Criticism

Berry, Betsy. "'Between Dog and Wolf': Jean Rhys's Version of Naturalism in After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie." Studies in the Novel 27, No. 4 (Winter 1995): 544-62.

Offers critical analysis of After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, drawing attention to Rhys's stylistic connection to French naturalism.

Borinsky, Alicia. "Jean Rhys: Poses of a Woman as Guest." Poetics Today 6, Nos. 1-2 (1985): 229-43.

Examines the characterization of female protagonists in Rhys's fiction.

Erwin, Lee. "'Like in a Looking-Glass': History and Narrative in Wide Sargasso Sea." Novel: A Forum on Fiction 22, No. 2 (Winter 1989): 143-58.

Discusses the historical underpinnings of Wide Sargasso Sea, particularly Rhys's portrayal of racism, nationalism, and divided self-identity in the West Indies after the Emancipation Act of 1833.

Howells, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

Book-length critical study of Rhys's novels and short stories, including discussion of her placement as a feminist, colonial, and modernist author.

Kendrick, Robert. "Edward Rochester and the Margins of Masculinity in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea." Papers on Language and Literature 30, No. 3 (Summer 1994): 235-56.

Considers Edward Rochester's inadequacies and redefinition of patriarchal male identity through his interactions with Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway in the complimentary texts of Brontë and Rhys.

Kloepfer, Deborah Kelly. "Voyage in the Dark: Jean Rhys's Masquerade for the Mother." Contemporary Literature 26, No. 4 (Winter 1985): 443-59.

Examines the significance of the mother-child relationship, the absence of mothers in Rhys's fiction, linguistic alienation among women in Voyage in the Dark, and the novel's revision.

Neck-Yoder, Hilda van. "Colonial Desires, Silence, and Metonymy: 'All Things Considered' in Wide Sargasso Sea." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 40, No. 2 (Summer 1998): 184-208.

Discusses aspects of narrative authority and the repression of colonial impulses in Wide Sargasso Sea.

Nixon, Nicola. "Wide Sargasso Sea and Jean Rhys's Interrogation of the 'nature wholly alien' in Jane Eyre." Essays in Literature XXI, No. 2 (Fall 1994): 267-84.

Provides analysis of Bertha's madness in Jane Eyre and Rhys's corresponding portrayal of female alienation and patriarchal imperialism in Wide Sargasso Sea.

Roe, Sue. "'The Shadow of Light': The Symbolic Underworld of Jean Rhys." In Women Reading Women's Writing, edited by Sue Roe, pp. 229-62. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.

Examines Rhys's narrative style, characterization of victimized women, paradoxical themes of suffering and resignation, and the significance of imagery in her fiction.

Streip, Katharine. "'Just a Cérébrale': Jean Rhys, Women's Humor, and Ressentiment." Representations, 45 (Winter 1994): 117-44.

Refutes the perception of women as "humorless" through analysis of Rhys's ironic wit and double-edged comedy in Good Morning, Midnight.

Wilson, Lucy. "'Women Must Have Spunks': Jean Rhys's West Indian Outcasts." Modern Fiction Studies 32, No. 3 (Autumn 1986): 439-48.

Examines Rhys's social critique of racism and domination through analysis of black West Indian characters in her fiction, including Christophine Dubois in Wide Sargasso Sea and Selina Davis in "Let Them Call It Jazz."