'...in this study, Goodwyn sets the standard for Wharton criticism.' - Judith E. Funston, American Literature 'Janet Goodwyn sets out, by looking at Wharton's appropriation of different cultures, to nail the 'canard' that she was 'but a pale imitator of Henry James' - Hermione Lee, Times Literary Supplement The Land of Letters was henceforth to be my country and I gloried in my new citizenship'. So Edith Wharton described her elation upon the publication of her first collection of short stories; her nationality was henceforth writer' and as such she moved with ease between landscapes, between...

A study of Wharton's work which discusses her novels and travel books according to their specific geography or landscape rather than the date of composition. Emphasis is placed on Wharton's concern with America's place in the Western world and women's place in European society.