In the following essay, Berkove asserts that "Roman Fever" is much more than a "satire on the manners of the American upper class," claiming that the various "violations" of decency and social custom are far more important.

"Roman Fever," judging from the frequency with which it is included in anthologies of short stories and American literature, is undoubtedly one of Edith Wharton's most respected stories. Edith Wharton, too, has been the subject of a recent revival of interest. It is therefore surprising that the story has received so little critical attention. First published in Liberty magazine in 1934 and subsequently collected in her anthology, The World Over (1936), it is generally considered one of the finest achievements of her "remarkable final creative period". In one of the most recent articles on it, Alice Hall Petry demonstrates evidence of the story's artistic composition, but surprisingly little was done before her...