Abstract Genetic criticism often leads to serendipitous discoveries. ‘Mr. Howard's House. CREOLE’ is a case in point. This unpublished manuscript dated 4 December 1938, which is held in the Jean Rhys Archive at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a true palimpsest that testifies to ghostwriting in the literal sense of the word. For one thing, it retains spectral traces of a final draft of Good Morning, Midnight on the back of which it was written, containing nothing less than the only extant fragments from the manuscript of Jean Rhys's fourth novel. But it also holds the most primitive trace of Wide Sargasso Sea, namely Antoinette's dream at the end of Part I. Thus, it does expose the writer at a crossroads, trying to let go of Good Morning, Midnight while having the earliest intimations of the first Mrs. Rochester. And it also carries within itself the seeds of some of Rhys's later works. With the help of the avant-texte, we shall examine in what ways all these texts interact and overlap, and to what extent ‘Mr. Howard's House’ may act as a template for understanding Jean Rhys's creative process as a whole.

中文翻译：

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让·里斯的幻影手稿：“1938 年 12 月 4 日。霍华德先生的房子。克里奥尔语。

摘要 遗传批评往往会导致意外发现。'先生。霍华德故居。CREOLE' 就是一个很好的例子。这份日期为 1938 年 12 月 4 日的未发表手稿保存在俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨大学的让·里斯档案馆中，是真正的翻版，从字面意义上证明了代笔写作。一方面，它保留了早安，午夜的最终草稿的光谱痕迹，它的背面写的是让·里斯第四部小说手稿中唯一现存的片段。但它也保留着广袤的马尾藻海最原始的痕迹，即第一部分结尾的安托瓦内特的梦。因此，它确实将作家暴露在十字路口，试图放弃早安，午夜，同时拥有对马尾藻最早的暗示。首先是罗切斯特夫人。并且它本身也承载着里斯后来的一些作品的种子。在前卫文本的帮助下，我们将检查所有这些文本以何种方式相互作用和重叠，以及在多大程度上“先生”。Howard's House' 可以作为理解 Jean Rhys 整个创作过程的模板。