to make the cut. Critical evaluation With near-unanimity critics have dismissed The Other House for its glaring problems in motivation and credibility. To some extent James may be the victim here of expectations concerning his fiction. Outside of this work, few of his characters murder children. So when Rose Armiger does exactly that, it's so out of line with James' usual material that critics might automatically reject it as unbelievable. But even allowing for such expectations, Rose hardly seems like a driven, semi-insane "bad heroine" out of Ibsen. She comes off like what she is, a well-bred young lady doing something that it's very hard to believe she would do. For a more favorable view of the novel, see the link to the NYRB introduction in "External links" below. This essay begins by characterizing the book as the unfairly selected "ugly duckling" of the Jamesian canon. The author then blames Leon Edel for the novel's unfortunate status, though other critics (see the referenced books of criticism) have also dismissed The Other House as one of James' most forgettable efforts. References The Novels of Henry James by Oscar Cargill (New York: Macmillan Co., 1961) The Novels of Henry James by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983) The Complete Plays of Henry James edited by Leon Edel (New York: Oxford University Press 1990) External links Note on the various texts of The Other House at the Library of America web site Introduction to The Other House from the New York Review Books Classics edition 1896 American novels 1896 British novels Novels by Henry James Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The Illustrated London News