Largely overlooked by the general public in his own time--only one of his books, Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later (1901), was published without financial support from its author-- Samuel Butler achieved fame soon after his death in 1902 and has ever since been recognized as a significant Victorian writer. His powerful critique of the family in the posthumously published The Way of All Flesh (1903), acclaimed in 1906 by an enthusiastic G. B. Shaw (whose comments, together with those of others, brought it wide attention), has aroused a strong response in many generations of readers and has been frequently imitated; his many-faceted appraisal of the whole human condition in his satire Erewhon (1872), in his books on evolution, and in his Note-Books (1912) still evokes shocked recognition; and his speculations concerning the unconscious give additional dimensions to the findings of psychoanalysis. Butler's clear, direct prose, contrasting sharply with Victorian "fine writing"; his startling use...