Memory of Architecture in Edith Wharton’s Travel Writings

Ágnes Zsófia Kovács is Associate Professor at the Department of American Studies, University of Szeged, Hungary. Her research interests include late-nineteenth-century proto-modern fiction, conversions of literary modernisms, popular fiction genres, and contemporary multicultural American fiction. Her current research into travel writing involves remapping travel texts by Edith Wharton. She has published two books, The Function of the Imagination in the Writings of Henry James: The Production of a Civilized Experience (2006) and Literature in Context (2010), co-edited Space, Gender and the Gaze (2017), and edited Edith Wharton’s Osprey Notes (2021). She sits on the editorial boards of Americana E-Journal and TNTeF E-Journal, Szeged; and Acta Philologica, Cluj (RO).

• AcknowledgementsList of illustrationsIntroduction1. Wharton’s view of cultural continuity in Italian Villas (1904) and Their Gardens (1905)Influences and editorial interventionsVillas and traditionWharton’s definition of “villa”Renaissance tourBaroque tourVillas and art historyNature and culture in garden architectureManners in garden architectureWriting the history of art and architecture2. Uncatalogued treasures: Travels in art history via Edith Wharton’s Italian Backgrounds (1905)Sources and bookThe seen and the unseen: John Ruskin’s ItalyPublication and receptionWharton’s visions of Italy: “deconventionalized” scenesForeground and backgroundScenes of observationFact and fancy in Wharton’s painterly visionWharton’s backgrounds3. Historical Continuity in A Motor-Flight Through France (1908)Influences, editing and illustrations, contemporary reviewsHistorical continuity in spaceContinuity in landscape and architectureRenovations contra ruinsCathedrals as symbols: a sentimental model of appreciating continuityThe stakes of historical understanding in Wharton4. The war of images: Edith Wharton’s architectural reports of war in Fighting France (1915)Antecedents, articles to book, early reviewsVisions of war and cultural destruction in Fighting FranceThe role of art history and propaganda in Wharton’s language of war5. A Motor-Flight Through North Africa: The Miracle of MoroccoComposition, publication, contemporary receptionWharton’s Moroccan Orient: history, dreams, womenFacts and dreams of the Moroccan pastMoroccan haremsWharton’s architectural vision in her colonial war reports6. Edith Wharton’s quest for historical continuity in the AegeanAntecedents and publication history: Homer, Goethe, and Ruskin in the typescriptObserving architecture in The Cruise of the VanadisArchitectural vision in the Osprey NotesAbsence and presence of the past in Athens and Crete7. Edith Wharton’s travel fragments about SpainWhere the fragments come from: Wharton’s readings in art historySt. James’s Way: Wharton’s Spanish cathedral trail in the “Spain Diary,” “Back to Compostela” and “A Motor-Flight Through Spain”Architectural vision in “A Motor-Flight Through Spain”ConclusionIndex