These two nouvelles mark Howells' plunge into psychological realism.
Their themes-a triangle of tragic agonies with psychological insights
intriguingly proto-Freudian, and a drama of miscegenation-are anything
but the "smiling", lightweight topics to which Howells has been supposed
to have been confined. The maturity both of their art and of their moral
insight lends them an impact much deeper and more permanent than that of
the shriller, more merely commercial shocking fiction of our day. Edwin
H. Cady's introduction places the books in the context of the
development of Howells' life, work, art, thought, and sensibility. He
helps the reader make immediate contact with the artistic methods and
intentions of the author.