Almost universally praised by critics, "Roman Fever" earned a place in An Edith Wharton Treasury (1950)[5] and The Best Short Stories of Edith Wharton (1958).[6] It is the title story of Roman Fever and Other Stories,[7] a collection of Wharton's writing originally published in 1964 and still in print. One of Wharton's most anthologized stories, "Roman Fever" is the subject of numerous critical studies as outlined in the partial bibliography provided below.
Barrett, Dorothea. “Lions, Christians, and Gladiators: Colosseum Imagery in Henry James's Daisy Miller and Edith Wharton's ‘Roman Fever.’” Remember Henry James Conference, March 2014, Florence, Italy. Conference Presentation.
Bauer, Dale M. “‘Roman Fever’: A Rune of History.” Edith Wharton’s Brave New Politics. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1994. 145-164.
Berkove, Lawrence I. “‘Roman Fever’: A Mortal Malady.” The CEA Critic 56.2 (Winter 1994): 56-60.
Bode, Rita, and Sirpa Salenius. "Students Abroad--In the Classroom: A Transatlantic Assignment on Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever.'" Teaching Edith Wharton's Major Novels and Short Fiction. Ed. Ferdâ Asya. Bloomsburg: Palgrave, 2021. 279 - 290.
Bowlby, Rachel. "Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever,'" University College London, London, England, 12 April 2005. Lecture.
---. “‘I had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 17.3 (Fall 2006): 37-51.
Clavaron, Yves. “Rome: Où S’Attrapent la Maladie de L’Amour et la Maladie de la Mort.” Poétique des Lieux. Edited by Pascale Auraix-Jonchière and Alain Montandon. Clermont-Ferrand, France: Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal, 2004. 77 - 83.
Comins, Barbara. “‘Outrageous Trap’: Envy and Jealousy in Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’ and Fitzgerald’s ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair.’” Edith Wharton Review 17.1 (Spring 2001): 9-12.
Edwards, Laura. “‘I Had Barbara’: Wharton’s Portrayl of the Maternal Declaration.” The Maternal Question: Motherhood in Edith Wharton. A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. 2005. 23-37. http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/bitstream/1840.16/191/1/etd.pdf
Ellison, Kristie L., "Make War, Not Love: Exploring Female Equality in Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever.' Edith Wharton in Washington, Conference Abstract. Edith Wharton Review 32.1-2 (2016): 111.
Formichella Elsden, Annamaria “Roman Fever Revisited.” Roman Fever: Domesticity and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Writing. Columbus: Ohio State U P, 2004. 119 - 132.
Gawthrop, Betty. “Roman Fever.” Masterplots: Short Story Series. Ed. Frank Magill. Vol. 5. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1986. 1974-1977.
Gill, Linda L. “Structuralism and Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” Short Stories in the Classroom. Eds. Carole Hamilton and Peter Kratzke. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999. 85-93.
Griffin, Larry D. “Doubles and Doubling in Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas, February 2, 1990. Lecture.
Hefko, Daniel. “Adapting ‘Roman Fever.’” Edith Wharton in Washington, Conference Abstract. Edith Wharton Review 32.1-2 (2016): 115 - 116.
Hemm, Ashley, "Countering Traditional Mating Strategies: Female Serial Monogamy in Edith Wharton's 'The Other Two' and 'Roman Fever.'" Edith Wharton in Washington, Conference Abstract. Edith Wharton Review 32.1-2 (2016): 116.
Herman, David. "Narration and Knowledge in Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever.'" Invited presentation for the University of Virginia's Department of English; April 2003.
Hoeller, Hildegard. "The Illegitimate Excess of Motherhood in 'The Old Maid,' 'Her Son,' and 'Roman Fever.'" Edith Wharton's Dialogue with Realism and Sentimental Fiction. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. 140-172.
Klevay, Robert. “Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever,' Or the Revenge of Daisy Miller.” Critical Insights: Edith Wharton. Ed. Myrto Drizou. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2017. 171 - 185.
Koprince, Susan. “Edith Wharton, Henry James, and ‘Roman Fever.’” Journal of the Short Story in English (Autumn 1995): 21-31.
Kornetta, Reiner. "Roman Fever." Das Korsett im Kopf: Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Whartons. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995. 163-168.
Lewis, R. W. B. "Introduction." The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968. vii - xxv.
Macheski, Cecilia. “Visualizing Material Culture in Ethan Frome and ‘Roman Fever.’” Presentation at the Edith Wharton and History Conference. June 27, 2008. Pittsfield, Mass.
Mizener, Arthur. “Roman Fever.” A Handbook of Analyses, Questions, and a Discussion of Technique for Use with Modern Short Stories: The Uses of Imagination. 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979. 71-77.
Mortimer, Armine Kotin. “Romantic Fever: The Second Story as Illegitimate Daughter in Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” Narrative 6.2 (May 1998): 188-198.
Osborne, Kristen, and A. Boghani. Roman Fever and Other Stories (Classic Notes). Lexington: GradeSaver LLC., 2014.
Pennell, Melissa McFarland. "Roman Fever." Student Companion to Edith Wharton. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003. 51 - 54.
Petry, Alice Hall. “A Twist of Crimson Silk: Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” Studies in Short Fiction 24.2 (1987): 163-166.
Phelan, James. “Narrative as Rhetoric and Edith Wharton’s 'Roman Fever': Progression, Configuration, and the Ethics of Surprise.” The Blackwell Companion to Rhetoric, ed. Wendy Olmstead and Walter Jost. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. 340 - 354.
---. "Progressing toward Surprise: Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever.'" Experiencing Fiction: Judgments, Progressions, and the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2007. 95 - 108.
Price, Alan. “‘Stand Up, Mrs. Ansley, Stand Up’: Positions of Power in ‘Roman Fever.’” Edith Wharton in Florence Conference. June 8, 2012. Conference Presentation.
Rehder, Jessie. “On the Uses of Plot.” The Story at Work: An Anthology.” Ed. Jessie Rehder. New York: The Odyssey Press, 1963. 151.
Selina, Jamil S. “Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” The Explicator 65.2 (Winter 2007): 99-101.
Shaffer-Koros, Carole M. “Nietzsche, German Culture and Edith Wharton.” Edith Wharton Review 20.2 (Fall 2004): 7-10.
---. “Roman Fever.” The Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. Ed. Abby Werlock. New York: Facts on File, 2000. 370-71.
Salzman, Jack, Pamela Wilkinson, et al. “Slade, Alida.” Major Characters in American Fiction. New York: Henry Holt, 1994. 720.
Sapora, Carol. “A Stereopticon View of Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” NEMLA Conference, 1989. Conference Presentation.
Saunders, Judith P. "The Old Maid and 'Roman Fever': Female Mate Choice and Competition Among Women." Reading Edith Wharton Through a Darwinian Lens: Evolutionary Biological Issues in Her Fiction. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2009. 139 - 166.
Stoner, Ruth. “The Perfect Short Story: How Edith Wharton’s 'Roman Fever' Has Crossed the Boundaries of Time.” The Short Story in English: Crossing Boundaries. Eds. Gema Castillo García, Rosa Cabellos Castilla, Juan Antonio Sánchez Jiménez, Vincent Carlisle Espinola. Alcalá de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá, 2006. 920-931.
Sweeney, Susan Elizabeth. “Edith Wharton’s Case of Roman Fever.” Wretched Exotic: Essays on Edith Wharton in Europe. Ed. Katherine Joslin and Alan Price. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. 313 - 331.
Tuttleton, James W., Kristin O. Lauer, Margaret P. Murray, eds. "The World Over." Edith Wharton: The Contemporary Reviews. New York: Cambridge UP, 1992. 531 - 538.
Tyler, Lisa L. “Wandering Women and the Dangers of Contagion in Edith Wharton’s The Old Maid and ‘Roman Fever.” MLA Conference. December 30, 2007. Conference Presentation.
Wankey, Stan. “Wharton Hears a WHO.” EastWesterly Review 12 (Summer 2003): <http://www.postmodernvillage.com/eastwest/issue12/12a-0002.html>.
Wheeler, Kathleen. “The Attack on Realism: Edith Wharton’s In Morocco and ‘Roman Fever.’” “Modernist” Women Writers and Narrative Art. New York: New York UP, 1994. 77-98.
Wright, Sarah Bird. "Roman Fever." Edith Wharton A to Z: The Essential Guide to the Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 1998. 215.
