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Conference News Archive

  • Current Calls for Papers at the EWS site
  • Call for Papers Archive at the EWS site
  • Conference News page at the EWS site
  • Conference News Archive at the EWS site
  • Calls for Papers archive (CFP-L) page at the University of Pennsylvania
  • Papers Invited archive and list

    • Edith Wharton Sessions at ALA 2004

    Session 18-B Wharton in Context:  American Fiction in the Twenties
    Saturday, May 29, 2004, 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
    Pacific Concourse D

    Organized by the Edith Wharton Society

    Chair: Judith Saunders , Marist College

    1.   "Thresholds of Desire:  New York City in Wharton and Flanner, " Johanna X.K. Garvey , Fairfield University

    2.   "Film, Scandal, and the Flapper:  Wharton's Response to Fitzgerald in TWILIGHT SLEEP," Sharon Kehl Califano, University of New Hampshire

    3.   "Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Literary Field After 1922," Michael Nowlin , University of Victoria

    Edith Wharton Society Business Meeting
    Saturday, May 29, 2005 12:30-1:50 p.m.
    Pacific Concourse A

    Session 22-E   Anxiety and Social Dislocation in Edith Wharton's Short Fiction
    Saturday, May 29, 2004 5:00-6:20 p.m.
    Pacific Concourse L

    Organized by the Edith Wharton Society

    Chair: Donna Campbell, Gonzaga University

    1. "Confronting the Jewish Other: Aesthetics and Economics in Wharton's Early Short Fiction," David M. Ball , Princeton University

    2. "Anxious Narratives: Money, Class, and Gender in Edith Wharton's Ghost Stories," Karen J. Jacobsen , Valdosta State University

    3. "Art that Speaks: Wharton's 'The Duchess at Prayer' and 'The Moving Finger,'" Carol Sapora , Villa Julie College

    4. "'Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live': Edith Wharton's Gothic Fiction and The New Woman," Cynthia L. Hall, University of California,Riverside

    EDITH WHARTON EVENTS at the 2003 MLA Convention

    Please note the following (Updated 12/12/03)

    The Edith Wharton Society Dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 28th, at the Fish Market Restaurant (750 North Harbor Drive, not far from the Convention Center). Clare Colquitt is organizing the dinner (thank you, Clare!), so please email her at colquitt@mail.sdsu.edu by Dec. 23rd if you would like to attend. (The total price for the dinner has not yet been determined, but will be in the $40 range for what promises to be an excellent meal. Dinner need not be paid in advance; please bring cash or a checkbook to the dinner, however.) Details will also be posted on the Wharton Society website. This is always a festive occasion; if you are attending MLA, please come!

    Other details to keep in mind:

    A rare opportunity: “High Tea with Edith Wharton” is a tea and performance being held on Monday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m. at the Horton Grand Hotel (311 Island Ave.). A new opera based on the life and works of Edith Wharton has been created by Myron Fink (composer) and Don Moreland (librettist); the event will include a discussion of the opera as well as excerpts sung by soprano Patricia McAfee (in the role of Edith Wharton) and tenor Richard Geller (in the role of Morton Fullerton). Send checks for $33 to Myron Fink, c/o 9969 Cummins Place, San Diego, CA 92131, as soon as possible; you may also email allegro@san.rr.com (Cheryl Brown, our contact) to see if space is still available. Please include your name, address, telephone number, and email address. For full details see the “Announcements” page on the Edith Wharton Society website. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door.

    Our two Wharton Society Panels:

    Saturday, Dec. 27, 5:15-6:30: Wharton, History, and the Novel. This will be held in the America’s Cup A & B, Manchester Grand Hyatt. Panelists include Martha Banta, Candace Waid, and Betsy Klimasmith; the panel will be chaired by Julie Olin-Ammentorp.

    Sunday, Dec. 28, 1:45-3:00: The Business of Being Edith Wharton, The Edith Wharton Business. Panelists include Susan Goodman, Gavin Jones, and Dale Bauer (respondent); the panel will be chaired by Augusta Rohrbach. This will be held in Gregory A, Manchester Grand Hyatt. Please note that this meeting will include the Annual Business Meeting of the Wharton Society, including voting on proposed changes to the Wharton Society Constitution (please see the website), electing new members to the Executive Board, selecting panels for next year’s MLA convention, and other important matters.

    2002
     
    Edith Wharton Sessions at MLA (December 2002)
    Session 401. Sunday, 29 December 8:30-9:45 a.m., Harlem, Hilton

    Edith Wharton and the Provocations of Philosophy
    Chair: Frederick Wegener, California State Univ., Long Beach

    1. "Edith Wharton's Republic without Spirit: The Platonic Influence on THE
    HOUSE OF MIRTH," Julia A. Galbus, Univ. of Southern Indiana
    2. "Edith Wharton and Ernest Renan," Carol J. Singley, Rutgers Univ.,
    Camden
    3. "Nietzsche, German Culture, and Wharton," Carole M. Shaffer-Koros, Kean
    Univ.
    4. Habit and the Pragmatics of Thinking in Edith Wharton," Renee Tursi,
    Coll. of Charleston
     

    Session 774. Ambivalence of Place: The New Yorks of Edith Wharton
    Monday, 30 December, 1:45-3:00 p.m., Concourse A, Hilton
    Chair: Augusta Rohrbach, Harvard Univ.

    1. "The New York of Edith Wharton's Later Novels," Karin S. Roffman, Yale
    Univ.
    2. "Dis-integrating Third Space in Edith Wharton's New York Novels,"
    Stephen P. Knadler, Spelman Coll.
    3. "Symbol, Specificity, and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE," Jane Weiss, State
    Univ. of New York, Coll. at Old Westbury
     

    The business meeting for the Edith Wharton Society will be held at the
    beginning of Session 774.
     

    CNYPLL 27-29 OCTOBER 2002 (Deadline: July 15, 2002)

    Edith Wharton Sessions at ALA 2002
    Long Beach, California

    Session XI: Friday, May 31, 10:00-11:20 a.m.
    EDITH WHARTON AND LITERARY MODERNISM, Regency F 
    Chair: Hildegard Hoeller, College of Staten Island-CUNY and the Edith Wharton Society

    1.     "Ethan Frome and Literary Modernism: Wharton's Descent into The Heart of Darkness," Linda Cahir, Centenary College
    2.     "The Architecture of the Short Story: Edith Wharton's Modernist Practice," Michelle Ware, North Carolina Central University
    3.     "From Image to Text: Modernist Transformations in Edith Wharton's 'The Muse's Tragedy,'" Laura Saltz, Colby College

    Session XV: Friday, May 31, 3:30-4:50 p.m.
    ALA 2003

    G.    EDITH WHARTON AND VISUAL CULTURE, Seaview C
     Chair: Laura Saltz, Colby College and the Edith Wharton Society

    1. "An Intense and Unfailing Visibility: Edith Wharton's Sense of the Visual," Dale Bachman Flynn, University of California, Davis

          2. "Speculating on the Spectacle: Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country,"  Stuart Burrows, Brown University

    3. "Visual Collisions: Edith Wharton and Magazine Illustration," Edie Thornton, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater Northeast Modern Language Association
    Annual Convention 
    2002 Convention: Toronto, Canada 
    April 11-14, 2002 

    Friday, April 12. Session 1.3: Women and the Healing Arts: Portraits in British and American Literature 
      Bay Suite 
    Chair: Carol Shiner Wilson, Muhlenberg College 
    "Negotiating the Limits of Science and Faith: Jane Barker and the Healing Arts" 
          Carol Shiner Wilson, Muhlenberg College 
    "Edith Wharton's Nurses" 
         Annette Larson Benert, DeSales University 
    "Healing as Art and Strategy: Zora Neale Hurston's Discourse on the Nature of Survival" 
         Patrick S. Bernard, Franklin Marshall College 
    "The `Gifted Hands' of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day" 
         Elizabeth Hayes, Le Moyne College 

    Session 4.10: Female Friendship in Nineteeth-Century America 
      Regatta Suite 
    Chair: Gail C. Keating, Penn State University - Worthington Scranton
    "`She Is Free and I Am Not': Lily Bart, the New Woman, and the Failure of Female Friendship" 
         Lori Harrison-Kahan, Columbia University 
    "Sarah Orne Jewett's Friendship with Artists" 
         Gayle L. Smith, Penn State University - Worthington Scranton 
    "Respect for the Spirit: Women's Friendship and Sprituality in Jewett's `The Queen's Twin'" 
         Sharon Barnes, University of Toledo 

    December 2001 
    MLA
    Session 553: "War Writing by Wharton and Other Writers." 
    Saturday, 29 December, 1:45-3:00 p.m. 
    Salon 828, Sheraton
    Chair: Harriet Gold, Univ. de Montreal

    1. "In Their Time: Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway."
    Susan Goodman, Univ. of Delaware, Newark
    2. "Home Front, War Front, History: Four Texts of the First World War."
    Janet Sharistanian, Univ. of Kansas
    3. "What's Place Got to Do with It? Wharton and Faulkner on War."
    Deborah L. Clarke, Penn State Univ., University Park
    4. "Edith Wharton and Rebecca West: Women Write the War."
    Julie A. Olin-Ammentorp, Le Moyne College

    Session 105: Edith Wharton Goes Goth
    Thursday, 27 December, 8:45-10:00 p.m.
    Grand Couteau, Sheraton
    Chair: Augusta Rohrbach, Harvard University

    1. "The Beauty of Edith Wharton's Gothic Tales: 'The Eyes' and Afterward"
    Caroline Levander, Rice University

    2. "Edith Wharton and Gothic Landscapes"
    Janet Beer  (Manchester  Metropolitan University)  and Avril Horner (University of Salford)

    3. "Dis-figurement and Dis-covery: The Tableau of Lily Bart"
    Thomas Loebel, University of Calgary

    Respondent: Teresa Goddu, Vanderbilt University
    Business Meeting:
    Saturday, 29 December,
    12:00-1:15 p.m., 
    Pontchartrain Ballroom E, Sheraton.
    EDITH WHARTON SOCIETY DINNER AT MLA--Reservation form (Deadline for reservations: Dec. 22)

    Session VI: Thursday, May 24, 2001, 2:00-3:20 p.m.

    F. MARKETS, NATIONS, AND RACES IN EDITH WHARTON'S WORK, John Quincy Adams Ballroom
    Chair: Hildegard Hoeller, Babson College and the Edith Wharton Society

       1."'Inhospitable Splendor': Spectacles of Consumer Culture in Wharton's Summer," Gary Totten, Concordia College 
       2."Edith Wharton's Lost Innocence and the Growth of a Nation," Michael Nowlin, University of Victoria 
       3."Performing Subjectivity and Acquiring a Nationality: The Female Passer in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth," Lori Harrison, Columbia University

    Respondent: Hildegard Hoeller, Babson College and the Edith Wharton Society

    Session XI: Friday, May 25, 2001, 9:30-10:50 a.m.

    F. EDITH WHARTON IN CONTEXT, John Quincy Adams Ballroom
    Chair: Augusta Rohrbach, Harvard University and the Edith Wharton Society

       1."Edith Wharton and the Future of Fiction," Alice Kinman, University of Georgia 
       2."Suicide and the Agency of Fiction in Edith Wharton," Jared Stark, New York University 
       3."The Hotel Spirit: Modernity and the Urban Home in Wharton's The Custom of the Country, James's American Scene, and Gilman's Short Fiction," Betsy Klimasmith, University of Washington

    Respondent: Augusta Rohrbach, Harvard University and the Edith Wharton Society

    Other sessions featuring papers on Wharton:
    Session II: Thursday, May 24, 2001, 9:30-10:50 a. m.
    D. CITIZEN JAMES, William Dawes A
    3."The Meaning of France in the Fiction of Henry James and Edith Wharton," Georgia Kreiger, West Virginia University
    Session V: Thursday, May 24, 2001, 12:30-1:50 p.m.
    C. THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, Haym Saloman
       3."Howells and Wharton: Indian Summer and The Children," Elsa Nettels, College of William and Mary
    Session XVI: Friday, May 25, 2001, 3:30-4:50 p.m.
    H. AMERICAN EXPATRIATE LITERATURES, Thomas Paine A
    "Edith Wharton's In Morocco: A Nonchalant Gaze at the Harem and an Apology for Colonialism," Ali Bouanani, Tidewater Community College

    For full program go to http://www.nova.edu/~stoddart/

    1."Edith Wharton¹s Short Fiction: The Question of Incest Again²
                Abby Werlock, (Emerita) St. Olaf College
    2."Buried Bohemians: Allusions to Two Literary Ancestors in Wharton¹s
    The Age of Innocence and `Mr. Jones'"
                Patricia Rudden, New York City Technical College, CUNY
    3."Lily Bart, Gwendolyn Harleth and Male Friends"
                Julie Olin-Ammentorp, LeMoyne College

    Sessions
    Thursday, 28 December.
    326.  Edith Wharton as Transnational 
    3:30-4:45 p. m., Park Tower Suite 8212, Marriott
    Presiding: Abby H. P. Werlock, Saint Olaf College

    1. "To Develop the Conscious': Edith Wharton's Uniquely Configured Internationality." 
    Linda E. Chown, Grand Valley State University

    2. "Wharton's Age of Innocence and Proust's Remebrance of Things Past."
    Allan Hepburn, University of Toronto

    3. "Wharton's In Morocco: Feminism and Orientalism."
    Anouar Majid, University of New England

    Saturday, 30 December
    772. Edith Wharton and Mass Culture 
    12:00 noon-1:15 p. m., Wilson B, Marriott
    Presiding: Edie Thornton, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

    1. "Wharton and Commodification in Film and Literary Production."
    Jamie R. Barlowe, University of Toledo

    2. "The Old Maid, Popular Magazines, and the Adoption Debate." 
    Carol J. Singley, Rutgers University, Camden

    3. "MisreadingThe House of Mirth: Middle-Class Readers and Upwardly Mobile Desire."
    Amy L. Blair, Cornell University

    ALA 2000

    Sessions III Thursday, May 25, 2000
    Edith Wharton and Education
    Regency F

    Chair: Frederick Wegener, California State University, Long Beach, and the Edith Wharton Society
    1. "Education as Contamination in The Reef"
    Lisa Radinovsky, Duke University
    2. "The Flapper's Education: What Nona Knows in Twilight Sleep"
    Phillip Barrish, University of Texas at Austin
    3. "Edith Wharton and the Higher Miseducation of Women"
    Julie Olin-Ammentorp, LeMoyne College

    Sessions VIII Thursday, May 25, 2000
    Eating and Orality in the Life and Work of Edith Wharton
    Regency F

    Chair: Elizabeth  Keyser, Hollins University and the Edith Wharton Society
    1. "Consuming Morality in The House of Mirth"
    Tiffany Aldrich, University of California, Davis
    2. "Productive Inappetence: Edith Wharton's Anorexia and Civil(ity) Disobedience"
    Gina M. Camodeca, D'Youville College (paper not presented)
    3. "The Consequences of Communion: Food and Drink in Summer"
    Jules Sears, University of California, Davis
    4. "In with the In-Crowd: Rituals of Dinner in The Age of Innocence"
    Diane McGee, John Abbott College, Quebec
    5. "Flesh Made Power: Mrs. Manson Mingott's 'Monstrous' Influence"
    Abby Zink, Northern Illinois University
    6. "Sexual Politics in Edith Wharton's Smoking Scenes"
    Maureen Newlin, California State University, San Bernardino
    Sessions XX, Saturday, May 27, 2000
    Seminar V: Edith Wharton, the Short Fiction

    Abby Werlock, St. Olaf College
    Seaview A

    NEMLA 2000

    1. Melanie Dawson, University of Pittsburgh: "'Too Young for the Part'?
    Wharton's Exploration of the Modern Generational Divide."
    2. Laura S. Gravette, University of Missouri, Columbia: "Narrative Unity in _Old New York_."
    3. Mia Manzulli, US Military Academy: "Literary Anxieties: The
    Publishing World of _Hudson River Bracketed_."
    4. Joseph C. Swatski, Independent Scholar: "Capitalistic Ghosts in the
    Stories of Edith Wharton."