Critical Evaluation
Critics have generally regarded The Outcry as a pleasant trifle turned out in James' declining years. There have been criticisms of the novel's sometimes artificial dialogue and the endless stage business inherited from the dramatic version.
But by and large the book has gotten a pass as a charming comedy, something of a surprise from its aging author. James confessed in a letter to Edith Wharton that such a light, half-length novel was the most he could manage in his late sixties. The Outcry may be no more than an afterthought in the long list of James' novels, but it's an enjoyable afterthought.
Read more about this topic: The Outcry
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or evaluation:
“The male has been persuaded to assume a certain onerous and disagreeable rôle with the promise of rewards—material and psychological. Women may in the first place even have put it into his head. BE A MAN! may have been, metaphorically, what Eve uttered at the critical moment in the Garden of Eden.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)