SOURCE: Cloy, John D. “1863-1896: Beginnings and the New Humor.” In Pensive Jester: The Literary Career of W. W. Jacobs, pp. 1-22. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, Inc., 1996.
In the following essay, Cloy traces the beginning of Jacobs's literary career and discusses Many Cargoes as an example of the New Humor school of the 1890s.