Roman Fever

Edith Wharton wrote “Roman Fever” near the end of a career that spanned more than five decades. Like many of her works, this 1934 short story investigates the social norms of affluent people from the US, considering the forms of violence these norms tolerate and even encourage. Spare in setting and restricted in action, the story shifts between the present and the past as it depicts a love triangle’s long reverberations. As the Roman backdrop makes clear, the past can intrude on the present in ways that exceed expectations.

References in this guide are to Edith Wharton: Collected Stories, 1911-1937 (Library of America, 2001). “Roman Fever” first appeared in Liberty magazine in November 1934 and was included in Wharton’s final volume of short stories, The World Over, published in 1936 by D. Appleton-Century.

Four women have lunched together, and the meal is long over. The younger two (Jenny and Barbara) are hurrying off, their voices rising as they descend the stairs to their next adventure. Their mothers, Alida and Grace, linger on the terrace, taking in the lovely view across the city of Rome. As they have no plans, the women pass the afternoon talking and reminiscing. There is little action in the story—the women converse as darkness falls—but as the conversation unfolds, each must reassess both her life and her relationship with her “friend.