Teaching Edith Wharton’s Major Novels and Short Fiction (American Literature Readings in the 21st Century)

"Ferdâ Asya's collection of essays is the first book to address the crucial issue of teaching one of the most important masters of American fiction. The essays in this intriguing volume reveal a remarkable variety of useful pedagogical approaches to Wharton's fiction. In their representation of a wide range of critical approaches and insistence on exploring the full range of her literary achievement, these essays provide new testimony to the enduring power of the writer and her work." - Alfred Bendixen, Princeton University, USA, and Executive Director of American Literature Association "This is a rousing collection of essays on how to make Edith Wharton relevant to twenty-first century students. With a deep understanding of the student mindset, this volume employs fresh insight and remarkable creativity to help a new generation grasp the more germane points of this surprisingly modern and still unmatched American author." - Jennie Fields, author of The Age of Desire (2012) and Atomic Love (2020) "This volume offers essays that will guide new and experienced instructors of Wharton's fiction. The contributors take a variety of Wharton's texts as their subjects and approach the teaching of her work from a range of perspectives, from different theoretical contexts to varying roles in the curricula. This volume will spark new and creative approaches to teaching Wharton's well-known and highly complex body of fiction." - Jennifer Haytock, Professor, SUNY Brockport, USA, and author of Edith Wharton and the Conversations of Literary Modernism (2008) This book translates recent scholarship into pedagogy for teaching Edith Wharton's widely celebrated and less-known fiction to students in the twenty-first century. It comprises such themes as American and European cultures, material culture, identity, sexuality, class, gender, law, history, journalism, anarchism, war, addiction, disability, ecology, technology, and social media in historical, cultural, transcultural, international, and regional contexts. It includes Wharton's works compared to those of other authors, taught online, read in foreign universities, and studied in film adaptations. Preface Contents Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction References Part I Culture and History 2 Reading in Three Dimensions: Using Material Culture to Teach The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence Secondary Materials Suggested Assignments Some Useful Websites for Objects and Houses References 3 Getting to Know the Community: Using Raymond Williams’s Concept of “Knowable Communities” to Teach Wharton’s Summer Between Country and City Wharton and the Wider Community Student Applications References 4 Using Women Reporting War to Teach Edith Wharton’s “Writing a War Story”: An Added Context for Gendered Writing Course and Literature Review Classroom Discussion and Activities Secondary Materials Additional Assignments Discussion/Presentation Topics Paper Topics Additional Reading Materials References 5 An Argument for Teaching The Marne: A Long Overlooked Example of Wharton’s Wartime Writings Secondary Materials Sample Assignments and Class Activities Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Resources for Studying World War I References 6 Historicizing Adaptation: The Age of Innocence in the Context of 1930s Hollywood Historicizing the Age of The Age of Innocence of 1934 Screening The Age of Innocence of 1934 The Film’s Opening The 1934 Film and the 1920 Novel The Innocence of 1934 Secondary Materials Sample Module Assignment Handout Adapting Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence for 1930s Hollywood References Part II Wharton and Other Authors 7 Survival Versus Thriving: Social Mobility in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and Edna Ferber’s So Big Segment One: Realism and Naturalism Segment Two: Social Darwinism Segment Three: Highbrow and Middlebrow References 8 Developing Sympathy: Teaching Edith Wharton’s Summer with Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel Secondary Materials Essay Length and General Requirements Essay Topic/How to Organize Your Paper Using Two Primary Texts Using Two Literary Criticism Avoid Plagiarism Key Dates Research for Paper on Summer and Intimate Apparel References 9 Teaching Edith Wharton with Henry James in the Netherlands Secondary Materials Useful Reference Works References Part III Wharton and Critical Lenses 10 “Granite Outcroppings but Half-Emerged from the Soil”: Using Ethan Frome in a Gateway Course for the English Major Secondary Materials References 11 “We’re Near Each Other Only If We Stay Far from Each Other”: Teaching Psychoanalytic Desire in The Age of Innocence Concept 1. Social Codification: How Do Social Codes Function in Modernism? Concept 2. Production of Desire: What Do Newland, Ellen, and May Represent to Each Other? Concept 3. Unfulfilled Desire as the Epitome of Love: How Are Love, Desire, and Sex Theorized? Concept 4. Newland’s Sacrifice: What Personal and Interpersonal Ethics Are Championed? Secondary Materials References 12 Social Darwinism, Feminism, and Performative Identity in Wharton’s “The Last Asset” References 13 Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the History of Literary Scholarship Overview of the Course Ethan Frome Secondary Materials References Part IV Wharton and Interdisciplinary Contexts 14 Modeling Addiction: Teaching The House of Mirth in the Context of Addiction Studies Addiction and Genre in The House of Mirth Addiction and Habit in The House of Mirth Modeling Addiction Secondary Materials Recommended Sources in Addiction Studies References 15 Ecoliteracy and Edith Wharton: The Ecosomatic Paradigm and the Poetics of Paratexts in Ethan Frome Secondary Materials References 16 Teaching Edith Wharton’s The Children in the Anarchist Tradition in Literature Course Secondary Materials Recommended Texts for Anarchism Sample Questions References Part V Wharton and the World Today 17 Wharton Goes Online: Reimagining the Traditional Graduate Seminar References 18 Students Abroad—In the Classroom: A Transatlantic Assignment on Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” Internationalization in Higher Education Transatlantic Teaching: An Assignment on “Roman Fever” Cross-Cultural Communication Results References 19 Slouching Toward the Posthuman: Teaching Edith Wharton’s Twilight Sleep Pre-reading Preparation Week One: The Formation of Identity Week Two: The Unraveling of Communication Week Three: The Prospects of Evasion and Escape Secondary Materials Additional Details/Notes References Index "Ferdâ Asya's collection of essays is the first book to address the crucial issue of teaching one of the most important masters of American fiction. The essays in this intriguing volume reveal a remarkable variety of useful pedagogical approaches to Wharton's fiction. In their representation of a wide range of critical approaches and insistence on exploring the full range of her literary achievement, these essays provide new testimony to the enduring power of the writer and her work." - Alfred Bendixen, Princeton University, USA, and Executive Director of American Literature Association "This is a rousing collection of essays on how to make Edith Wharton relevant to twenty-first century students. With a deep understanding of the student mindset, this volume employs fresh insight and remarkable creativity to help a new generation grasp the more germane points of this surprisingly modern and still unmatched American author." - Jennie Fields, author of The Age of Desire (2012) and Atomic Love (2020) "This volume offers essays that will guide new and experienced instructors of Wharton's fiction. The contributors take a variety of Wharton's texts as their subjects and approach the teaching of her work from a range of perspectives, from different theoretical contexts to varying roles in the curricula. This volume will spark new and creative approaches to teaching Wharton's well-known and highly complex body of fiction." - Jennifer Haytock, Professor, SUNY Brockport, USA, and author of Edith Wharton and the Conversations of Literary Modernism (2008) This book translates recent scholarship into pedagogy for teaching Edith Wharton's widely celebrated and less-known fiction to students in the twenty-first century. It comprises such themes as American and European cultures, material culture, identity, sexuality, class, gender, law, history, journalism, anarchism, war, addiction, disability, ecology, technology, and social media in historical, cultural, transcultural, international, and regional contexts. It includes Wharton's works compared to those of other authors, taught online, read in foreign universities, and studied in film adaptations.