Saturday, September 01, 2012

The Edith Wharton Connection



One of the great houses in the Berkshires is Edith Wharton’s estate, The Mount, in Lenox.

Four years ago I became involved in the creation of The Wharton Salon to produce Edith Wharton stories as plays on the property she built. “Xingu”, “Summer”, “Autres Temps”, and “The Inner House” (based on Edith’s autobiography) have been performed over the past 4 years to sell out audiences.




In 1907, Edith Wharton left The Mount and what she deemed a self-righteous and cynical America to travel around Europe. When she arrived in France, Wharton saw Paris as an ideal escape from the United States’ restrictive norms.  Residing first in a quaint apartment at 58 Rue de Varenne and then at 53 Rue de Varenne, Wharton found Paris wholly captivating and adopted the city as an expatriate.
The plaque outside her house at 53, rue de Varenne says Edith Wharton was the first American writer to come to live in France for love of this country and of its literature.

 
In 1916 she won France’s highest decoration - the Légion d'honneur. She was also the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

 It seemed fitting today to sit down with my friend, Catherine Taylor-Williams, the founder of The Wharton Salon,  to finalize the accounting for our production of “The Inner House” which just ended a successful run at The Mount last week.  Over Hendricks Gin martinis we toasted the success of another year and made plans for the future.  Catherine shared the story of her pilgrimage to Edith’s Paris home which totally delighted me.

Day 8 Preparation for Paris trip:  Research the Wharton – Paris history and plan a visit to her Paris home



Countess Bedelia 9/01/2012 07:43:00 PM

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