Queer-Eye Tour of Edith Wharton's The Mount (Lenox, MA)

PLEASE PURCHASE YOUR $14 TICKET(S) FOR THIS QUEER-EYE TOUR DIRECTLY FROM THE MOUNT AT THIS LINK:

https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/edithwharton/items/565819/?full-items=yes

And, if you are not already a Q-MoB Monthly Donor, please also make an to Q-MoB to support our on-going efforts to provide queer arts & culture programming to rural queer men all over the Greater Berkshire region, or by donating $25/month, $35/om, $50/mo, $75/mo, $100/mo, or more -- so you get in FREE to Q-MoB's more than 20 regular events/month.

QUEER-EYE TOUR DESCRIPTION: Edith Wharton was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose estate in Lenox, MA was inspired by her ideas on interior design and passion for gardens. This tour provides the opportunity to view books in her library by authors of interest to the queer community and learn about Wharton’s circle of creative friends, including Henry James, Morton Fullerton, Ogden Codman, Jr., and others, who we would likely now consider to be “queer” in their expression of gender, sexual or affectional orientation. Morton Fullerton, a bisexual American journalist living in Paris, became her lover for about three years. Fullerton had previously cut a romantic swath through Edwardian London, his glamorous lovers included Lord Ronald Gower, thought to be the inspiration for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the Ranee of Sarawak (Lady Margaret Brooke).

"Wharton’s circle in Paris included many homosexual and bisexual men, an aspect of the novelist’s web of personal associations that long has been noted. With R. W. B. Lewis’s 1975 biography, the first study of Wharton to consider the paramount role of Morton Fullerton in her romantic life, there might have emerged a new interest in the subject of homosexual relations as they relate to Wharton’s fiction. But despite Lewis’s frankness in dealing with the novelist’s affair with Fullerton, scholars of Wharton’s writing have given little attention to questions of same-sex eroticism, particularly in France, where Wharton resided for three decades. It is as if the inexplicable but crucial connection between the homosexual social context of Wharton’s Paris and the indecisive males of the author’s fiction requires acknowledgement but defies existing analytical categories. Cynthia Griffin Wolff observes, pointing to Henry James, Fullerton, and Howard Sturgis, that “many of [Wharton’s] closest friends were men whose sexual preferences tended to blur."

-- Richard A. Kaye, "Edith Wharton and the "New Gomorrahs" of Paris: Homosexuality, Flirtation, and Incestuous Desire in The Reef" Johns Hopkins University PressPARKING & LOGISTICS: General parking is near the entrance across from the historic Stable, while Accessible parking is down the driveway at the Main House. Photos inside thehouse are allowed, but please use no flash. Food and beverage are available for purchase at The Mount’s Terrace Café.

CARPOOLING/RIDE-SHARE: Carpooling is a great way to get to know other men, save money on gas, and help to reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet. If you need a ride or are open to carpooling, please indicate that when you are registering, & our ride coordinator will try to match you with people nearby who are interested in carpooling or offering rides.

OR : Please donate $10-$20 to help assure Q-MoB can continue to offer more than 20 activities & multiple resources & services to rural queer men all over the region. If you attend 2 or more Q-MoB events/month, please consider becoming a monthly sustaining donor member. By donating $25, $50, $75, or $100/month you can help to sustain the incredible variety of activities, services, and resources Q-MoB provides and assure all of these activities are accessible to men regardless of their age, income, or ability, and best of all you can avoid having to donate at each and every event you attend. Monthly Sustaining Members pay only once a month and then can attend all our activities with no further donation.

COMMUNICATING DAY OF THE EVENT: If you need to cancel, will be late, or have trouble finding the group the day of the event, please call/text Bart at 503-734-6508.

Host or Publisher Q-MoB (Queer Men of the Berkshires)