The Mount to celebrate centennial of The House of Mirth with exciting summer programming

Lenox, Mass. (April 30, 2005) --

In 2005, The Mount will be celebrating the hundredth anniversary of a classic American novel, Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth. The Mount, the turn-of-the-century estate and gardens Wharton designed as a writer’s retreat, will be hosting a full season of exciting programming to commemorate the novel’s centennial.

In collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York, The Mount presents “Lily’s Downfall,” a special exhibit based upon The House of Mirth. Six dramatic tableaux featuring period costumes from the Museum’s extensive collection depict key moments in the tragic decline of one of literatures most famous heroines, the beautiful Miss Lily Bart. Open to the public on May 29, the exhibit runs through October 30 and is included with the price of admission to The Mount.

To complement “Lily’s Downfall,” The Mount is introducing a new series of weekly readings from The House of Mirth. Beginning on July 6, visitors will be able to hear the novel that launched Wharton’s career as a novelist in the house where it was written a hundred years ago. The readings, held on The Mount’s terrace, are free with admission and to season pass holders.

Although Wharton is best known for her literary achievements, she considered herself to be a better landscape gardener than a novelist, and this summer visitors will have the opportunity to experience her genius as a gardener firsthand. Wharton’s spectacular flower garden, which a guest once described as “an oriental carpet floating in the sun,” will be replanted with 3000 perennials. Visitors can tour the garden throughout The Mount’s season, which runs from April 30 to October 30. 

The Mount is also hosting an array of special events to celebrate great American writing. “Selected Shorts Celebrates Great American Writers” – a joint venture between Symphony Space, the Library of America and The Mount – returns for the weekends of July 8-10 and 15-17. Greatly expanded after 2004’s popular success, the weekends will include Saturday morning performances for children and baseball- and Americans-in-Paris-themed programs in addition to stories by Wharton, Willa Cather, and Kate Chopin.

On August 5, Rita Dove, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Poet Laureate of the United States, will read from her work in the second annual Amy Clampitt Poetry Series at The Mount. Co-sponsored by the Amy Clampitt Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the series honors the memory of noted American – and local – writer, Amy Clampitt.

July and August will see the return of The Mount’s two popular weekly lecture series: “Women of Achievement” on Mondays and “Civilized Living” on Thursdays.  Now in its thirteenth year, “Women of Achievement” features published authorities speaking about the lives and works of some of history’s most remarkable women. Pamela Constable, The Washington Post’s former South Asia bureau chief, will open the series on June 27 with a talk about her experiences as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Other highlights include a talk about writer Zora Neale Hurston’s life by her niece, Lucy Anne Hurston, on July 18 and a sneak preview of the PBS documentary “Sweet Tornado” with a talk by Helen Sheehy and Kay Cattarulla.

The “Civilized Living” series explores topics that were of interest to Wharton, and this summer’s series reflects the wide range of her passions. On July 14, critically-acclaimed poet J.D. McClatchy will speak about American writers’ homes, and on July 21, author and canine expert Jon Katz will discuss the powerful and complex bond between humans and dogs. Christopher Ricks, a leading scholar of English literature, will give a lecture on Bob Dylan on August 25, and Jo Anne Van Tilburg, the world’s foremost authority on the mysterious giant statues of Easter Island, will speak about one of the Island’s pioneering researchers on September 1.

Edith Wharton Restoration was founded in 1980 to preserve and restore The Mount as a tribute to its remarkable creator and as a center for recognizing women of achievement. Only 5% of National Historic Landmarks are dedicated to women; The Mount is one of them. For more information on The Mount and Edith Wharton Restoration, and for a complete schedule of programming, please visit www.edithwharton.org.