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Roman Fever and Other Stories

Edith Wharton

4.09 · Rating details · 1,745 ratings · 95 reviews

These short works display Wharton's talent as a satirist "skilled at dissecting the elements of emotional subtleties, moral ambiguities, and the implications of social constrictions" (Cythina Griffin Wolfe, from the Introduction).

Roman fever (1934)
Xingu (1911)
The other two (1904)
Souls belated (1899)
The angel at the grave (1901)
The last asset (1904)
After Holbein (1928)
Autre ...more

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Paperback, 304 pages

Published June 13th 1997 by Scribner (first published 1934)

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Lists with This Book

Best Books by American Women

353 books — 252 voters

The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway

The Emperor's New Clothes and Other Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

Babylon Revisited and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Included Stories as Titles

86 books — 12 voters

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4.09 ·

Rating details

· 1,745 ratings · 95 reviews

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Apr 06, 2010 Robin Cicchetti rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, relationship, classic

I haven't read Edith Wharton since high school. I don't even remember what we read.

A colleague stopped by my desk at school last week, and said his wife put Roman Fever into his hands and told him to read it.

He was amazed:
1) that he had never heard of this jewel and,
2) at the cruelty of women.
He piqued my interest.

I checked our catalog and we had it, so I threw it into my bag. A few nights later I picked it up while I was waiting for the evening news to start. I never saw Brian Williams that nig ...more

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Jun 29, 2010 Judy rated it it was amazing

I enjoyed this collection of what are considered some of Edith Wharton's finest short stories so much that I read it all over again, right after reading it the first time.

Some of the themes are familiar, such as people's sense of identity and social acceptance in upper-class society, but there is a large range of storylines, many of which deal with marital relationships and their various endings.
Wharton doesn't waste space on overly detailed descriptions of places or things; she zooms right int ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Tatiana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Tatiana by: anyone who appreaciates classic literature

Shelves: 2009, short-stories, classics

There is nothing much you can say about a classic. A classic is a classic for a reason. Edith Wharton is undeniably one of the best American writers and this book of short stories is another proof of it. It is a mark of a true talent to be able in a matter of 20-25 pages to reveal both deep nature of characters and expose society follies. Each story is a masterpiece which leaves you with a deeper understanding of suffocating restrictions of 19th century America and complexities of human nature. ...more

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Nov 30, 2015 Sketchbook rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A GR glitch and my review vanished. Xingu? So I'll reveal Xingu is a river in Brazil, not a philosophy, language, ritual or something best whispered about.

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Mar 25, 2017 Ali added it · review of another edition

The short story Roman Fever first appeared in 1934 – although this particular collection wasn’t published until 1964 these stories come from across the long period in which Edith Wharton was writing. I assume, therefore, that these stories probably do appear in collections first published during Wharton’s lifetime.

The title story of this collection also appears in The Persephone book of short stories – memorable for its final line – it is the perfect story to start off this little collection, an The short story Roman Fever first appeared in 1934 – although this particular collection wasn’t published until 1964 these stories come from across the long period in which Edith Wharton was writing. I assume, therefore, that these stories probably do appear in collections first published during Wharton’s lifetime.

The title story of this collection also appears in The Persephone book of short stories – memorable for its final line – it is the perfect story to start off this little collection, and one I was very happy to revisit. It is a little piece of perfection from Edith Wharton. Two middle ages matrons; Grace Ansley and Alida Slade, are in Rome with their daughters, the two women don’t move from their position on a terrace overlooking the city they each have reason to remember from their youth.

“ ‘I always used to think’ Mrs Slade continued, ‘that our mothers had a much more difficult job than our grandmothers. When Roman fever stalked the streets it must have been comparatively easy to gather in the girls at the danger hour; but when you and I were young, with such beauty calling us, and the spice of disobedience thrown in, and no worse risk than catching cold during the cool hour after sunset, the mothers used to be put to it to keep us in – didn’t they?’
She turned again toward Mrs Ansley, but the latter had reached a delicate point in her knitting. ‘One, two, three – slip two; yes, they must have been she assented without looking up.”

The two women have known each other many years, first as young women brought to Rome by their mothers, and later living on the same street in New York as married women. Their friendship is gradually revealed to exist only superficially. While their daughters go off together to explore the city, to have fun, the older women stay behind, knitting rolled up in their bags, reminiscing over past days. It’s a masterly example of subtlety, as the true nature of Grace and Alida’s jealousies and a long-held secret are unearthed through their conversation.

The remaining stories were all new to me, they are all excellent in their way, but although there are only eight in the collection, I won’t be discussing each of them. Famous for her stories depicting the upper echelons of New York society, the themes Wharton explores in these stories feel very familiar. Many of these stories show the contradictions in a society of slowly shifting mores. The daughters of women whose lives were once so narrowed by convention, find their lives easier, their lives less judged than their mothers’. In others Wharton details the absurdities of the conventional society she was a part of.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/... ...more

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Jun 05, 2009 Margaret rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, short-stories, authors-vw, 2010-read

This made me love Wharton all over again after a couple of disappointing novels. The standout here is "Xingu", which is a scathingly brilliant, utterly wonderful take-down of pretentious society matrons whose literary club is giving a luncheon for a famous author. I also especially liked "After Holbein", a rather creepy tale of two elderly socialites, and "The Angel at the Grave", about a woman who has devoted her whole life to the care of her dead grandfather's house, papers, and reputation.

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Feb 27, 2017 Liisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017, my-read-books, short-stories

Roman Fever and Other Stories includes eight intriguing, surprising and brilliant short stories. They describe the society of the time they were written, the changes that were going on, in a real but comical way. The stories are just the right length, they start kind of suddenly, without any introductions, so it takes a few pages to understand whats happening and they end a bit suddenly as well, the reader has to figure out the solution on her/his own, which I quite liked. Wharton offered me exa ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 Tony rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-short-stories

ROMAN FEVER and Other Stories. (this ed. 1997). Edith Wharton. ****1/2.
Eight of Ms. Wharton’s stories have been collected and presented in this book. They are all excellent examples of her skill at this form of fiction. The title story alone is worth the price of admission. It is perhaps the shortest story of the bunch, but packs the biggest shock at the end. There is no way that the reader could see this ending coming – yet it makes sense. All of her stories provide some sort of twist at the en ...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Jen Mech rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, classics, non-fiction, used-for-class, favorites

I LOVE ROMAN FEVER! Though I can be impartial to short stories, when I read this for class, I fell in love with it. I think I connect with it most because I have a childhood friend who always seemed to have everything, every opportunity, everything handed to her, and she walked all over her friends, including me, taking every advantage that came her way. So, when I read this story, I couldn't help but laugh, thinking Mrs. Ansley had the perfect revenge. I have no interest in seeking my own venge ...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Emily added it

Shelves: read-in-2009

After the blood and guts of Blood Meridian , I needed to add a little civilization back into my reading life - and nobody does over-civilization like Edith Wharton. Whether they meet the challenge by laughing, crying, or overdosing on exhaustion and sleeping pills, her characters are beset on all sides by the constrictions of unimaginative convention - a force with which McCarthy's cowboys are entirely untroubled.

I have a mixed history with Wharton; I found The House of Mirth overwrought, and w ...more

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Mar 12, 2018 Wendy rated it it was amazing

Another solid selection by Edith Wharton.
Of the 8, I had previously read 3 in another collection.

The title entry, Roman Fever, appears to be the overwhelming favorite.
A story of two widows, also lifelong friends, on a balcony in Rome,
talking about their two daughters, and their own young lives in Rome.
I found it interesting how so many readers were shocked by the ending.

After Holbein took some interesting twists and turns before settling into a very apt ending.

And in The Angel at the Grave, th ...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Tamara Collins added it

The lead into the story sets an uneasy tone of distance between the two women. The author begins the story by showing us the two mothers sitting on a terrace of a roman restaurant. The distance is well represented in the text by the careful word choice, for example, in the lead the women “looked first at each other, and then down on the out spread glories of Palatine and the Form.” This looking at each other then looking out at the scene before them is the sort of thing that strangers or acquain The lead into the story sets an uneasy tone of distance between the two women. The author begins the story by showing us the two mothers sitting on a terrace of a roman restaurant. The distance is well represented in the text by the careful word choice, for example, in the lead the women “looked first at each other, and then down on the out spread glories of Palatine and the Form.” This looking at each other then looking out at the scene before them is the sort of thing that strangers or acquaintances would do. As the reader gets more into the story, the author again sets the distance between the two women, “perhaps we didn’t know much more about each other.” When Mrs. Ansley says this to Mrs. Slade, it conveys to the reader that Mrs. Ansley is hiding something from her companion. Again, the author shows us space between the two, “for a few moments the two ladies, who had been intimate since childhood, reflected on how little they knew each other.”

As the two women reflect, they both stereotype each other into neat little molds in their heads without ever scratching below the surface. Their friendship exists only on a superficial level. Mrs. Slade as described by Mrs. Ansley was beautiful and vibrant, full of life and excitement in her past; but in her present she is depressed and “full of failures and mistakes.” Mrs. Ansley by Mrs. Slades description is beautiful yet dull, in past and present, “Museum specimens of old New York.” Mrs. Slade spends a lot of time contemplating her past and present relations with Mrs. Ansley. She also spends a lot of time being jealous of Mrs. Ansley’s daughter because she is more exciting then her own daughter. We learn that the two women after getting married around the same time also lived in New York across the street from one another. The two women’s husbands also died around the same time. These superficial similarities seem to be all that their friendship is based upon: “The similarity of their lot had again drawn them together.” They had no real conversation flow between them, as you expect old friends to have. There are no specific memories of anything that the two of them did together in the past or present of the entire text. Another good example of how little they knew of each other: “So these two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope.” When you look through the wrong end of a telescope you see very little of the big picture.

The author’s focus is on the tone of uneasiness, which finally makes its full-blown entrance as the two women sit in silence on the terrace. Mrs. Slade, the longer she sits, seems to become more and more jealous of her companion. “She thought:” I must make one more effort not to hate her.” Yet in her attempt not to hate her, she cannot help but to hate Mrs. Ansley. She learns that Mrs. Ansley not only was in love with Delphin, but that she slept with him and had his child, Barbara. This proves to be the reason why Mrs. Ansley’s mother rushed her off to Florence to get married quickly to Horace only two months after her affair with Delphin.

The ending was not what I had readily expected, but the tone had been set for it from the lead into the story. This explains the uneasy feelings between the two women and the superficial friendship. ...more

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Mar 15, 2016 Sangeetha Bharath rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crème-de-la-crème

Post-reading I find that that these lavish stories compensate for my gross inadequacy of words.
To put it simply, I am more or less speechless.
Bathed in Wharton's snobbish syrup of setting is the golden meat of these full-bodied stories broaching so many different topics.

Roman Fever is cut out to be the star of the show and rightly so, as its captivating portrayal of illegitimacy, envy, and realization is carried vividly throughout the piece. I personally think Roman Fever is remarkable becaus Post-reading I find that that these lavish stories compensate for my gross inadequacy of words.
To put it simply, I am more or less speechless.
Bathed in Wharton's snobbish syrup of setting is the golden meat of these full-bodied stories broaching so many different topics.

Roman Fever is cut out to be the star of the show and rightly so, as its captivating portrayal of illegitimacy, envy, and realization is carried vividly throughout the piece. I personally think Roman Fever is remarkable because of Wharton's incredible attention to detail in an intricate ode to cunningness in careful wielding of power. "Well, girls are ferocious sometimes, you know. Girls in love especially" (19). As soon as Mrs. Ansley says, "I had Barbara," (20), everything becomes transparent, and the reader is enraptured in sheer awe of the sly fox that Wharton has been. "So these two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope" (9).
The story is passionate from start to end and it is characterized by an onset of multifarious emotion.
What is the real Roman fever? Ask yourself this if you read it.

All of the featured short stories are gems. One of the most brilliant, I think, is Souls Belated, which I believe captures the essence of what Wharton tries to combat: "the same fenced-in view of life, the same keep-off-the-grass morality, the same little cautious virtues and the same little frightened vices", all of which appear to cower in the face of something like the "nakedness of each other's souls" (119-20).
It is the routine of something like marriage that is harshly questioned by Wharton; through the character of Lydia, she tears apart the pre-constructed concept with organized, whitened jaws.
In the wispy white smoke of Gannett's cigarette is hidden the danger of closeness, the impatience and the irrationality of love, and the gently uncurling ties that hold two people together.

If you truly want a taste of Wharton and can only read one story from this collection, read The Angel at the Grave. It is captivating, rich, and absolutely glorious.
The spirit of Wharton's attractive, meaningful rhetoric is entrenched in every part of this piece. It boasts an amusing and meritorious magniloquence to its readers, and, well, "what could have been more stimulating than to construct the theory of a girlish world out of the fragments of this Titanic cosmogony?" (134).

If you must take something from Wharton (and you must!) to keep in your pocket through your endeavors, my favorite piece was this jewel from The Angel at the Grave: "Literature's like a big railway-station now, you know: there's a train starting every minute. People are not going to hang round the waiting-room. If they can't get to a place when they want to they go somewhere else" (138).

Roman Fever and Other Stories is the epitome of the zest of Wharton, with a flavorful moxie that gives it a unique edge in the enormous sphere of literature. ...more

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Sep 26, 2015 Malvika Jolly rated it it was amazing

Woo hoo! Roman Fever is a saucy, saucy story

I like all the knitting

who knew knitting could be so passionate?

...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/fema...

One would think that performance artist/craftivist Casey Jenkins'
vaginal knitting project
would be the most passionate instance of knitting there is.

But one would be WRONG WRONG WRONG

The goings-on around Casey Jenkins' vulva are as
milquetoast as they come

but Roman Fever?

"Mrs. Ansley's hands lay inert across her needles. She looked straight out at ...more

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Oct 18, 2014 Dana Susan rated it did not like it

I'm disappointed, these stories don't resonate or stay with me. Did I not notice before that Wharton is a bit mean-spirited and cynical, and certainly about marriage? Her own was strange as I learned at The Mount last summer!
But thankfully after discussing the stories with my book club this week, I have a better handle on them and on Wharton's skill and intentions.

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Feb 14, 2013 Carla Remy rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, 20th-century-lit

Wharton's writing is so sharp and modern seeming if you changed the setting and period details much of it would work today with it's brilliant psychological observations. I particularly loved the story Xochi. Like any book of stories I didn't love every one but many were terrific.

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Feb 13, 2011 Rachel rated it it was amazing

"Roman Fever" is one of my most favorite short stories. I love the zing at the end.

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Feb 25, 2019 Lee Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorite-author

You can't go wrong here. My favorite story was After Holbein, in which two twilight-years social scenesters meet for a dinner party. I don't want to give anything away, but it was a perfect gem of a story, sad and funny, with every character given a real personality in such a short space.

Read it here, or buy your own copy: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200...

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May 16, 2017 Margo rated it it was amazing

Excellent short story.

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Jul 13, 2018 Lu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: considering

Great story!! What a surprising ending!! I love how the narrative evolves, how deep the resentments run. Two old friends, two daughters, the past haunting them!

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Jul 09, 2018 Brian rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018

Not up to her usual standard, but solid throughout with a couple of real gems.

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Mar 16, 2018 Terry rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned

I love wonderful short stories!!!!

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Jan 02, 2018 Arianna Rose rated it it was amazing

Great wit!!

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Mar 19, 2017 Alice rated it liked it

The first tale is wonderful and worth getting the book but after that the stories felt too dated and upper class.

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Sep 22, 2018 Annabelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own-it

This collection is bookended by two standouts, the delightful one-up(wo)maintop of Roman Fever (so short it's almost flash fiction) and the curious gradations of social stigma and sacrifice in Austres Temps...Without diminishing the pleasure gleaned from the parody and satire of After Holbein and Xingu.

Must every Wharton book of short stories I read entail 5 stars? If they're as good this one, then YES.

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Sep 25, 2014 Realini rated it it was amazing

Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
Splendid story

This is an excellent and very poignant short story, by a great author that I had had the chance to read before.
Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature, for the Age of Innocence.
That was a great novel, dramatized by the wonderful Martin Scorsese, with the extremely talented Daniel Day-Lewis. Wynona Rider and Michele Pfeiffer were also in the movie, in leading roles.
Both The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth have be ...more

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May 27, 2011 Erin W rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, on-my-shelves, 2010

Everything about Edith Wharton's work is stately, like an antique fainting couch in a museum, its frame hand-carved, its fabric delicately embroidered. But somehow, the stories are not stifling. Some are sly and humorous, like "Roman Fever" and "Xingu," which both make fools of people who think they know more than they do.

What I really love about Wharton, though—and The Age of Innocence, arguably her most famous work, is a great example of this, too—is the way she lays out her characters' confli ...more

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Feb 01, 2017 Erin Rodgers rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really liked each of the stories in this collection. I have previously read The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, and the stories in Roman Fever seemed just as enticing as those novels. Sometimes I thought I would have liked a novel-length version of certain of these stories, but I also appreciated them for their compactness. I felt these stories were very relatable to modern life in their themes--holding on to old grudges, looking back on one's life from middle age, reflecting on the c ...more

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Nov 28, 2013 Allison Long rated it it was amazing

The description "It was amazing," perfectly encompasses how I feel about this collection of short stories by Edith Wharton. As always, Wharton writes in a way that undermines the societal constrictions of her class. She is observant, cutting and very funny. There is always a bit of sadness in each story. Nostalgia, melancholy, a feeling of being trapped- but Wharton doesn't preach. She shows by example the loneliness of a couple running away, the malice of a frenemy and the resignation and overa ...more

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Jun 16, 2014 Eileen rated it liked it

While I remain not a big fan of short stories in general, Edith Wharton is always good. I've read at least a couple of these before (Roman Fever, After Holbein) but the rest were new. Xingu: HA HA HA HA. All the divorce stories: it's interesting how none of the divorced women were really judged as morally reprehensible, but instead as Not Respectable. Obviously acceptance into NYC/upper-class society was the big deal at the time, but it's still a striking contrast to all the fire & brimstone ...more

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About Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton

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Edith Newbold Jones was born into such wealth and privilege that her family inspired the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses." The youngest of three children, Edith spent her early years touring Europe with her parents and, upon the family's return to the United States, enjoyed a privileged childhood in New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Edith's creativity and talent soon became obvious: By the a Edith Newbold Jones was born into such wealth and privilege that her family inspired the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses." The youngest of three children, Edith spent her early years touring Europe with her parents and, upon the family's return to the United States, enjoyed a privileged childhood in New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Edith's creativity and talent soon became obvious: By the age of eighteen she had written a novella, (as well as witty reviews of it) and published poetry in the Atlantic Monthly.

After a failed engagement, Edith married a wealthy sportsman, Edward Wharton. Despite similar backgrounds and a shared taste for travel, the marriage was not a success. Many of Wharton's novels chronicle unhappy marriages, in which the demands of love and vocation often conflict with the expectations of society. Wharton's first major novel, The House of Mirth, published in 1905, enjoyed considerable literary success. Ethan Frome appeared six years later, solidifying Wharton's reputation as an important novelist. Often in the company of her close friend, Henry James, Wharton mingled with some of the most famous writers and artists of the day, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, André Gide, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, and Jack London.

In 1913 Edith divorced Edward. She lived mostly in France for the remainder of her life. When World War I broke out, she organized hostels for refugees, worked as a fund-raiser, and wrote for American publications from battlefield frontlines. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her courage and distinguished work.

The Age of Innocence, a novel about New York in the 1870s, earned Wharton the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921 -- the first time the award had been bestowed upon a woman. Wharton traveled throughout Europe to encourage young authors. She also continued to write, lying in her bed every morning, as she had always done, dropping each newly penned page on the floor to be collected and arranged when she was finished. Wharton suffered a stroke and died on August 11, 1937. She is buried in the American Cemetery in Versailles, France.
- Barnesandnoble.com ...more