ABSTRACT

Rather than extol the virtues of travel abroad, Adeline Trafton’s 1872 travelogue becomes a warning to girl readers of the horrors and inconveniences they can expect if they choose to embark on the Grand Tour. The narrator, with an older female traveling companion, suffers bad food, bad lodging, and bad looks from the “foreigners” she encounters. Although the narrative is laughable at times, the narrator’s discomfort is not. As a cautionary tale, An American Girl Abroad projects nationalism at the most basic level, that of the individual, and begs readers to question their own desires for travel abroad.