Felicitous Space

Turning to the period of "America's coming of age," Judith Fryer offers a woman-centered inquiry into the actual and imagined spaces women inhabit, perceive, and create. She provides a full, critical analysis of the role of space in the writings of Edith Wharton and Willa Cather as well as an original view of the meaning of space for educated women in an era whose traditional landmarks are the frontier, the rise of the city, and World War I. In describing the way in which Wharton and Cather explore and inscribe their own experiences, Fryer focuses on their imaginative structures, from Wharton's meticulously conceived interiors, which include all that the eye can encompass, to Cather's unfurnished rooms and landscapes, which are her physical and spiritual correlatives. - Back cover.