

Respondent: Hildegard Maria Hoeller