SOURCE: “Henry Kingsley: Ravenshoe,” in Australian Literary Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2, October, 1969, pp. 115-29.

In the following essay, Wellings studies critical reaction to Kingsley's novels, and responds to charges that the novel Ravenshoe is characterized by careless writing and lack of structure.

Henry Kingsley is badly served by literary studies of the twentieth century. Mention, let alone critical recognition, is scarce. The Concise Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature gives Henry Kingsley four entries, one of which is a mistaken date of publication for Ravenshoe.¹ Introductions to English Literature Vol. IV The Victorians and After 1830-1914, edited by C. Batho and Bonamy Dobrée, gives Kingsley more space but less accuracy, mistakes occurring in both first and second editions (1938 and 1950 respectively). There is one extract in The Oxford Book of English Prose, but that given only reinforces an assessment that relegates Kingsley's abilities to a secondary position, namely, his creation...