Edith Wharton’s Position on the Real in A Motor-Flight Through France: Arthur Schopenhauer and Aesthetic-Sublime Contemplation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Edith Wharton's A Motor-Flight Through France, is not merely a collection of essays about trips through France; it is also a philosophical and experimental work about the “real” that engages with Arthur Schopenhauer's epistemology. For Schopenhauer the “real” is the eternal essence of all matter (“wille”), which is revealed only through the act of aesthetic-sublime contemplation. Wharton draws readers' attention to the text-as-text and flings readers across time and space to the sections in which she enacts Schopenhauer's philosophy by garnering insight through aesthetic-sublime contemplation rather than relying on technical or scientific methods of knowledge-making. Wharton also experiments with intentional misdirection to craft a work that might be read as simply recounting a series of physical trips or as laying out a complex philosophical position. Experimental motoring passages propel the audience forward, digressions and Wharton's approach to history, echo aspects of Schopenhauer's philosophy for readers familiar with his work.