伊迪斯·华顿是19世纪末20世纪初的美国女作家，著有关于意大利、法国和摩洛哥的游记共六部。这些游记作品不仅反映出她如何看待、再现异域景物，更揭示了她如何在文化他者的衬托下定义自我的过程，其文本充分展现了华顿在强烈的逾越冲动与难以抗拒的传统力量之间经受的张力，蕴含着相当的文化复杂性。

本书在结构上分为三部分。第一章从“影响的焦虑”谈起，论述华顿在难以出新的游记领域另辟空间时既反抗又妥协的做法；第二章以自我和他者的关系为切入点分析了华顿在描述异域景物方面显露出的既靠拢又排斥，既侵入又谦服，既高傲又恐惧的复杂心态；第三章围绕性别来检视华顿的女性观及其建构游记文本的方法，并从人称指代方面考察其女性叙述策略。

ABSTRACT

ABBREVIATIONS

Introduction

 The Resurgence of Interest in Travel Writing Studies

 Characteristic Features of Travel Writing

 American Women Abroad

 Critical Receptions of Edith Wharton

Chapter One "The Beaten Track"--Edith Wharton and the Genre of Travel Writing

 Beyond the Anxiety of Influence

 The Foreground and the Background

 The Technical and the Sentimental

Chapter Two "The Vast Unknown Just Beyond"--Edith Wharton's Othering Gaze

 The Discursive Formulation of American Travel Writing

 Differentiation and Discrepancy in Wharton's Portrayal of European Landscapes

 An Incoherent Imperial Rhetoric

Chapter Three "The Secret Garden"--Edith Wharton's Feminized Sphere and Defeminizing Stance

 Resistance against and Reconciliation with the Leisure Class Concept of Women

 Critical Skepticism and Textual Appropriation

 Gendered Authorship and Ruptured Persona

Conclusions

Works Cited