Wharton in Winter is Coming

Join our readalong of Custom of the Country and participate in public scholarship

Readers, our J-Term semester for The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton is HERE, and if you haven’t noticed, we’re pretty excited to read closely along with our fellow bookworms! If you haven’t had a chance to request a copy of Wharton’s Gilded Age novel from the library or pick up a copy at the bookstore, now is the time before our weekly recaps begin on January 12th for Literature Scholars on Patreon. Here are a few options for those looking to procure a copy:

• Hardcover Penguin Vitae Edition, foreword by Sophia Coppola

• Penguin Deluxe Softcover Edition, foreword by Sophia Coppola

• Scribner Softcover Edition, foreword by Brandon Taylor

We’re also excited to teach a class this semester all about annotation, so if you’re looking for all the essential supplies to mark up your text, check out our storefront with some of our favorites. While there are no prerequisites for this semester, you can also listen to our main feed episode on Gilded Age Literature (here for Apple and here for Spotify). Once you’re finished, make sure to check out the links about Edith Wharton and the Gilded Age in this Novel Pairings newsletter:

Join our Classics Club on Patreon

Mark your calendars! Here is our upcoming schedule of classes and book clubs for Wharton in Winter.

We’re hosting a workshop on annotating texts this semester, so if you love marking up your books and want to consider the how, why, and when and where you should scrawl your thoughts and connections about a classic text, this is the class for you. We’re also going to spend some time looking more closely at the critical theory of New Historicism and explore how we can apply this critical framework when analyzing texts. We’ll also break down our book club discussions for The Custom of the Country into two sizeable chunks so we have plenty of time to chat about all things Wharton.

Classes, book clubs, weekly recaps, and access to our engaging discord channel are all available at the Literature Scholar level for $10 a month. Annual subscriptions are also available for 10% off, so head over to patreon.com/novelpairings to sign up today!

Coming Up

We both love talking about our best reading of the year in our annual Superlatives episode, so make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your podcasts so you can be notified when our yearly recap episode drops. And if you’re casually reading along for #WhartonInWinter, you can expect extra fun Gilded Age-esque main feed episodes to carry you through until our pairings at the end of February.

For extra weekly links and explorations into the world of Edith Wharton’s Gilded Age, be sure to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter right here on Substack.

Until then, we declare after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book.

Thank you for supporting the podcast and our work to make public scholarship fun and accessible. If you would like to stay connected to what’s happening at Novel Pairings, make sure to subscribe to this Substack and follow us on Instagram. Make sure you never miss an episode by subscribing to the show wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love the work we’re doing, please consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts!