Marilyn C. Wesley is Assistant Professor of English at Hartwick College. She is also the author of Refusal and Transgression in Joyce Carol Oates' Fiction.

• Preface Introduction The Secret Journey: The Trope of Women's Travel in American Literature Part I The Contravention of Values Chapter 1 The Not Unfeared, Half-Welcome Guest: The Woman Traveler in John Greenleaf Whittier's Snow-Bound Part II Alternative Journeys Chapter 2 Moving Targets: The Travel Text in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Chapter 3 "The Perilous Journey through the Human House": The Gothic Journey in Willa Cather's The Professor's House and Edith Wharton's Summer Chapter 4 A Woman's Place: The Politics of Space in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Part III Travel as Social Reconstruction Chapter 5 The Genteel Picara: The Ethical Imperative in Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs Chapter 6 Sisters of the Road: Transience as Theme and Form in Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping Part IV Transformative Journeys Chapter 7 The Developmental Journey: Narrative, Psychological, and Social Transformation in Eudora Welty's Short Fiction Chapter 8 The Postmodern Journey: Elizabeth Bishop's Trope of Travel Conclusion Orpah's Journey: Reading the Constructive Narrative Notes Works Cited Index

"This book is unquestionably a significant contribution to the field of American literature. Extremely well written, it utilizes an impressively broad range of scholarship and contemporary theory, and is thoughtfully persuasive. Because the past few years have seen a decided revival of interest in travel writing, particularly by women, Wesley's study of the trope of travel appears at just the right time: we need an original, in-depth, scholarly, and lucidly presented reexamination of major works vis-à-vis this metaphor, and Marilyn Wesley has written it. All American literature scholars would benefit from Wesley's original views." — Abby H. P. Werlock, St. Olaf College"Wesley's claims and her close readings are engaging. Her criticism often persuaded me to re-read the texts she discussed. As an American literature teacher and scholar, I found the book quite useful." — Gregory Eiselein, Kansas State University