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The Howellsian, Volume 8, Number 2 (Fall 2005) Page 1 New Series Volume 8, Number 2 The Howellsian Fall 2005 A Message from the Editor Inside this issue: We hope that all our readers have had a pleas- Speech and Howells,” revised from his ant and perhaps even a productive summer. presentation at the ALA conference last From our perspective, it passed too quickly, From the Editor 1 spring; 3) a Call for Papers, with the topics but autumn, too, is a beautiful season, not selected and the deadline for submission of only in the Midwest where W. D. Howells proposals, for the 2006 ALA conference to Howells Society Activities 1 lived before setting out for Italy, but also be held in San Francisco next May; 4) a along the eastern seaboard, where he resided review by Sarah B. Daugherty of the new after his return. This fall, however, leads us biography by Susan Goodman and Carl Howells Abstracts from ALA 2005 3 to think westward, toward San Francisco, Dawson: William Dean Howells: A where the William Dean Howells Society will Writer’s Life , pub- next meet again to present a program now in lished earlier this Jerome Loving, “Twain’s Whittier 5 its initial stage of preparation. We look for- Birthday Speech and Howells” year; and 5) a dues ward to seeing you all there. notice for 2006 Following our editorial message, this Book Review: William Dean 10 with a membership Howells: A Writer’s Life by Susan expanded issue of The Howellsian in- form. Goodman and Carl Dawson. Re- cludes:1) a review of the Society’s activities viewed by Sarah Daugherty at the American Literature Association con- Call for Papers for ALA 2006 11 ference last May in Boston with abstracts of Dues Notice the papers presented at our two sessions and Sanford E. an account of our business meeting held dur- Marovitz, Editor ing the interim between them, with emphasis on the election of officers for 2005- William Dean Howells in 1907 2007 and the announcement of a prize to be awarded annually by the Society In the next issue: beginning next year; 2) an essay by • William Dean Howells Society Jerome Loving, “Twain’s Whittier Birthday Essay Prize • Recent Criticism on Howells Notes from the Howells Society Business Meeting at ALA 2005 • Panels for ALA 2006 On Saturday, May 28, the cient to allow for full dis- William Dean Howells cussion of all the items 1. The first order of Society met on three occa- listed. Elsa Nettels pre- business was the election sions during the ALA con- sided as outgoing president of officers for the coming ference at the Westin Cop- of the Society, and the fol- term, June 2005-June 2007. ley Place Hotel in Boston, lowing members were pre- On a slate prepared by the May 26-29; a business sent: Donna Campbell, sec- ad hoc election committee meeting was held between retary; Don Cook; Sally and recommended by the two panel sessions, one Daugherty; Susan Good- president, the candidates each in the morning and man, then vice-president proposed were Susan The William Dean Howells afternoon. The meeting and program chair; Claudia Goodman for president, Society gratefully acknowl- was called to order at 12:30 Stokes; and Sandy Ma- Claudia Stokes for vice- edges the support of the Uni- with a sizable agenda to rovitz, then interim editor president and program versity of Delaware in pub- lishing The Howellsian . cover, but time was insuffi- of The Howellsian . chair, Donna Campbell for The Howellsian, Volume 8, Number 2 (Fall 2005) Page 2 Howells Society Meeting at ALA 2005, continued explain the purpose of “domain names,” 4. Because the Society brochures she said that they allow the site to shift (which also include a membership to different servers while retaining a form) are out of date, Donna has W. D. Howells single, easy-to-remember name–the agreed to update them. The revi- Picture courtesy of Mark Goodburn Howells Society. She pointed out that sion will then be sent to Susan for the site has recently changed servers, printing and distribution. Susan and this payment for domain names will will send a list of out-of-date ad- allow researchers to find us easily. dresses to Donna so that the mem- Moreover, if someone else takes over bership list on our database can be the web site in the future (personally, I brought up to date. secretary, Elsa Nettels for treas- hope the very-distant future [SEM]), 5. The Howellsian will probably con- urer, and Sandy Marovitz for these domain names would allow a tinue to be printed and mailed at the editor of The Howellsian . The smooth transition. University of Delaware for the next slate was approved, additional two years at least, although the So- nominations were invited, and Annual dues of the Society will remain ciety may have to assume the re- when none were forthcoming, $10 for next year. Elsa has requested sponsibility for postage. Sandy sug- the nominees were elected by that they be mailed to her at her home gested that a tear-out membership acclamation. address: 211 Indian Springs Rd., Wil- form be included in the next issue, liamsburg, VA 23185. She pointed out and Donna said it could easily be 2. At last year’s business meet- that the dues will regularly help defray done. (It has been done; see page ing, a between-year for elections, publication and distribution costs of The 11 of this newsletter.) Elsa agreed to serve as interim Howellsian and additional mailings by 6. Several topics for the Howells pan- treasurer until a new one was the Society, such as publicity and mem- els at the 2006 ALA conference officially elected; consequently, bership brochures, published notices were suggested. They included the because she had been overseeing and announcements, and occasional let- following: Howells and Women, the Society’s finances for several ters to the membership and others. Howells and Poetry, Howells and months beforehand, she opened a Prize moneys (see #5 below) and other Race, Literary Friendships, and bank account in the name of the Society expenses considered necessary Howells and Late-Nineteenth- Society near her home in Wil- by the executive committee will also be Century Periodicals. The final deci- liamsburg. In her treasurer’s covered by the dues; these will be duly sion on the topics will be made by report , she announced that recorded and included in the Treasurer’s Claudia Stokes, program-chair nearly $1,700 exists in that ac- periodic reports. elect, and the call for papers will count ($1696.24) after a few nec- (i.e., does) appear in the fall issue of essary expenses had been met, 3. Elsa praised the revitalized Howell- The Howellsian , on the Call for Pa- including payment for the do- sian and thanked all the contribu- pers list on our web site, and in a main names tors. Sandy announced that the next mailing to the membership. <www.howellssociety.org >, issue (i.e., the current one) will fea- <www.howellssociety.net>, and ture an essay by Jerome Loving and The meeting was adjourned at 1:50 <www.howellssociety.com>. expressed hope (since fulfilled) that P.M. When Donna was asked to it would also include a review of Donna Campbell Susan and Carl’s new biography, Secretary William Dean Howells: A Writer’s Life . The Howellsian, Volume 8, Number 2 (Fall 2005) Page 3 Abstracts from the W. D. Howells Sessions at ALA 2005 Abstracts I The first panel, “Howells and Others,” with Susan Goodman chairing, met on May 28 from 9:50-10:30 A.M. and included three papers. The first, “Twain’s Whittier Birthday Speech and Howells,” by Jerome Loving (Texas A&M), is presented in its entirety following the abstracts. The Society is grateful to him for permitting us to publish it here. 1. “Twain’s Whittier Birthday Speech and Howells” Jerome Loving (Texas A&M) Howells was not to blame for Twain's alleged guilt about his performance in the Whittier Birthday Speech of 1877. At the time of the speech Twain was stalled in writing Huckleberry Finn and frustrated that he was honored in literature only as a humorist. Even though he publically accepted the opinion (not formed until days after the speech) that he had acted in bad taste, he privately considered the speech one of the funniest things he had ever written. His secretary Isabel V. Lyon recorded in her journal for 1906 that he was laughing about the incident and privately hoping to see the speech published in his lifetime. (See page 5 for the full arti- cle.) 2. “The Portuguese Among Other Ethnic Minorities in Some of Howells’ Fiction” Renalda Silva (Univ. de Aveiro) Howells portrays ethnic minorities in several novels, including Their Silver Wedding Journey (1899), An Imperative Duty (1893), and A Foregone Conclusion (1875), among others. In these novels he depicts African Americans and Italians, for example, but this paper focuses on his representation of the Portuguese in A Woman’s Reason (1883) and April Hopes (1888) to ascertain why in both titles he stereotypes the Portuguese as cooks or associates them with food. When writing my 1998 dissertation, Representations of the Portuguese in American Literature at New York University, I was unaware of the presence of this ethnic minority in Howells’ fiction. Most of the canoni- cal and non-canonical authors analyzed in this study took a prejudicial look at the Portuguese; they were drawn to issues dealing with race, sexual license, violence, filth, alcoholism, bootlegging, opium trafficking, and stu- pidity.
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