SOURCE: “The Facts and Fictions of Ramona,” in Through Ramona's Country, Little Brown and Company, 1913, pp. 22-62.

In the following excerpt, James explores Jackson's use of actual events in the creation of the fictional world of Ramona and praises her descriptions of natural surroundings.

There are those in Ramonaland who will tell you that Ramona is fiction from beginning to end. They will go further. They will denounce the story as untrue to fact, in that it gives too highly colored descriptions of the scenery and too exalted a conception of the Indians. With these critics I take decided issue. As I have shown in the chapter, “A Climatic Wonderland,” it is not possible for any one to over-color the descriptions of the natural scenic conditions. And as for the Indians, criticism of them is more often based upon imperfect than adequate knowledge.

Leaving these two great points...