Second Sino-Japanese War period

The Franco-Prussian War serves as a chronological boundary in the Gardners’ account of their scholarly work: Mrs. Gardner uses it to mark the beginning of the period of European literature she studied, rather than as a war depicted in the narrative.

Historical Reference

While describing the retired couple’s former academic careers, the narrative notes that Mrs. Gardner taught comparative literature and specialized in European literature from 1870 to 1914. She characterized that span as running from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I. The conflict therefore functions here as a historical marker that helps define the scope of her specialty; the passage gives no further account of the war itself.