Edith Wharton Review: Announcing “Notes On . . .”

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Announcing: “Notes On…”

for the Edith Wharton Review (the official refereed journal of the Edith Wharton Society)

Broadening the journal’s practice of including shorter essays alongside full-length scholarly articles, the Edith Wharton Review introduces a regular, ongoing section that aims to give greater visibility to shorter, less formal commentary while also expanding the scope of Wharton-related topics. The new section, entitled “Notes On …” (with a strong emphasis on the ellipses), aims to highlight the joys and inspirations – intellectual, emotional, professional, personal, among other possibilities – that Wharton’s works offer to her readers. “Notes On…” reflects the editors’ interest in the range of epistemologies that we all bring to the reading and teaching of Wharton’s work, and that of her contemporaries. While the journal’s anonymous peer-reviewed articles are crucial to advancing historical and critical scholarship in the fields of literary studies and provide intense gratifications of their own, essays appearing in the “Notes On…” section invite readers and writers to reflect together about the pleasures and challenges of reading, teaching, watching, discovering and thinking with Wharton’s work today. “Notes On…” invites reflections on the illuminating moment in the many forms that it may take in Wharton’s work. The section’s focus – more embodied at times; at times more affective – offers a greater use of the personal voice and formal experimentation than those that appear among the anonymous peer-reviewed articles (submissions to “Notes On …” are peer-reviewed by the editors). Contributions may offer perspectives on teaching a particular novel or range of texts; insights arising from archival work; ruminations upon what it means, or even how it feels, to read Wharton’s work in a particular historical context, place or at different life stages; reviews of and responses to popular culture productions and discussions of Wharton’s work presented in different formats – or any number of other subjects edifying, engaging, and perhaps diverting for our Wharton readers.

Suggested length for submissions is approximately 5-10 pages. Queries about possible topics can be directed to the editor: (rbode@trentu.ca), or any one of the associate editors: (sbrennan@carthage.edu); (myrto.drizou@nord.no), (hornk@uni-greifswald.de).

The journal continues to welcome, with appreciation and enthusiasm, full-length critical, scholarly essays on Wharton for its blind peer-reviewed articles section and is open to all Wharton-related topics from a broad range of theoretical perspectives. Suggested length is approximately 20-30 pages. Enquiries welcome (rbode@trentu.ca).
Details on submission are available at: https://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_EWR.html

Wharton in the News: Opera based on The Reef

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Anthony Davis has written operas based on recent history. But now he is adapting, and dramatically changing, Wharton’s 1912 novel “The Reef.”

From Carol Singley:

The composer and pianist Anthony Davis is known for drawing inspiration from real-world figures in his operas.

“X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” — recently mounted by the Metropolitan Opera — and “The Central Park Five,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020, are both grave, ripped-from-the-headlines stories about well-known people.

But Davis has also written rollicking adaptations of literary material. Less frequently produced but no less interesting are chamber operas like “Lilith” — a saucy and inventive take on the story of Adam’s first wife that features a divorce court in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, “Lear on the 2nd Floor” is a riff on Shakespeare that brings “King Lear” into contemporary discussions about medicine and Alzheimer’s disease.

“The Reef,” Davis’s latest music drama to arrive onstage and his follow-up to “The Central Park Five,” seems more fitting in that literary cohort. That is, once it’s finished. Still in progress, the piece dipped its toes into the world by way of a recent workshop performance at Merkin Hall, presented by the Berkshire Opera Festival.

Adapted from Edith Wharton’s 1912 novel of the same name, “The Reef,” with a libretto by Joan Ross Sorkin, has been in development, in fits and starts, since 2014. (Since then, Davis premiered “The Central Park Five” and revised the score of “X,” ahead of its traveling revival.)

Event: The Bunner Sisters reading in New York on April 3, 2024

The Bunner Sisters reading in New York on April 3, 2024

A reading of The Bunner Sisters, adapted by Richard Alleman and directed by Anthony Newfield, will be presented April 3, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., at the historic House of the Redeemer, 7 East 95th Street, New York. Tickets: $25 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-bunner-sisters-tickets-817375671637

Based on the little-known Edith Wharton novella, The Bunner Sisters is a far cry from Wharton’s better-known upper-class Gilded Age territory. Adapted by journalist/playwright Richard Alleman, The Bunner Sisters tracks the lives of two spinster sisters eking out a living as seamstresses in a tenement basement in Lower Manhattan in the 1880s. When an unattached man enters the picture, the sisters’ complacent existence is upended. Sensitively brought to the stage by Alleman, The Bunner Sisters takes audiences on a dramatic journey to a not-so-innocent age, with many of the same problems we face today, including income inequality, the precarious status of women, even addiction.


Alleman completed his adaptation of the novella in 2015, at which time he and director Anthony Newfield co-produced a staged reading in San Francisco with the Re:ACT theater company. This was followed in 2016 by a fully mounted production in San Francisco that played to sold-out houses. Returning to New York, Alleman and Newfield continued to fine-tune the play, with more workshops and readings, including a very successful production at Wharton’s landmark Massachusetts home, The Mount. Back in New York, in the spring of 2020, an Off-Broadway production was being prepared. Unfortunately this production had to be cancelled due to COVID.

In the midst of the pandemic, however, a surprising development:  The Bunner Sisters was translated into Italian by University of Pisa professor and Wharton aficionado Simone Pratelli. This Italian version was presented last September by San Francisco’s Museo Italo Americano. Now, the House of the Redeemer’s I Fabbristi is pleased to present this reading of the play…in English.

The cast includes Anne (Les Misérables) Buelteman, Katie (A Day by the Sea) Firth, Erin (Fellow Travelers) Neufer, Josiah (Mad Men) Polhemus, Amy (The Heiress) Prosser, and Jo (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Yang.

CFP: EWS at MLA (Deadline: March 25, 2024)

Edith Wharton Society Panel 

Modern Language Association Convention

January 9-12 New Orleans

Edith Wharton and the Politics of Visibility

Deadline for Submissions: March 25, 2024 

Accepted presenters must be MLA members by April 7, 2024

The Edith Wharton Society invites papers that explore the Convention theme of Morrison’s metaphor of visibility. 

In this call for papers, we seek to explore the multifaceted theme of visibility through the lens of Edith Wharton’s writings including her novels, short fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and plays. Building upon Toni Morrison’s metaphor of “invisible ink,” we aim to uncover the hidden layers of Wharton’s texts and examine the practices that make visible the aspects of society, culture, and identity that have been buried, obstructed, or marginalized.

We invite submissions that engage with the following themes and topics, among others:

  1. Visibility and Power Dynamics
  2. Social, Political, and Cultural Dimensions of Visibility
  3. Visibility and Marginalized Communities
  4. Academic Visibility and Censorship
  5. Visibility and Disability Studies
  6. Unmasking Practices and Disrupted Binaries
  7. Visual and Material Culture in Wharton’s World

We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and diverse methodological perspectives. 

Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a brief bio should be submitted by March 25, 2024 to mjjessee@uab.edu

Margaret Jay Jessee, PhD

EWS Awards (Deadline: June 30, 2024)

Dear Colleagues and Edith Wharton Friends:

The Edith Wharton Society is delighted to announce three prizes for 2024: 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, 2024 to current EWS President, Myrto Drizou, Nord University, Norway (myrto.drizou@nord.no).

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 9th 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 myrto.drizou@nord.no by June 30, 2024. 

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, 2024. The award can be used between August 15, 2024 and August 14, 2025. 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, 2025 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 myrto.drizou@nord.no by June 30, 2024.  

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 myrto.drizou@nord.no by June 30, 2024.  

…  

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 are committed to raising the amount for all awards as well as establishing a new one for mid-career scholarship in 2025. 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

With sincere thanks and warm wishes,

Myrto

—

Myrto Drizou

EWS President

Associate Professor of English

Nord University, Norway

CFP: Wharton and Digital Pedagogy

Dear all,

Edith Wharton Review is seeking contributions on digital pedagogy for its “Teaching Notes” section on teaching Edith Wharton and her contemporaries. 

We are interested in case studies that highlight the value of including digital tools (e. g. for collaboration, annotation, or analysis) in literary and cultural studies classrooms and that illustrate specific assignments, tools, and practices of digital pedagogy (broadly understood) for helping students engage with Edith Wharton’s writing, or which help to contextualize her in the context of literary and cultural history. This section of the journal seeks to bring a refreshing perspective to academic writing by encouraging contributors to infuse their research with a personal touch and share experiences from their classrooms.

Essays are accepted on a rolling basis, should be approximately 3000 words long, and in accordance with MLA guidelines. 

We welcome inquiries at Katrin.horn@uni-greifswald.de. 

Information on the journal is available here: https://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_EWR.html

All the best,

Katrin

Prof. Dr. Katrin Horn (she/her)

Universität Greifswald – Anglophone Gender Studies

CFP Extended Deadline (January 28, 2024): EW Sessions at ALA

Please see the CFP below with an extended deadline of January 28th

American Literature Association

35th Annual Conference

May 23-26 2024

The Palmer House Hilton
17 East Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603

CFP Edith Wharton and Emotion

The Edith Wharton Society invites papers that explore Wharton’s engagement with emotion/feelings/affect in her works. Panelists are encouraged to consider the role of emotion in her writing on design, gardens, and travel as well as her novels and stories. All theoretical approaches are welcome. Proposals might consider (but are not limited to) the following questions:

  • What does emotion mean or how is it constituted in Wharton’s work?
  • How do questions of sentiment, affect, or sensation inflect Wharton’s perspectives on emotion?
  • How does affect relate to aesthetics in Wharton’s works?
  • What is the role of feeling in Wharton’s texts? 
  • How are Wharton’s characters affected by sentiment?
  • How is emotion gendered, raced, or classed in Wharton’s work?
  • What is the relationship between emotion and cosmopolitan taste in Wharton’s texts?

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract and a brief CV by January 28, 2024 to Margaret Jay Jessee (mjjessee@uab.edu). Please include any requests for AV needs in your proposal. Scholars whose proposals are accepted must be members in good standing of the Edith Wharton Society by the time of the conference.

Happy New Year to the Edith Wharton Society Members

Dear Members of the Edith Wharton Society,

I would like to extend my heartfelt wishes for a happy and healthy new year to you all. Thanks to your scholarship on Edith Wharton, your commitment to the Edith Wharton Society, and your support to the Society’s work, we have kept our community strong and we hope to continue doing so in 2024. Let me take this opportunity to celebrate your work and to mark important endeavors for this year. 

We are delighted to join forces with the Transatlantic Literary Women for the Edith Wharton Birthday Talk next week (January 24, 5:00 pm UK/ Noon EST). Upon Laura Rattray’s unfailing initiative, this talk has become a wonderful tradition. This year, we are excited to welcome Prof. Gary Totten (U of Nevada, Las Vegas), well-known Wharton scholar, who will talk on “Edith Wharton’s Geographical Imagination: Notes from the Travel Writing.” You can find more information and the Zoom link directly below:

January Tea with TLW: Joint Birthday Event with the Edith Wharton Society – Professor Gary Totten on ‘Edith Wharton’s Geographical Imagination: Notes from the Travel Writing’

This year has started with the EWS panel at the MLA conference; chaired by Melanie Dawson, the panel featured presentations on Wharton and Celebration by Fred Wegener and Gary Totten. The call for papers for next year’s MLA will be published in February (please send proposals!). Our Vice-President, Jay Jessee, organized two fantastic panels on Wharton and Beauty at last year’s ALA conference in Boston and is planning more on Wharton and Emotion at this year’s ALA in Chicago (May 23-26, 2024). Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in organizing a Wharton-themed panel at a future conference (e.g., the regional MLAs, such as SAMLA/PAMLA). It’s been a long time since our Society has gathered at a dedicated conference and we are doing our best to make it happen in the next few years.

Along with conferences and talks, the Edith Wharton Review remains a great forum for Wharton scholarship. I am grateful to Rita Bode’s gracious editorship and to you all for supporting not only established but also new voices in Wharton Studies. The EWR heartily welcomes submissions not only of traditional articles but also shorter pieces, e.g., reflections on teaching Wharton, archival finds, digital scholarship, and other work that might be of interest to our readership. 

Each year, we are delighted to offer three awards (Undergraduate Research Essay; Elsa Nettels Award for Beginning Scholar; Archival Research), which support Wharton scholarship tremendously. This year, we are proposing to establish a new award to sustain mid-career research on Wharton. The call for awards will be published in February and the deadline for submissions will be June 30, 2024.

None of the above would have been possible without your contributions and support. Please do take a moment to renew your membership to the Society, which includes a yearly subscription to the Edith Wharton Review and access to previous articles via the Scholarly Publishing Collective. 

Membership

https://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_EWR.html

If you can, please consider making a donation. Even a little bit helps these endeavors so much. A few months ago, upon the initiative of the tireless Julie Olin-Ammentorp, we established a fund for the upkeep of Edith Wharton’s and—if funds allow— Walter Berry’s graves. Thank you so much for raising USD 605.02 already! Please consider making a donation to this initiative, so that we can make it happen by the end of this year. 

We have a lot to look forward to but also a lot to be thankful for. On my part, I wish to thank the EWS Board for their generosity and support but also YOU for making me feel part of a collegial, rewarding, and exciting community all over the world. I will see you off with a fabulous podcast on The Age of Innocence by Prof. Emily Orlando: 

and I hope to see you all at Gary’s talk on Wharton’s birthday next week!

With my warmest wishes,

Myrto—Myrto Drizou

Associate Professor of English

Faculty of Education and Arts

Nord University

Bodø 8026, Norway