The initial publication of The Dead of the House in 1972 had an immediate impact on literary critics, who lavished it with praise. These early reviews focused on two major issues: the first was the narrative techniques of the novel; and the second was to contextualize it within the social and political upheaval of the day.

Richard Elman's influential review deemed The Dead of the House "one of the most important works of fiction" to come out in years. He compared reading it to "falling in love," and singled it out as a "beautiful book" that was notable for its lack of "bigger issues." In fact, Green's novel is "nowhere bigger than itself, nowhere grander than its own scope or subject." L J. Davis' review was similarly rhapsodic, calling Green's work "less a novel than a kind of dream ... a transcendental novel"

While both Elman and Davis...