Category Archives: Announcements

Tour Morocco with a Wharton Scholar

My name is Stacy Holden, and I am co-organizing a private excursion tracing Edith Wharton’s trip to Morocco in 1917.   This trip is tailored to Wharton fans or scholars who want to see Morocco and learn something of Wharton’s trip there 105 years ago.  

I lived in Morocco for three years, and have been traveling back and forth for 25 years.  With Amanda Mouttaki, a travel organizer based in Marrakesh, I hope to develop experiential learning for people who love Wharton or seek a more focused travel experience.  I attached an itinerary, and you can find it online here.  

A little bit more about myself: I have been a member of the Edith Wharton Society for about 5 years.  I am an Associate Professor of History at Purdue University, and my book-in-progress will assess Wharton  as drawing room diplomat who shaped ideas about early-twentieth century US policymaking both through her writing and through her elite networks.  

Links to my professional and private website are below.  

************************* 

Stacy E. Holden, Ph.D.  

Associate Professor

Purdue University

University Hall 

672 Oval Drive 

West Lafayette, IN 47907-2087

sholden@purdue.edu

Edith Wharton Panels and Meeting at ALA 2022

American Literature Association Conference

Chicago, IL (May 26-29, 2022)

Edith Wharton Society Panels

Panel 1: Friday, May 27, 11.30-12.50

Edith Wharton, Bodies, and Mobility (Salon 7) 

Chair: Gary Totten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

1.     “Transnationalism and Character Identity in American Novels: Wharton’s The Custom of the Country and The Reef at the Turn of the Century,” Samantha Seto, King’s College, London 

2.     “Hidden Bodies: Disability, Corporeality, and the Imperial Past in Edith Wharton’s Short Fiction,” Donna Campbell, Washington State University

Panel 2: Friday, May 27, 4.00-5.20

Wharton’s Short Stories (Indiana) 

Chair: Myrto Drizou, Boğaziçi University

1.     “‘Between myself and my readers’: Edith Wharton’s Ghost Stories and the American Unfinished,” Kacie Fodness, University of South Dakota

2.     “Edith Wharton’s ‘Blonde Beasts,’” Maria-Novella Mercuri, University College London, UK 

3.     “Not that Innocent: Teaching Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever,’” M. M. Dawley, Lesley 

University

All Society’s members (and anyone interested in Wharton’s work) are cordially invited to attend our Business Meeting on Friday, May 27, 2.30-3.50 (Salon 9).

Edith Wharton Panels at ALA 2022 (updated 2022.05.17)

Session 9-F Edith Wharton, Bodies, and Mobility (Salon 7)
Organized by the Edith Wharton Society
Chair: Gary Totten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  1. “Transnationalism and Character Identity in American Novels: Wharton’s The Custom of the Country
    and The Reef at the Turn of the Century,” Samantha Seto, King’s College, London
  2. “Hidden Bodies: Disability, Corporeality, and the Imperial Past in Edith Wharton’s Short Fiction,” Donna
    Campbell, Washington State University

Session 10-K: Business Meeting: Edith Wharton Business Meeting (Salon 4)

Session 11-M Business Meeting: Edith Wharton Society (Salon 9)

Session 12-G Edith Wharton’s Short Stories (Indiana)
Organized by the Edith Wharton Society
Chair: Myrto Drizou, Boğaziçi University

  1. “‘Between myself and my readers’: Edith Wharton’s Ghost Stories and the American Unfinished,” Kacie
    Fodness, University of South Dakota
  2. “Edith Wharton’s ‘Blonde Beasts,’” Maria-Novella Mercuri, University College London, UK
  3. “Not that Innocent: Teaching Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever,’” M. M. Dawley, Lesley University

Edith Wharton Panels and Papers at the American Literature Association Conference, Chicago, 26-29 May 2022

Friday, May 27, 11:30 a.m – 12:50 p.m.

Session 9-F Edith Wharton, Bodies, and Mobility
Organized by the Edith Wharton Society
Chair: Gary Totten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  1. “Transnationalism and Character Identity in American Novels: Wharton’s The Custom of the Country
    and The Reef at the Turn of the Century,” Samantha Seto, King’s College, London
  2. “Lily Bart’s Body Electric,” Haley Larsen, Independent Scholar
  3. “Hidden Bodies: Disability, Corporeality, and the Imperial Past in Edith Wharton’s Short Fiction,” Donna Campbell, Washington State University

Friday, May 27, 4:00-5:20 p.m.

Session 12-G Edith Wharton’s Short Stories
Organized by the Edith Wharton Society
Chair: Myrto Drizou, Boğaziçi University

  1. “‘Between myself and my readers’: Edith Wharton’s Ghost Stories and the American Unfinished,” Kacie Fodness, University of South Dakota
  2. “Edith Wharton’s ‘Blonde Beasts,’” Maria-Novella Mercuri, University College London, UK
  3. “Not that Innocent: Teaching Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever,’” M. M. Dawley, Lesley University

Sessions 10K and 11M are currently (4/22/22) listed as Edith Wharton Business Meetings.

Queries: What do Wharton scholars think of the Marion Mainwaring version of The Buccaneers?

The book group I lead just read The Buccaneers. A central question arose: how is it that a writer –– in this case, Marion Mainwaring –– was able to “complete” Edith Wharton’s unfinished manuscript? (And find a major publisher willing to print it?) Was Mainwaring a friend of Edith Wharton’s? Did she need permission from Wharton’s literary executors? What does the Edith Wharton Society, as a body of EW scholars, think of the results?

Are there other instances where an authors’ unfinished work was completed by someone else?

Any insights you can offer would be most appreciated.

Thank you, terri epstein, Email: terriepstein13@gmail.com

Response:

Dear Ms. Epstein,

I can’t speak for all EWS members about this edition, but Marion Mainwaring (1922-2015) was a translator and literary critic who researched materials for Wharton’s first modern biographer R. W. B. Lewis on his 1985 biography of Edith Wharton. In addition to her edition of The Buccaneers, she published Mysteries of Paris: The Quest for Morton Fullerton (2001), billed as “The first complete account of Edith Wharton’s unknown lover.”  –Donna Campbell

BBC production of Wharton’s The Shadow of a Doubt now available again

Edith Wharton’s unpublished play _The Shadow of a Doubt_ is once again available at the link below on BBC Radio 3. (If you think it sounds like The Fruit of the Tree, you’re right.)

The Shadow of a Doubt

Phoebe Fox, Francesca Annis and Paul Ready star in the world premiere of a newly discovered play by Edith Wharton from 1901. Former nurse Kate Derwent carries a terrible secret.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000xfl

Thanks to Laura Rattray for alerting the EWS to this production’s renewed availability.

EWS Awards: Call for Submissions

The Edith Wharton Society is delighted to announce three prizes for 2022: the Elsa Nettels Prize for a Beginning Scholar, the Edith Wharton Society Award for Archival Research, and the Edith Wharton Society Undergraduate Research Prize.  Below please find all calls for submissions.  All submission materials should be sent via email by June 30, 2022 to current EWS President, Jennifer Haytock, SUNY Brockport, jhaytock@brockport.edu.  

The Elsa Nettels Prize for a Beginning Scholar  

This award, formerly known as the “Edith Wharton Society Prize for a Beginning Scholar,” established in 2005, recognizes the best unpublished essay on Edith Wharton’s work by a beginning scholar, advanced graduate student, independent scholar, or faculty member who has held a full-time appointment for four or fewer years.  All entries will be considered for publication in The Edith Wharton Review, published by Penn State University Press.  The author of the prize-winning essay will receive an award of $250.  

How to apply:  

  • Submissions should be 20-30 double-spaced pages long and follow the 8th edition MLA style, using endnotes rather than footnotes.  
  • Submissions should include two attached files: an anonymized MS Word version of your paper and a separate cover letter containing the applicant’s name, essay title, academic status, e-mail address, postal address, and the award name.  
  • Please use the subject line: “EWS Elsa Nettels Prize for a Beginning Scholar.”  
  • Submissions are due to jhaytock@brockport.edu by June 30, 2022. 

     

The Edith Wharton Society Award for Archival Research   

The archival award, in the amount of $500, enables a scholar to conduct research at one of the Edith Wharton archives at Wharton’s library at The Mount in Lenox, MA, the Wharton Collection at Yale University’s Beinecke Library, or the Wharton papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.  

Funds must be used for transportation, lodging, and other expenses related to archival research.  Notification of the award will take place by August 15, 2022.  The award can be used between August 15, 2022 and August 14, 2023.  A brief report detailing some aspect(s) of the research (not intended to preempt publication in other scholarly venues) will be due to the EWS president by September 1, 2023 and will be published in the Edith Wharton Review.  

How to apply:  

  • Submissions should include a proposal (of no more than two single-spaced pages) that describes the applicant’s overarching research project, its contribution to Wharton scholarship, the applicant’s scholarly preparation, and the relevance of the archive to the project’s completion.  
  • Also include two additional attachments: a CV and a separate cover letter containing your current affiliation, rank, and mailing address.  
  • Please use the subject line: “EWS Award for Archival Research.”  
  • Submissions are due to  jhaytock@brockport.edu by June 30, 2022.  

The Edith Wharton Society Undergraduate Research Prize  

First offered in 2014, the undergraduate research prize is open to students at all undergraduate levels.  Papers should be no more than fifteen pages long and can address Wharton’s works in any genre.  The winning essay will be published on the EWS website, and the author will receive an award of $100.  

How to apply:  

  • Please send an anonymized electronic submission as an email attachment in Microsoft Word, along with a separate attached cover letter containing your name, essay title, undergraduate institution, the name of your faculty mentor, email address (and perhaps an alternate email, if your email address is about to change), postal address, and the name of the award.  
  • Please use the subject line: “EWS Undergraduate Research Prize.”  
  • Submissions are due to  jhaytock@brockport.edu by June 30, 2022.  

…  

The Edith Wharton Society sees its commitment to Wharton’s writing as including financial support for Wharton scholarship, with two awards specifically for beginning scholars.  We thank all in the Wharton society who have donated to these prizes over the years, many of whom have been award recipients; your support of this endeavor enables our generosity.  If you are inclined to donate to support this year’s awards, a donation portal is linked here.  

Donate

Edith Wharton in the News: Street in Langemark, NL named for Edith Wharton

 
I am happy to let you know that Langemark is considering naming a street on Edith Wharton for what she did for the children of the area during WWI. A political decision is still needed. The motivation is now being written. I thought you would be interested in knowing this.
My best regards,
Anne Provoost

Name: Anne Provoost

Website:http://www.anneprovoost.be/nl/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage