The Mount Book Club

March 18, 2021

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Join us online for lively discussions of Edith Wharton’s acclaimed works. This year we have selected A Backward Glance, Italian Backgrounds, and Hudson River Bracketed. This member event is free. Pre-registration is limited and required. Please register for each date you wish to attend.

Books can be found for free, online viewing at Project Gutenberg or purchased online at our affiliate Bookshop.org site.

Book Club Schedule:

January 21, 3 p.m. - A Backward Glance (1934)

Written a few years before her death, this work was described by Wharton alternatively as memoir, autobiography, or just reminiscences. This session will look at where this work fits in the memoir genre as well as discuss what Wharton chose to tell, and what she chose not to tell, about her life.

February 18, 3 p.m. - Italian Backgrounds (1905)

One of Wharton’s travel books, this volume is filled with her love and knowledge of Italy. While sharing the class prejudices of her contemporaries, this is a travel book quite unlike the usual Grand Tour guide. Wharton scholar Laura Rattray writes that this book was as close to a “modernist treatise” that Wharton would ever write.

March 18, 3 p.m. - Hudson River Bracketed (1929)

Little read today, this late novel was very important to Wharton. Its story of the education of a young writer, changing gender roles, and the commercial realities of the literary world had fascinated her for years. These issues are relevant still.

The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event.

Free

  • These members-only discussions will take place online using Zoom.