`A Quaint Conversation on a Moonlit Terrace

    This is the alternate title I am choosing for Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever". While I do like the title of the story well already, it does not age well. Roman Fever is no longer of any concern to people in contemporary times, so while this may seem like a mysterious and intriguing title to some, it could be offputting and confusing to others. Roman Fever just doesn't live in the minds of people anymore. I know that personally when I heard the title, I thought it was going to be a story about some obsession with Rome or Roman culture, unaware of the genuine ailment that was a threat at the time. I think a title that doesn't rely heavily on the time is helpful for future readers. I know it would have been helpful for me, so I can only imagine the helpfulness for other readers. 

    Another aspect of my title that I prefer over the original is the slight foreshadowing. Obviously, the true insidious nature of the women's relationship and conversation is anything but quaint. However,  I like having a satirical title like this. 'A quaint conversation' implies a completely innocuous rendevous between two lifelong friends reconnecting on a trip to Europe. The word 'quaint' in particular seems to convey a homey and sweet attitude, which could not be less true. When you complete your first reading, closing the book to look at the title again, you could reflect on the new meaning it has taken on, as an ironic and sarcastic statement about the spiteful conversation they had on the terrace.

    The phrase also sets up the setting better. You can, of course, glean that the original title is in Rome with very little effort. However, the women's current location takes on very little actual value in the story, other than that they are seated together on a remote terrace. My title does a better job of setting up the scene well, giving readers a threshold through which they can access the clandestine world of Grace Ansley and Alida Slade. 'Roman Fever' tells you surprisingly little about the story, because as I said before the city actually pertains very little to the story. A quaint conversation on a moonlit terrace, however, draws a very clear image in your mind that would only serve to be reinforced in the beginning of the story, where they discuss all manner of trivialities that you would expect old friends to talk about after being disconnected for so long. Roman Fever is, in part, so slow-moving because all this time needs to be used to set up the story in the beginning, where a more descriptive title could have done some of the heavy lifting for Wharton.

    Overall, while Roman Fever is a nice title, it lends itself to some improvement. Most importantly, getting rid of the time-specific elements that make the story less accessible for modern readers. The alternate title also creates an interesting juxtaposition between the contrasting contents of both the alternate title that I have created, and the title created by Edith Wharton. This juxtaposition is only elucidated to the reader once they have delved into the story, but the title is peculiar enough to be gripping for that reason alone.