Reviewers were generous in their praise of Barrett's collection of eight short stories, Ship Fever and Other Stories (1996), in which “The English Pupil” appeared. Donna Seaman in Booklist comments that Barrett “has used science as a conduit to understanding the human psyche. . . . [Her] stories are precise and concentrated, containing a truly remarkable wealth of psychology and social commentary.” The reviewer for Publishers Weekly makes a similar point: “The quantifiable truths of science intersect with the less easily measured precincts of the heart in these eight seductively stylish tales.”

For Thomas Mallon, in the New York Times Book Review, the figure of Linnaeus hovers over all eight stories as a “kind of muse.” Mallon points out that in “The English Pupil,” Linnaeus “still makes use of 'the thread of Ariadne' that he had strung through nature's species—only now it helps his wavering consciousness keep his daughters...