Motor-Flight Through France

by Edith Wharton

Book Overview

Shedding the turn-of-the-century social confines she felt existed for women in America, Edith Wharton set out in the newly invented "motor-car" to explore the cities and countryside of France. In A Motor-Flight Through France, originally published in 1908, Wharton combines the power of her prose, her love for travel, and her affinity for France to produce this compelling travelogue.

Now back in print, this edition of will interest students...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875805531
• ISBN13: 9780875805535
• Release Date: April 1991
• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

First hand view of France before WWI...

Edith Wharton has written two books worthy of being read by everyone, "The Age of Innocence" and "A Motor-Fight Through France." Ms. Wharton was a wealthy New Yorker and in a day when most could not afford to do so (before WWI) she set out by automobile with her husband and her friend Henry James to tour the French countryside. This might not seem a "big deal" today, but visualize a country where one could only travel by train and out of the way places were inaccessible except by wagon or oxcart. The book contains descriptions of several trips. One trip takes the reader in a big swoop from northern France to southern France and back. She visits the home of Madam Dudevant (George Sand) and a number of churches and other buildings of historic interest. There are only a few old photographs in the book, so one might need to consult another source to fully enjoy her descriptions of various places. I've taken a few courses on French arcitecture and visted France several times and I still had to consult other books--but it's worth it. Some of the French countryside has been altered and some of the older places are gone. The most memorable visits are to Nohant, home of George Sand. It is obvious Ms. Wharton considered Sand a spiritual mentor. In her other books and articles, Ms. Wharton covered Spain, Italy and points of interest in the Mediterranean. She later visited the front during WWI and became a war correspondent for an American newspaper. This book covers the halcyon days before the carnage when the world was younger and more innocent.