H.E. Bates Companion

The following information may be helpful in using the Companion.

ID Number: These correspond to numbers in the Eads bibliography, with additional numbers for new items that are modeled after the Eads categories. Entries in Eads section C (essays, etc.) for chapters in collections of Bates essays are not given separate listing, unless they were published separately (for instance in serial form or in another compilation).

Title: Stories are entered with the title in book publicaton, with cross-references from alternate titles in earlier serial publication.

Genre: This term encompasses the broad categories of works, two of which deserve further explanation:

• The term "novella" is assigned to works that Bates characterized as novellas, regardless of length. Note that some stories exceed in word count the shortest novella.
• The term "essay" refers to all non-fiction pieces (articles, commentaries, forewords, introductions, letters). The "Document Type" field provides additional filters for this genre. 

Page count: This figure is relatively meaningless, as page size, font size, and page design all affect the number of pages.

Word count: This figure is in all cases only a careful estimate. Words are not provided for collections of stories or essays.

Publication Date: This corresponds to the date of first publication.

Publisher: Intended to assist in tracking Bates's association with book and serial publishers; publisher names are not entered here for multiple-author collections that include a Bates piece.

Document Type: A variety of document characteristics: 

• Autobiographical -- fiction and non-fiction; additional items will receive this label over time. 
• Book Reviews -- a subset of Literary Criticism. These are also additions to Eads, but have not been given that label.
• Children's Literature -- works intended for a young audience
• Comic Fiction -- additional items will be identified for this label over time
• Eads, Additions to -- this category does NOT include book reviews, which are also not in Eads.
• Evensford (setting) -- fictional works set in this town based on Rushden
• Fantasies -- fairy-tales, fantasies, and fables
• Film & Television -- fictional works adapted to film and television
• First-Person Narratives -- additional items will be identified for this label over time
• Flying Officer X Stories
• Full-text Online
• Introductions, Forewords, Prefaces
• Juvenilia
• Larkin Family Novels
• Letters
• Literary Criticism -- not including Book Reviews
• Nature Writing -- Articles about gardening have been given the topic "Gardening" but not the document type "Nature Writing."
• Organizations, Writings on Behalf of 
• Richardson (character) -- fictional works with this character based on Bates
• Social Commentary -- additional items will be identified for this label over time
• Uncle Silas Stories
• Uncollected Stories -- fictional works that never appeared in a compilation of Bates works
• Unexamined Writings -- a handful of items not seen by the editor
• Unpublished Writings -- a handful of items that are included in the Companion for various reasons

Topic: Selected topics that may assist users in bringing together writings that touch on similar themes. However, because various "topics" pervade Bates's work (nature, rural change, love relationships, and others), the topics selected for the Companion tend to be more peripheral ones.