Annotated Bibliography
Barnett, Linda D. “Bret Harte: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Comment.” American
Literary Realism, 1870-1910 5.3 (Summer 1972): 189-320. JSTOR. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Public Reception, Book Reviews, Secondary
Comments during Harte’s Life
Barnett, Linda D. “An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Comment / Part Two: 1905-1971.”
American Literary Realism, 1870-1900 5.4 (Fall 1972): 331-484. JSTOR. Web. 28 Sept.
2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Comments after Harte’s Death
Boggan, J. R. “The Regeneration of ‘Roaring Camp.’” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 22.3 (Dec.
1967): 271-80. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Mid-Century Criticism
Duckett, Margaret. “A Critic’s View of a New Star.” Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Norman: U of
Oklahoma P, 1964. 27-35. Print.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Mid-Century Criticism, Mark Twain
Erskine, John. “Bret Harte.” Leading American Novelists. New York: Henry Holt and Company,
1910. 325-69. Print.
Erskine places Harte among leading American novelists, but seemingly does so begrudgingly.
He writes, “[Harte] was in no sense a literary agent … It might be doubted whether he had even
ordinary talents in writing” (325). What follows are passive aggressive descriptions of Harte’s
life and works, although he makes a distinction between American and English reception.
Erskine connects Harte to Dickens, because of their quest for realism, commitment to romance
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and incident, and concern with their character’s humanity (351-55). He ends with a discussion of
Harte as humorist. Erskine provides evidence of critical reception shortly after Harte’s death.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Early Criticism
Harte, Bret. “General Introduction.” The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, With
Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers. Boston, 1897.
xi-xix. Print. Vol. 1 of The Writings of Bret Harte: Standard Library Edition. New York:
AMS Press, 1966 20 vol.
In this introduction, Harte discusses his “first efforts toward indicating a peculiarly characteristic
of Western American literature,” and uses for an example the composition history of “The Luck
of Roaring Camp” (xii). Specifically, he relates the contentious discussion between himself, the
Overland’s publisher, and its printer over whether the story would cast an immoral shadow over
California. Harte claims the survival of the text depended upon reception from the East, and
provides some evidence for this. This composition history is corroborated in several other
sources, but more research was needed to provide Anton Roman’s perspective.
Keywords: Composition History, Reception History, Public Reception, Critical Reception
Harte, John Bret. “A Dedication to the Memory of Francis Bret Harte 1836-1902.” Arizona and
the West 18.1 (Spring 1976): 1-4. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Biography, Reception History, Critical Reception, Composition History
Kolb Jr., Harold H. “The Outcast of Literary Flat: Bret Harte as Humorist.” American Literary
Realism, 1870-1910 23.2 (Winter 1991): 52-63. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
In this article, Kolb claims Harte’s role as humorist; to do so, he criticizes Brooks and Warren’s
Understanding Fiction for not correctly identifying Harte’s work. He also sets up a disconnect
between critical reception and Harte’s continuing publication. Kolb points to Harte’s ironic
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narrators, juxtaposition, and hyperbolic sentimentalism from several of his short stories as
evidence for his humor. Kolb’s work is cited in at least one other source (Krauth).
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Late 20th Criticism, Humor Studies
Kowalewski, Michael. “Romancing the Gold Rush: The Literature of the California Frontier.”
California History 79.2 (Summer 2000): 204-25. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Genre, Gold Rush
Krauth, Leland. “Wringing the Human Heart: Mark Twain and Bret Harte.” Mark Twain and
Company: Six Literary Relations. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2003. 14-48. Print.
Krauth moves the discussion about Mark Twain and Bret Harte’s complicated history past
speculation and Twain’s virulent attacks. Instead, he posits, along with Hamlin Hill, Twain’s
acrimonious comments reveal “Twain contending with himself” (19). Specifically, Krauth points
to Twain’s anxieties over gender and fears over “sentimentalism” as Twain’s underlying
concerns about his own work. Bret Harte, it seems, becomes the physical representation. In
developing his criticism, Krauth discusses the ironic sentimentality in Harte’s “The Luck of
Roaring Camp,” where humor functions with “pathos,” but ultimately undercuts the emotion.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Mark Twain,
Sentimentalism, Dickens-Harte Connection, Realism, Humor Studies
Lauterbach, Edward S. “Tom Hood Discovers Bret Harte.” American Literature 34.2 (May
1962): 285-7. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, British Reception, Humor Studies
“The Luck of Roaring Camp.” The Queenslander (Brisbane Qld.: 1866-1939) 18 Oct. 1879: 493.
National Library of Australia. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Keywords: Composition History, Anton Roman
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May, Ernest R. “Bret Harte and the Overland Monthly.” American Literature 22.3 (Nov. 1950):
260-271. Humanities International Complete. PDF file.
May’s article details Harte’s tenure as editor and occasional contributor if the Overland Monthly,
for which he was the first and most influential editor. May claims Harte would be more popular
for staying at the magazine than for the half dozen stories he wrote for it (271). The bulk of the
article discusses “Etc.,” the editorials Harte contributed monthly. These led to commotion
between Harte and leading San Franciscan businessmen. There is also an aside to Anton Roman
claiming to have published “The Luck” over the printer, not Harte.
Keywords: Reception History, Mid-Century Criticism, Composition History, Californian
Reception
Merwin, Henry Childs. “Bret Harte as a Writer of Fiction.” The Life of Bret Harte, With Some
Accounts of the California Pioneers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911. 293-307. Print.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Early Criticism, Humor Studies, DickensHarte Connection
Mexal, Stephen J. “Theoria and Liberal Governmentality: Travel in Bret Harte’s Overland
Monthly.” Reading for Liberalism: The Overland Monthly and the Writing of the Modern
American West. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2013. 35-65. Print.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Republicanism
Nissen, Alex. “The Rise of Bret Harte (1868-1871).” Bret Harte: Prince and Pauper. Jackson:
UP of Mississippi, 2000. 87-112. Print.
This chapter is divided into two sections. It provides a brief biographic sketch of Harte’s time as
editor at the Overland Monthly, and his literary success in England and the Eastern United
States. The chapter closes with a critical reading of “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” in which
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Nissen argues the framework of Harte’s story is “child-rearing practices of middle-class white
women of his day” (100). This contemporary reading, coupled with a few excerpts of Harte’s
reception during his day, makes the chapter effective. However, it does not provide any
composition history.
Keywords: Biography, Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Queer
Theory
Pemberton, T. Edgar. “In Life’s Stream: ‘Swimming.’” The Life of Bret Harte. New York: Dodd,
Mead, and Co., 1903. 68-116. Print.
Keywords: Biography, Composition History, Noah Brooks, Reception History, Critical
Reception, Early Criticism
Perkovich, Mike. “Chapter Three: Roaring Camp and Its (Dis)Contents.” Nature Boys: Camp
Discourse in American Literature from Whitman to Wharton. Peter Lang, 2003. 53-86.
Humanities International Complete. PDF file.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Queer Theory
Petry, Alice Hall. “Universal and Particular: The Local-Color Phenomenon Reconsidered.”
American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 12.1 (Spring 1979): 11-26. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept.
2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Late 20th Criticism, Genre, Local Color
“Recent Publications.” The Argus (Melbourne, Vic: 1848-1957) 21 October, 1870: 6. National
Library of Australia. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Australian Reception, Book Review
Roman, Anton. “The Beginnings of the Overland.” Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine.
32.187 (July 1898): 72-5. Making of America Journal Articles. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.
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Along with his recollection of the Overland Monthly’s inception, Roman presents his side of
“The Luck of Roaring Camp” controversy. He relates reading the story’s proofs with his wife,
and having no objections, went back to San Francisco to order its printing. This leads to a more
nuanced reading of the story’s composition history.
Keywords: Composition History, Anton Roman, Sociology of Texts, Harte as Editor
Ruggles, Melville J. “American Books in Soviet Publishing.” Slavic Review 20.3 (Oct. 1961):
419-35. JSTOR. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
Ruggles’ article provides publication history for the USSR, from 1918-57. The data demonstrates
“the law of supply and demand;” Ruggles writes, “Once the Soviet authorities permit the
publication of a book, its vogue is more or less controlled by the general public” (420). Of
particular note is Table 5, “The Soviet All-Time Best Seller List of American Authors” (424).
Bret Harte is listed seventh, behind London, Twain, Dreiser, Sinclair, Cooper, and O. Henry.
Ruggles’ statistical data works in conjunction with Scharnhorst’s bibliography.
Keywords: Publication History, International Publication, Translation
Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte: A Bibliography. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 1995. Print.
Keywords: Bibliography, Publication History, Periodical Publication, Collected Works
Publication, National Publication, Translations
---. “Bret Harte’s Naturalism.” Studies in American Naturalism 1 (Summer-Winter 2006): 14451. MLA-IB. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Contemporary Criticism, Genre, Naturalism,
Miscegenation
---. “The Overland Monthly: From “The Luck” to “The Prodigal.” Bret Harte: Opening the
American Literary West. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2000. 37-69. Print.
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Keywords: Biography, Composition History, Reception History, Contemporary Criticism
---. “Whatever Happened to Bret Harte?” American Realism and the Canon. Ed. Tom Quick and
Gary Scharnhorst. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1994. 201-11. Print.
Scharnhorst’s article exposes aesthetic, critical, and ideological reasons behind Bret Harte’s
exclusion from the canon. He provides a brief publication history of Harte’s work, claiming that
the second quarter of the twentieth-century is “the height of his modern popularity” (203).
However, the New Critics’ dismissal of his sentimental work, comparisons to Mark Twain, and
feminist mindsets have led to his diminished place in—or altogether exclusion from—the canon.
I do not necessarily agree with Scharnhorst’s logic in the third area, but the publication history
and discussion of reception work into the short story’s textual history.
Keywords: Publication History, Reception History, Critical Reception, Public Reception,
National Reception, New Critics, Mark Twain
“Sketcher: Bret Harte at Home.” The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.: 1866-1939) 18 Oct. 1879:
492-3. National Library of Australia. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Composition History
Stonely, Peter. “Rewriting the Gold Rush: Twain, Harte, and Homosociality.” Journal of
American Studies 30.2 (Aug. 1996): 189-206. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Gender, Mark Twain
Teorey, Matthew. “‘I Write Very Deliberately Indeed’: Four Uncollected Interviews with W. D.
Howells.” American Literary Realism 37.2 (Winter 2005): 159-79. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept.
2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Howells
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Urgo, Joseph. “Capitalism, Nationalism, and the American Short Story.” Studies in Short Fiction
35.4 (Fall 1998): 339-53. MLA-IB. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
Keywords: Reception History, Critical Reception, Local Color, Genre
Witschi, Nicolas S. “Bret Harte and the Gold Rush Claim to Realism.” Traces of Gold:
California’s Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American
Literature. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2002. 14-42. Print.
Witschi discusses the Gold Rush narrative’s valuing of “real” descriptions of mining’s physical
deprivations, the value placed on human bodies as natural resources, and how writers like Bret
Harte, Mark Twain, and Dan De Quille. He claims a narrative shift occurs within “The Luck of
Roaring Camp” that turns attention away from human suffering in mining to historicizing the
moment. Story becomes more important than life. This reading, however, only occurs on pages
38-40: the rest discuss the Gold Rush genre.
Keywords: Reception, Critical Reception, Contemporary Reception, Genre, Gold Rush, Bodies
as Resources