Although Jean Rhys has been recognized as an important, if not a major, figure among twentieth-century British fiction writers, this critical evaluation came only at the end of her life, long after she had published the bulk of her work. Rhys published her first collection of short fiction, The Left Bank, and Other Stories, in 1927. During the next twelve years she published four novels: Postures (1928), After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (1931), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939). After her fourth novel Rhys disappeared from the public eye and ceased publishing. During the next twenty-seven years she was all but forgotten.

Aside from the initial reviews, neither her novels nor her short fiction received serious critical or scholarly attention. Francis Wyndham's article written for the Tribune, a weekly newspaper of the British Labour Party, represented the only major attempt to focus attention on Rhys between 1939 and 1966. The article, appearing...