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Essay Competition on
Thornton Wilder’s novel, The Ides of March.
For students reading the writings of Julius Caesar
in Advanced Placement Latin and other secondary school Latin coursesTappan Wilder, nephew and literary executor of the works by the distinguished American playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), has observed that even before the U.S. entered World War II in December 1941, his uncle Thornton Wilder was fascinated by questions on the nature of moral authority and leadership. As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Air Force in North Africa and Italy, Thornton Wilder witnessed up close the dark chapters of history brought about by Mussolini and Hitler. In 1948, three years after the Second World War had ended, former Lieutenant Colonel Wilder poured his thoughts about statecraft and virtue into The Ides of March, a novel set in late republican Rome, starring Julius Caesar and co-starring Cleopatra, Catullus and Clodia, among other colorful characters of the time.
In recognition of Thornton Wilder’s celebrated novel about Julius Caesar as a political leader, we invite Advanced Placement and other secondary school students reading the writings of Caesar in Latin to participate in an essay competition based on The Ides of March. A distinguished panel of Latin scholars and teachers, Roman historians, and specialists in Wilder’s writings will judge the essays, and announce the winners by April 21, 2016—Rome’s birthday. Student authors of prize-winning essays and their Latin teachers will be awarded gift certificates from HarperCollins, publisher of Wilder’s The Ides of March (redeemable in books only).
Contest Prizes:
For the student participants:
1st Prize: 10 paperbacks (~$150)
2nd Prize: 7 paperbacks (~$105)
3rd Prize: 5 paperbacks (~$75)
Books to be selected from the Harper Perennial Modern Classics list.For the teachers of the winning students:
5 paperbacks (~$75)
Books to be selected from the Harper Perennial Modern Classics list.
All participants will receive a special certificate from the Thornton Wilder Society and the Wilder family, and winning essays will be posted on the Society’s website.We ask that students answer the following three questions in their essays and support their thesis with quotes from the novel. Footnotes and a bibliography should be included when appropriate.
1) Does Wilder’s highly dramatic and bestselling “novel in letters” about Caesar’s last days still speak to readers today, and, if so, in what ways does the novel address contemporary concerns?
2) Does it transport us to another time and introduce us to timeless questions of how we live and rule?
3) Finally, how does this novel relate to Caesar’s own writings about his distinctive military experiences?Please submit essays—which should be typed, double-spaced and no more than 2000 words in length (including footnotes and bibliography)—as electronic attachments in PDF format by April 1, 2016, to Professor Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College Park, at jeph@umd.edu.
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In May 2016, The Thornton Wilder Society will once again take part in the American Literature Association Conference.
The Thornton Wilder Society invites proposals for a panel on Queer Readings of Thornton Wilder. As documented by recent biographies Thornton Wilder: A Life by Penelope Niven and Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward by Justin Spring, Thornton Wilder lived as a deeply-closeted gay man. Recent revelations of the author’s secret sexuality present new opportunities for Wilder scholarship in the field of Queer Studies. Possible approaches include Wilder’s depiction of “secret lives” or “lives separately led”; the author’s presentation of both traditional marriage and same-sex relationships (e.g., Barnaby and Cornelius in The Matchmaker); issues of gender in Wilder’s Stage Manager characters; characters as autobiographical surrogates for the author (e.g., Theophilus North, Dolly Levi, or Simon Stimson); and Wilder’s texts in conversation with gay authors (e.g., Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Lanford Wilson). Proposals on Wilder’s plays, novels, or other writings will be considered. Information about his works and available editions can be found on our Works page and our Bibliography page. We encourage graduate students as well as established scholars to submit 500-word proposals and C.V.s to Park Bucker at psbucke@uscsumter.edu by
January 4, 2016January 20, 2016.The 27th annual American Literature Association Conference will be held May 26-29, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit the American Literature Association Conference website.
Update: The proposal deadline has been extended until January 20, 2016.
Update: The proposal deadline has been extended until January 20, 2016.
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In conjunction with The Second International Thornton Wilder Conference, the Society is currently inviting paper proposals. The deadline for proposals is
November 1, 2014November 17, 2014; presenters will be notified of acceptance by December 1, 2014.We are especially interested in proposals that explore works other than Our Town, such as The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker, The Alcestiad, The Long Christmas Dinner, Pullman Car Hiawatha, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, and the plays from the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Ages of Man cycles Wilder worked on in the late 1950s/early 1960s, all available in Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and Writings on Theater, ed. J. D. McClatchy, published by Library of America. We also would like to see proposals on any of the novels, and in honor of Penelope Niven, proposals based on or making extensive use of Thornton Wilder: A Life (HarperCollins, 2012).
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Second International
Thornton Wilder ConferenceJune 11-13, 2015
Newport, Rhode IslandThe Second International Thornton Wilder Conference will be held at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, a city rich in its associations with Wilder. The conference will be sponsored by the Thornton Wilder Society and Salve Regina University. Wilder first came to Newport as a member of the first Coast Artillery Corps of the National Army, stationed at Fort Adams on Narragansett Bay, during the final months of World War I. The charms of Newport drew him back during the summer of 1922 after his first year of teaching at The Lawrenceville School. He lived at the YMCA and tutored children of Newport families to earn living expenses, and he worked on his first novel, The Cabala; this experience became the basis for his last and most autobiographical novel, Theophilus North. Wilder returned to Newport many times during the rest of his life, often writing parts of plays or novels––he completed The Bridge of San Luis Rey there in 1927––and working on his non-fiction while staying in such still-famous hotels as the Castle Hill Inn and The Viking. Newport thus stands as perhaps first among equals of the many “spas out of season” he visited in his search for a place to write and is a particularly appropriate venue for the Second International Thornton Wilder Conference.
While we encourage papers that deal with Wilder and Newport, we are interested in proposals on all aspects of Wilder’s work––and on its relation to the work of other writers and to the several eras of his productive life, from the 1920s through the 1970s––as a dramatist, novelist, screenwriter, librettist, essayist, lecturer, adapter, translator, teacher, and scholar; and from any critical perspective (e.g., gender studies, queer theory, and post-structuralist theory). Furthermore, because Wilder’s relationship to his family was important to his life and art, we also welcome papers dealing with the work of his siblings and his parents. We invite proposals from graduate students, established scholars, and independent scholars of all nationalities, in American, English, and comparative literature, American studies and history, the classics, religion, music, and other fields.
In addition to paper presentations, we will be inviting renowned theatre artists, writers, scholars, and critics to participate. Confirmed already are playwrights Paula Vogel, Will Eno, and A. R. Gurney; poet/critic J. D. McClatchy; and Tappan Wilder, his uncle’s literary executor.
Inexpensive housing will be available on the Salve Regina campus, which is located in the Ochre Point area and borders on the famous Cliff Walk overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Newport also has a variety of hotels from which to choose. Conference events will include—besides a closing-night banquet at which the Wilder Prize will be presented to a distinguished member of the literary community—a bus tour of the city, with a focus on locations related to Wilder and his fiction; and a reception at the Redwood Library.
We welcome your questions and suggestions. Please send a 250-500-word proposal (noting any audio/visual requests) along with a brief CV or biographical statement to Jackson R. Bryer at jbryer@umd.edu.
The deadline for proposals is
November 1, 2014November 17, 2014; presenters will be notified of acceptance by December 1, 2014.Update 1: The proposal deadline has been extended until November 17, 2014.
Update 2: The deadline for submitting a conference proposal was November 17, 2014. Thanks to all those who submitted proposals; you will be hearing from conference director Jackson R. Bryer by December 1st.
Update: Deadline Extended until November 17, 2014
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Join us for a special evening of events dedicated to Wilder’s The Alcestiad and The Drunken Sisters.
The Alcestiad and The Drunken Sisters Reading
On Monday, May 19th, award-winning New York City-based Red Bull Theater will present a reading of Thornton Wilder’s The Alcestiad and its accompanying satyr play, The Drunken Sisters, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg with Michael Cerveris, Maryann Plunkett, and Jay O. Sanders. The reading will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street, NYC. To purchase tickets and for more information, please visit the Red Bull Theater website.The Alcestiad Panel
Prior to the reading, please join us at 4pm for a reception and lively discussion of The Alcestiad: Death & Immortality, Romance & Revenge in Thornton Wilder’s Ageless Classical Play. Distinguished guests include Tappan Wilder (Thornton Wilder’s nephew and literary executor); Professors of Classics Judith Hallett (University of Maryland, College Park), Mary English (Montclair State University) and Thomas Buck (University at Buffalo, State University of New York); and Mark Bly (Adjunct Professor of Playwriting Fordham/ Primary Stages MFA Program and At Large Member Board of Directors National New Play Network). This event is free, but reservations are requested. Please contact the Thornton Wilder Society at wilder@tcnj.edu to request your reservation. Hosted by Samuel French, Inc. (235 Park Ave S, 5th Floor, NYC).Background
The Alcestiad premiered (as A Life in the Sun) at the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland, 22 August 1955, directed by Tyrone Guthrie, but never had a New York production. It was posthumously published in 1977. Written in the tradition of early Greek tragedies (specifically, Aeschylus’s trilogy The Oresteia), The Alcestiad tells the story of Admetus, King of Thessaly, his wife Alcestis, and the triumphs and tragedies they endure as favorites of the god Apollo. The extent of Apollo’s involvement in their marriage is further explored in Wilder’s accompanying satyr play, The Drunken Sisters. In addition to Alcestis and Admetus, characters include Apollo, Death, Hercules, and the Three Fates.
Reading: Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 West 42nd Street, NYC
Panel: Samuel French, Inc., 235 Park Ave S, 5th Floor, NYC
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Three-time Tony Award-winner Carol Channing will join queer icon and Tony Nominee Justin VivIan Bond in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: An Intimate Evening with Carol Channing and Justin VivIan Bond.
The event celebrates the 50th anniversary of Channing’s most identified role, Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello Dolly!, which debuted at the St. James Theatre on January 16, 1964. Hello, Dolly! is a musical based on Thornton Wilder’s 1955 farce, The Matchmaker.
On January 20th, the 92 year old veteran stage and screen actress will regale audiences with stories of her 70-plus years in show business, her upbringing in San Francisco and her numerous costars. Bond, recently hailed by New Yorker as “the greatest cabaret artist of her generation,” will open the show with a set of “love songs for Carol” before sitting down with Ms. Channing for a multimedia event featuring clips from her career, celebrity video clips and video questions which will be submitted in advance.
Muscial direction for Mx Bond by Lance Horne.
For more information, please visit The Town Hall’s website.
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In May 2014, The Thornton Wilder Society will once again take part in the American Literature Association Conference for a panel titled Influence on/of Thornton Wilder.
In conjunction with other drama/dramatist societies (Albee, ATDS, Glaspell, Miller, O’Neill, A. Wilson) the Thornton Wilder Society invites proposals for a panel on Thornton Wilder and his influences on other authors, or their influences on him. The society anticipates presentations on both Wilder’s influence on classical American playwrights (Williams, Miller, Inge, Albee, L. Wilson) but also more recent writers, such as Kushner, Vogel, Eno, and others. The society also welcomes papers on an author’s or movement’s influence on Wilder from any period or genre (Ancient Greek and Roman, Renaissance, Restoration, German Expressionism, Cubism, etc.).
Please send 300-word proposals, including name, academic affiliation, e-mail address, paper title, and abstract to:
Park Bucker, Ph.D.
Professor of English
University of South Carolina Sumter
psbucke@uscsumter.eduGraduate students are encouraged to submit a proposal.
Deadline:
January 15, 2014January 25, 2013The 25th annual American Literature Association Conference will be held May 22-25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit the American Literature Association’s 25th Annual Conference webpage.
Update: Deadline Extended until January 25, 2013
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Contact Name: Gail Adams
Contact Phone : 336.917.5313Reception and Book Signing will follow Penelope Niven’s Talk
Admission is free. No reservations are required.
Penelope Niven, the critically-acclaimed author of Carl Sandburg: a Biography; Steichen: a Biography; and Swimming Lessons, will return to Salem for the paperback release of Thornton Wilder: A Life, published by HarperCollins and praised by Edward Albee as “a splendid and long-needed work.” Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet, her biography for children, has been awarded an International Reading Association Prize “for exceptionally distinguished literature for children,” one of six books honored among publications from 99 countries. She is also co-author, with actor James Earl Jones, of Voices and Silences, praised as “a classic on acting.” Niven served as Salem College’s writer-in-residence for 12 years until her retirement. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Thornton Wilder Visiting Fellowship at the Beinecke Library at Yale and was awarded the North Carolina Award in Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor, for her work as a writer and a teacher.
For more information, please visit the event listing on the Salem College website.
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“Thornton Wilder: A Life brings readers face to face with the extraordinary man who made words come alive around the world, on the stage and on the page.”
—James Earl Jones, actor“Comprehensive and wisely fashioned….This book is a splendid and long needed work.”
—Edward Albee, playwrightThornton Wilder: A Life, the first biography of the playwright and novelist since 1983, is based on unprecedented research: thousands of pages of letters, journals, manuscripts, and other documentary evidence of Wilder’s life, work, and times. Biographer Penelope Niven mined Wilder’s personal archives for more than a decade, and has produced a book that illuminates his professional life anew and reveals an enigmatic, intensely private man who wandered the world, writing, he said, for and about everybody. Even today, he has a global audience. His novels, including The Bridge of San Luis Rey, remain in print all over the world. His plays, especially the iconic Our Town and the revolutionary Skin of Our Teeth, are touchstones of modern theater.
Richly detailed, Thornton Wilder: A Life brings one of our country’s most beloved playwrights to center stage and unseals his hidden inner self, apparent only here and there in his art and in his papers.
Visit the HarperCollins listing for Thornton Wilder: A Life for more information.