Roman Fever

"Roman Fever" is a short story by American writer Edith Wharton. It was first published in Liberty magazine on November 10, 1934. A revised and expanded version of the story was published in Wharton's 1936 short story collection The World Over.

Plot summary
Grace Ansley and Alida Slade are middle-aged American women visiting Rome with their daughters, Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade. The women live in Manhattan, New York, and have been friends since girlhood. A youthful and romantic rivalry led Mrs. Slade to nurture feelings of jealousy and hatred against Mrs. Ansley. For her part, Mrs. Ansley looks down on Mrs. Slade, who she feels has led "a sad life."

In the opening pages of the story, the two women compare their daughters and reflect on each other's lives. Eventually, Alida reveals a secret about a letter written to Grace on a visit to Rome many years ago. The letter was purportedly from Alida's fiancé, Delphin, inviting Grace to a rendezvous at the Colosseum. In fact, Alida forged the letter in an attempt to send Grace on a fruitless outing and expose her "delicate throat" to the "deathly cold." Mrs. Ansley is upset at this revelation, but explains that she was not left alone at the Colosseum; she responded to the letter, and Delphin arrived to meet her. Mrs. Ansley then says that she feels sorry for Mrs. Slade, repeating her earlier thoughts. Mrs. Slade states that, while she was "beaten there," Mrs. Ansley ought not to feel sorry for her, because she "had [Delphin] for twenty-five years" while Mrs. Ansley had "nothing but that one letter that he didn't write." Mrs. Ansley responds, in the last sentence of the story, "I had Barbara," implying that Barbara is Delphin's daughter.

Setting
The story takes place in the afternoon through sunset, in the city of Rome, at a restaurant overlooking the Forum. Two wealthy, middle-aged, widowed women are visiting Rome with their two unmarried daughters. The setting illustrates the power and class from which the women hail, but the Old Rome context, such as the Colosseum, insinuates Roman Empire-style intrigue. The movement from afternoon to sunset indicates the devastation that both women will receive as the story progresses. The story's flashbacks take place in both Rome and New York City.

Analysis
Knitting is one several figurative motifs in "Roman Fever." It is introduced through Barbara's mocking suggestion that she and Jenny "leave the young things," an ironic reference to their mothers, "to their knitting.” Jenny objects that the women are "not actually knitting" (Wharton's emphasis).  To which Barbara replies, "Well, I mean figuratively.

Critic Kathleen Wheeler argues that the search for truth is one of the story's primary themes. And while many readers are initially attracted to the story's surprise ending, Wheeler suggests that the story has levels of complexity that are often overlooked on first reading. "[T]he truth, like the past," Wheeler writes, "is shrouded in mystery." Rather than focusing on the answers provided by Grace's and Alida's revelations in the story's concluding pages, Wheeler foregrounds the way in which "Wharton forces upon the reader numerous unanswerable questions."

Characters
Alida Slade: Middle-aged widow of Delphin Slade. Because so much of her identity is wrapped up in her relationship to her husband, "it was a big drop from being the wife of Delphin Slade to being his widow."

Delphin Slade: "[A] famous corporation lawyer," and the late husband of Alida. Delphin's "big coup in Wall Street" allowed him to move his family from East 73rd Street to the more fashionable "upper Park Avenue."

Grace Ansley: Middle-aged widow of well-to-do Horace Ansley. She is "smaller and paler" than Mrs. Slade and "evidently far less sure than her companion of herself and of her rights in the world."

Horace Ansley: Late husband of Grace. He and his wife are variously described as "Museum specimens of old New York. Good-looking, irreproachable, exemplary."

Barbara Ansley: Daughter of Grace Ansley. In the opening paragraphs of the story, we hear her "mocking voice in the stairway" as she and Jenny Slade depart. While the girls' parents contend that they're both "angels," Mrs. Slade suggests that Grace's daughter has "rainbow wings." Jenny Slade: Daughter of Alida Slade. Younger than Barbara, she is "that rare accident, an extremely pretty girl who somehow made youth and prettiness seem as safe as their absence." Mrs. Slade wishes "that Jenny would fall in love--with the wrong man, even; that she might have to be watched, out-manoeuvred, rescued. And instead, it was Jenny who watched her mother, kept her out of draughts, made sure that she had taken her tonic. . . ."

Headwaiter: Supervising waiter at the terrace restaurant overlooking the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and other ancient ruins. After receiving a gratuity from Alida Slade, he invites Alida and Grace to remain at the restaurant to enjoy the view. Notably, the headwaiter has no dialogue in the story—his ideas are communicated secondhand by way of the narrator.

Son of Alida Slade: Child who "inherited his father's gifts," but "died suddenly in boyhood." Harriet: Deceased great-aunt of Grace. According to a story handed down, Harriet and her sister loved the same man. To get rid of her sister, Harriet supposedly tricked her into exposing herself to Roman fever. She later died of the disease.

Themes
Power struggle for those in the upper classes: Engaged to Delphin Slade, Alida suspects that Grace might try to steal him from her. Alida tries to remove Grace from the picture by forging Delphin's signature on a letter inviting the latter to a nighttime rendezvous at the Colosseum. The plan backfires for Alida because her eventual husband actually meets with Grace. Alida still marries her beau, but it seems the soon-to-be Mrs. Ansley actually bears Mr. Slade's daughter, Barbara.

Betrayal and deception: As a young woman, Mrs. Slade used subterfuge and machination in order to improve her marriage prospects.

Grudges: In their middle age, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley introduce decades-old surprises.

Representation of female relationships
Grace feels sorry for Alida, while Alida envies Grace. The women "visualize each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope." Only through the sharing of their two perspectives do they begin to see a fuller picture of their past.

Adaptations
KPFA broadcast a radio adaptation of "Roman Fever" in September 1964, starring Pat Franklin and Shirley Medina, adapted and directed by Erik Bauersfeld. Hugh Leonard's one-act adaptation of "Roman Fever" was first staged in Dublin in 1983. Robert Ward's opera adaptation (with libretto by Roger Brunyate) premiered in 1993 at Duke University. Hungarian composer Gyula Fekete's opera Roman Fever ("with additional lyrics by Lisa Radetski") premiered in 1996 at Budapest's Merlin Theatre. Alan Stringer's "opera in one scene" premiered in 1996 at New York's Manhattan School of Music. Philip Hagemann's 1989 one act opera based on Wharton's story has been performed as recently as 2003 in New York at the Lincoln Center's Clark Studio.

An extensive accounting of the story's adaptation history can be found by consulting the scholarship of Scott Marshall (1998), Hermione Lee (2008), and Daniel Hefko (2016).