SOURCE: "The Reception of Daisy Miller," in The Boston Public Library Quarterly, Vol. X, January, 1958, pp. 55-9.

Volpe is an American author and educator. In the following essay, he refutes the tradition that Daisy Miller was poorly received by critics, citing instead the social uproar it created and its effect of perturbing readers, rather than critics, nationwide.

At the time of its publication Henry James's Daisy Miller, according to literary tradition, was not well received by the American critics. The author is supposed to have been reviled by his countrymen for his unflattering portrait of the American girl. Modern scholars have wondered why there should have been such a reaction to what is really a sympathetic portrayal of Daisy, but no one, in print at least, has questioned the validity of the tradition. Richard Foley, in his study of the reception given to James's works in American periodicals...