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Inspiring Writers Beyond the View

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Website administrator in 2013, The Mount

This week, we are delighted to feature a guest post from L L. Barkat, managing editor of Tweetspeak Poetry. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting Laura at The Mount, and welcome her thoughts about literary views–and literary visions.

Pull into the drive at The Mount—Edith Wharton’s former estate—and you know you are in for an experience. It won’t be the hype of do-this-do-that. The trees are too tall, the paths too winding. No, it will be a place that asks you to let go, to give in to the shade of old pines, to marvel at the dappled undergrowth (yes, you will find yourself using words like “dappled” when you walk the curved road from the one-time stables to the white mansion overlooking serene hills and firs).

The Mount will stir places in you that say, “Writer.” You will look out the window of the upper-floor bedroom and imagine all you could do with a view like that. Maybe you could even write thirty-eight books like Edith did. It will give you a vision.

After the high ceilings, the expansive windows, a turn on the terrace, maybe you will walk the lower garden. But, at some point, you will call it a day and go home. Now it will be you and your kitchen. Or you and your back porch. Maybe a small flowerbed where you grow a fraction of the beauties Edith grew.

Will the vision stick with you?

At Tweetspeak Poetry, where I am Managing Editor, we hope to keep such visions alive—or even bring them into being for the first time.

It’s not the hype of do-this-do-that. It’s the gradual coming-into-view—through an Artist Date, a vibrant poetry discussion, a thoughtful (and sometimes amusing) book club experience, or the perusal of poets and poems…from the undiscovered to the celebrated.

We take our role as online architects seriously, because the internet is—if you think about it—one big world with a whole lot of real estate. What is being built? Will anybody care in ten years, in fifty? Will the real estate provide an experience that was, in retrospect, worth the space and time?

If it builds a writer, a life, a visionary landscape as enduring as The Mount’s, maybe so. That’s what we hope to do.

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L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry, a site committed to helping people experience a whole life through the power of writing, reading, and just plain living. She is the author of six books, including the award-winning Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

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Travel + Leisure June 2013

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Website administrator in Press Coverage

Travel + Leisure

June 2013

“The New Berkshires”

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Fodor’s June 2013

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Website administrator in Press Coverage

Fodor’s

June 2013

“Arts and Culture Weekend Getaway in the Berkshires”

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Berkshire Magazine June 2013

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Website administrator in Press Coverage

Berkshire Magazine

June 2013

“The Shape of Now”

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In the Library

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Website administrator in 2013, Blog, library, The Mount, writers

Edith Wharton at her desk, 1905

We know that Edith Wharton’s Library at The Mount was largely for show – not the hundreds of books lining the walls (which she read voraciously), but the illusion of the library as Wharton’s office. Following the publication of The House of Mirth, Wharton had publicity photos made, depicting her hard at work at the desk in her Library, when she knew full well that she wrote best from the comfort of her bed.

No, the Library was a gathering place, the intellectual nucleus of the house where Wharton entertained her closest friends and shared the wealth of knowledge sitting on the shelves. Wharton remembers these evenings fondly in her memoir A Backward Glance:

One of our joys, when the talk touched on any great example of prose or verse, was to get the book from the shelf, and ask one of the company to read the passage aloud. There were some admirable readers in the group, in whose gift I had long delighted; but I had never heard Henry James read aloud–or known that he enjoyed doing so–till one night some one alluded to Emily Bronte’s poems, and I said I had never read “Remembrance.” I had never before heard poetry read as he read it; and I never have since.

James’s reading was a thing apart, an emanation of his inmost self, unaffected by fashion or elocutionary artifice. He read from his soul, and no one who never heard him read poetry knows what that soul was.

Last year, photographer Annie Leibovitz imagined this scene in Edith Wharton’s Library for Vogue Magazine.

Photo by Annie Leibowitz (Published in Vogue, September 2012)

Walt Whitman, who celebrates his 194^th birthday today, was a favorite of Wharton and James.

Another day someone spoke of Whitman, and it was a joy to me to discover that James thought him, as I did, the greatest of American poets. “Leaves of Grass” was put into his hands, and all that evening we sat rapt while he wandered from “The Song of Myself” to “When lilacs last in the door-yard bloomed…”

James’s admiration of Whitman, his immediate response to that mighty appeal, was a new proof of the way in which, above a certain level, the most divergent intelligences walk together like gods.

Edith Wharton’s copy of Leaves of Grass

Wharton’s copy of Leaves of Grass is well-worn, its pages stained and its passages heavily marked throughout. On the end paper of a book of Japanese poetry, Wharton left a clue as to what these nights with James and others must have been like. In faint pencil she tried her hand at haiku leaving us to imagine the electric nights spent in her Library among friends:

“The silence of midnight

A dying fire

And the best unsaid…”

To see Edith Wharton’s copy of Leaves of Grass for yourself, schedule a private library tour!

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National Committee members gather in NY

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Website administrator in 2013, Edith Wharton, events, National Committee, New York, The Mount

National Committee reception in New York, May 2013

On Tuesday afternoon, nearly 100 Mount supporters–many of them members of the National Committee–gathered at Carlton Hobbs’ extraordinary gallery on East 93rd Street in New York to celebrate The Mount’s success and Edith Wharton’s continuing legacy.

Pauline Metcalf, who is a an architectural historian, author, designer, and longtime Mount trustee—along with fellow trustee, art historian and author Gigi Wilmers—welcomed the guests. Mount Executive Director Susan Wissler then spoke about the remarkable past year, during which The Mount had more visitors, more media attention, and more new members than ever before. She reminded everyone The Mount is a testament to Edith Wharton’s genius: the house is a purely autobiographical one, affording an enduring public glimpse into the mind of an intriguing, ambitious woman whose many talents propelled her through a complicated life.

We invite you to look at photos from the event taken by Annie Watt. The photos are available for sale online; photographer Annie Watt has graciously offered to donate 20% of the sales proceeds to The Mount.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and continues to pledge their support. We hope to see you all at The Mount this summer!

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New England’s ‘Downton Abbeys’

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Website administrator in Press Coverage

Chronicle – WCVB

May 13, 2013

“Our Downton Abbeys” (The Mount, Cranwell, and Naumkeag)

Note: This segment is part three of a Chronicle series that includes:

Segment One: http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/splendor-of-crane-estate-in-ipswich/-/12523032/20104814/-/whthor/-/index.html

Segment Two: http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/for-mansions-of-opulence-and-grandeur-visit-newport-ri/-/12523032/20104894/-/srn1oqz/-/index.html

Segment Four: http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/main-streets-and-back-roads-of-olde-new-england/-/12523032/20105024/-/ce2had/-/index.html

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Where did Edith Wharton come from?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Website administrator in 2013, Edith Wharton, fiction, The Mount, writers

Edith Wharton, by Edward Harrison May National Portrait Gallery NPG.82.136

With deep satisfaction,we at The Mount read this piercing piece about young Edith Wharton written by Robert Armitage and posted on the New York Public Library site. While she emerged as an accomplished, highly confident woman, Edith as a child was notably less secure. She yearned for the love and attention of her distant, critical mother and worried about her outward appearance. Instead of embracing more traditional interests, she took solace in her father’s library, where she could satisfy her voracious intellectual curiosity.

The piece is definitely worth a read, as Armitage strives to explain how Edith Wharton transcended the constrictive conditions of her childhood to become one of America’s leading writers. In Armitage’s words:

“The question to be posed is where did Edith Wharton, the great American novelist, come from? How was she formed? What was the source of her creative fire, and how was it ignited? Among the leisured class of old New York, a young woman’s intellectual activity was never encouraged and often had to be actively reined in, while the literary life would have been frowned on for anyone, regardless of gender. Still, a boy would have had a proper tutor and eventually gone off to school to seek his place. A girl’s education would have been at best makeshift, since her function was to be ornamental, make a good marriage, and devote herself to homemaking, child rearing, and keeping up with the hectic rounds of social life that a position in society demanded.”

We look forward to Mr. Armitage’s next installment, and promise to keep you posted! In the meantime, we invite you to visit The Mount to learn even more about Edith Wharton.

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NY Post April 2013

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Website administrator in Press Coverage

New York Post

April 28, 2013

“Want Fancy? Try Mass. Appeal”

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The Mount’s 2013 Season Draws Big Names and New Partnerships

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Website administrator in 2013, press, Uncategorized

Including 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner Tom Reiss, Shakespeare and Company, and Artist George Rickey

(Lenox, MA) Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Tom Reiss, Shakespeare & Company, SculptureNow, and Lift E’vry Voice have something in common: they are all part of The Mount’s 2013 summer season.

“This season’s line-up is outstanding,” said Susan Wissler, executive director of The Mount. “I honestly can’t say what we are most excited about because it is all stellar. To be able to offer a season that includes Shakespeare’s return to The Mount, an outdoor sculpture exhibition with SculptureNow, and a full schedule of lectures, music, and events is quite an accomplishment-there is something happening at The Mount almost every day in July and August.”

In addition to a full schedule of special events and exhibitions, The Mount will continue to offer summer audiences traditional seasonal programs that include the popular Music After Hours series, Wharton on Wednesdays, and Community Day. Opening day is Saturday, May 4th.

Highlights of the 2013 season include:

Confluence - a joint exhibition by SculptureNow and The Mount of large-scale outdoor sculptures featuring 24 nationally acclaimed artists, including George Rickey, Jonathan Prince, Richard Erdman, and Tim Prentice. Opens June 16.
Shakespeare & Company’s Northeast Regional Tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamperformed outdoors. Opens July 20.
The Monday Lecture series will feature, among others: Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Reissspeaking about his book The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo; Joyce Johnson discussing cultural icon (and her ex -lover) Jack Kerouac; andLily Koppel, author of the bestseller The Red Leather Diary, presenting her new book,The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story. Mondays, July 8 – August 26.
PERIODS. comedy film collaborative creators Victor Quinaz and Anna Martemucci will be on hand for a screening and to discuss their work at a joint presentation by The Mount and Berkshire International Film Festival. Sunday, June 2.
Lift Ev’ry Voice and The Mount will celebrate the Berkshires with a community event, Struttin’ with Some Barbecue, featuring trombone virtuoso Craig Harris and friends. Thursday, July 11.
Wharton Salon returns with two lighthearted, one-act short stories by Edith Wharton: The Quicksand and The Looking Glass. Opens August 14.

The Mount opens for the 2013 season on Saturday, May 4th. For additional information, including our full Calendar of Events, please visit EdithWharton.org.

Full 2013 Season

CONFLUENCE

Opening June 4

The Mount, in partnership with SculptureNow, is pleased to present an exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculptures featuring the work of 24 nationally acclaimed artists, including George Rickey, Jonathan Prince, Richard Erdman, and Tim Prentice. View The Mount’s landscape through a fresh lens!

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Gilded Age: A Reading with Author Claire McMillan

Monday, May 13, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

McMillian’s Gilded Age presents a modern Edith Wharton heroine-dramatically beautiful, socially prominent, and just a bit unconventional-whose return to the hothouse of Cleveland society reveals the vulnerabilities of a woman struggling to reconcile her desire for independence and her need for love. Book signing to follow.

Edith Wharton, Real and Imagined

Wednesday, May 29, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Join Wharton scholar and author Irene Goldman-Price, novelist Jennie Fields, and 2012 Costa First Novel Award winner Francesca Segal as theydiscuss their muse and share their thoughts on why Edith Wharton is timeless. The session will be moderated by Alan Price, author of The End of the Age of Innocence

The Mount & BIFF Present: PERIODS.

Sunday, June 2, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

General $10; Free for BIFF Passholders

See what the buzz is about! PERIODS. comedy film collaborative has built an avid online following with quirky reinterpretations of historical events and classical literature. Be among the first to see their feature-length film that chronicles the human experience in a whole new fashion. Talk-back following the screening with PERIODS. creators Victor Quinaz and Anna Martemucci.

The Hermit in the Garden: From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome

Thursday, June 13, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Members $8; General $10

Historian Gordon Campbell tells the engagingly and sometimes eccentric tale of the 18th century hermit-in-the-garden craze and how hermits and hermitages live on in the art, literature, and drama of our own day. Book signing to follow.

Don’t Stress Out! Tips for Gardeners

Thursday, June 20 9:00 a.m – 12:00 p.m.

Members $35; General $40

Want to improve your garden andreduce gardening stress? Then join us for a morning with garden expert Kerry Mendez as she presents: “Gold Medal Perennials, Flowering Shrubs, and Annuals for Gardens in the Northeast” and “Simplifying Gardens to Fit Changing Lifestyles.”Includes continental breakfast and garden tour.

Who’s Afraid of James Joyce?

Friday, June 21 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Members $8; General $10

Karen R. Lawrence,President of Sarah Lawrence College, will demystify the writings of Irish novelist James Joyce, whose works arguably revolutionized 20th century fiction. Lawrence is a widely respected English and Irish literature scholar, author, and past president of the International James Joyce Foundation.

Struttin’ with Some Barbecue: Lift Ev’ry Voice and The Mount Celebrate the Community

Thursday, July 11, 5:00 p.m.

Come and enjoy an evening of good food and great music, featuring trombone virtuoso Craig Harris and friends. Bring your family and friends as we celebrate the cultural vitality of the Berkshires. Sponsored by Lift Ev’ry Voice Festival and The Mount. Food and beverages available for purchase.

Summering in Style

August 11, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Members $10; General $12

Summer visitors have enjoyed the Berkshires’ natural and cultural treasures for over a century. Architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson will trace the origins of this tradition, following Wharton from the beaches of Newport to the Berkshire Hills.

THEATER AT THE MOUNT:

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

July 20 – August 17

Adults $15; Children and Students $5

Shakespeare & Company returns to The Mount! Join us for a special month-long engagement of the Northeast Regional Tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bring your own seating and blanket for this 90-minute performance of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy performed outdoors in the Dell. For more information and tickets, visit: www.shakespeare.org.

The Wharton Salon Presents: Two By Wharton

August 14-25

The Wharton Salon is celebrating its fifth anniversary at The Mount with two lighthearted, one-act short stories by Edith Wharton: The Quicksand and The Looking Glass. By popular demand, tea and cookies will be served at intermission! For tickets and information visit: www.whartonsalon.org or call 1-800-838-3006.

2013 MONDAY LECTURE SERIES:

Mondays, July 8 – August 26; 4:00 p.m.

Members $20; General $22

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

Megan Marshall

July 8

Award-winning author Megan Marshall opens our series with a talk about the trailblazing life of a great American heroine, Margaret Fuller. Fuller-first female war correspondent, Thoreau’s editor, and Emerson’s close friend -forever changed women’s sense of how they could think and live.

Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother

Eve LaPlante

July 15

Eve LaPlante, award-winning author and cousin of Louisa May Alcott, draws from newly discovered papers in the family attic to tell the story of Louisa’s actual “Marmee,” Abigail May Alcott. Abigail, the intellectual and emotional center of her daughter’s world, pushed Louisa to excel and to pursue her dreams in a male-dominated world.

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

Tom Reiss

July 22

Hear the extraordinary story of the real Count of Monte Cristo as Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Tom Reiss brings to life General Alex Dumas, a forgotten hero. Father of the author Alexandre Dumas and the son of a black slave, General Dumas inspired such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. This lecture is presented as part of Lift Ev’ry Voice.

Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves

Henry Wiencek

July 29

Prominent historian Henry Wiencek shares his thorough examination of the dark side of this founding father. Wiencek’s Jefferson is first and foremost a plantation owner-committed to slavery because he was utterly dependent on it for all his wealth, status, and power.

The Voice is All: Rethinking Kerouac

Joyce Johnson

August 5

In her biography of Beat poet Jack Kerouac, Johnson sheds new light on his journey from boyhood to cultural icon. Drawing from their love affair as well as from Kerouac’s letters and diaries, Johnson peels away the layers of the legend to reveal the real man beneath.

The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age

Janet Wallach

August 12

Renowned author Janet Wallach explores the life of Hetty Green, America’s first female tycoon. Green, considered an eccentric by her friends and “The Witch of Wall Street” by her enemies, bucked conventional wisdom and amassed a fortune equal to more than two billion dollars today.

American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath

Carl Rollyson

August 19

Carl Rollyson is the first Plath biographer to draw from the Ted Hughes archives, which include letters between Plath and Hughes as well as a host of unpublished papers. Rollyson paints a new picture of Plath as a powerful force that embraced high and low culture to establish herself in the literary firmament.Show more Show less

The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story

Lily Koppel

August 26

As the first astronauts were launched into space, America focused on their young wives, transforming them from military spouses into instant celebrities. New York Times writer Lily Koppel, author of the bestseller The Red Leather Diary, follows the lives of these brave women, chronicling their friendships which spanned over fifty years.

SEASONAL FAVORITES:

Community Day

Sunday, June 9, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Bring the family and spend the day at The Mount! Tour the house, explore the gardens and trails, and enjoy the surroundings. Scavenger hunts, story times, and other activities throughout the day.

Ghost Tours

Mondays, June 24 – August 26 7:30 p.m.

Fridays, September 6 – October 25, 5:45 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.

Adults $22; 12-18 years $18

It starts with creaking floors, slamming doors, and ghostly footsteps. Come take a 90-minute guided tour of the most haunted parts of the estate. This spooky tour is not recommended for children under 12.

Wharton on Wednesday

Wednesday, June 19 – August 28, 5:00 p.m.

Members free; $5.00 General

Enjoy summer afternoons on the Terrace while listening to Wharton’s short stories read by professional actors. This year’s short story series will be book-ended with readings from the novel The Custom of the Country in celebration of its 100th anniversary.

Music After Hours

Friday and Saturday Evenings, July & August, 5 – 8 p.m.

Join us for a rousing blend of traditional and modern music with influences from the Americas and beyond, performed by the region’s best musicians. Relax on the terrace with a glass of wine while savoring the sounds and the view.

About The Mount

The Mount is both a historic site and a cultural destination inspired by the passions and achievements of Edith Wharton. Designed and built by Edith Wharton in 1902, the house embodies the principles outlined in her influential book, The Decoration of Houses (1897). The property includes three acres of formal gardens designed by Wharton, who was also an authority on European landscape design, surrounded by extensive woodlands.

Today, The Mount hosts over 30,000 visitors annually. We offer daily tours of the property May-October with special events throughout the year. Our annual summer programming includes Wharton on Wednesdays, Music After Hours, and the popular Monday Lecture Series. Exhibitions explore themes from Wharton’s life and work.

About Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into the tightly controlled society of Old New York at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Wharton broke through these strictures to become one of America’s greatest writers. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. Essentially self educated, she was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and a full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

For additional information about both Edith Wharton and The Mount please visit EdithWharton.org.

Photos

High-resolution photos of The Mount are available at http://www.edithwharton.org/gallery3/.

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