In the following essay, Petry explores the significance of knitting in "Roman Fever."
Probably Edith Wharton's best-known short story is "Roman Fever," the product of a 1934 trip to Rome, and the most enduring tale from her uneven late collection entitled The World Over (1936). It is curious that so widely-anthologized a work has generated such a paucity of critical interest, and even more curious that the few appraisals which it has received have been so tepid: Geoffrey Walton, for example, simply dismisses it as "a very light little comedy that can be taken as a kind of farewell skit on the decorum of the great days." More appreciative are Cynthia Griffin Wolff and Marilyn Jones Lyde, both of whom — without explaining the bases of their appraisals — find the story to be one of.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,766 words. This
study guide contains 15,134 words (approx. 50 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Roman Fever Access Pass.
