The Howellsian, Volume 10, Number 2 (Fall 2007) Page 1
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Urban Emergence and the Pastoral Ideal: a Study of Three Related Works by William Dean Howells
W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1980 Urban emergence and the pastoral ideal: A study of three related works by William Dean Howells Robert Francis Lastowski College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Lastowski, Robert Francis, "Urban emergence and the pastoral ideal: A study of three related works by William Dean Howells" (1980). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625095. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-h7qm-4b84 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. URBAN EMERGENCE AND THE PASTORAL IDEAL: A STUDY OF THREE RELATED WORKS BY WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Rohert F. Lastowski 1980 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Author Approved, May 1980 Elsa Nettels Robert J//Scholnick Walter P. Wenska ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to express his appreciation to Dr. Elsa Nettels, under whose guidance this essay was developed, for her patience and assis tance throughout the process. The author is also indebted to Dr. -
William Dean Howells Society
MEMBERSHIP The William Dean Howells Society To join, send your check for $10 payable Society Howells The William Dean to the William Dean Howells Society to Prof. Elsa Nettels William 211 Indian Springs Road Williamsb urg, VA 23185 Dean Name___________________________ Mailing Address___________________ Howells ________________________________ ________________________________ Society ________________________________ ________________________________ Optional Information: E-mail:__________________________ Phone: __________________________ Fax: ____________________________ Institutional Affiliation________________________ © 2005, The William Dean Howells Society Membership William Dean Howells at 75 (1912) Information http://www.howellssociety.org About W. D. Howells About the Society Howells's Principal Works William Dean Howells The William Dean Howells Society is a non- One of the most influential literary figures of 1860 Poems of Two Friends (with John J. Piatt) profit scholarly organization dedicated to the nineteenth-century America, William Dean Lives and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln study of the nineteenth-century editor, author, Howells (1837-1920) rose to prominence as edi- 1866 Venetian Life and critic W. D. Howells. tor of the Atlantic Monthly (1871-1881), becom- 1867 Italian Journeys ing one of the foremost propo- 1871 Suburban Sketches Founded by Jesse Crisler and a group of inter- nents of literary realism. 1872 Their Wedding Journey ested scholars at the ALA in 1997, the Society 1873 A Chance Acquaintance; Poems sponsors two -
William Dean Howells Between 1900-1920
SDÜ Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi SDU Faculty of Arts and Sciences Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Journal of Social Sciences Nisan 2015, Sayı: 34, ss.99-116 April 2014, No: 34, pp..99-116 Confronting the Modern Literary Marketplace: William Dean Howells Between 1900-1920 Işıl ÖZCAN* Modern Edebiyat Dünyası ile Yüzleşmek: 1900-1920 arası William Dean Howells ÖZET Kanonik bir Amerikan roman yazarı ve Amerikan gerçekçi edebiyatının en önemli kuramcılarından biri olmasına rağmen, William Dean Howells’la ilgili çalışmalarda yazarın son dönemi yeterince incelenmemiştir. Howells, 1900 yılında Harper’s dergisinde her ay yazmaya başlamış ve yazılarına 1920’deki ölümüne dek devam etmiştir. Howells bu yirmi yılık dönemde, edebiyat dünyasındaki değişimlerin hem sanatçı hem de edebiyat eleştirmeni üzerindeki olumsuz etkilerine maruz kalmış; reklam sektörünün edebî beğeni üzerindeki nihaî etkisini fark edip kendi sanatçı konumunu gözden geçirmiş ve durumunu “maaşa bağlanmış kazançlı kölelik” olarak betimlemiştir. İronik olan, bu dönemde, Howells’ın edebiyatçı kimliğinde oluşan bölünmenin, yazara “Amerikan Edebiyatının Dekan”ı denmeye başlanması ile daha da derinleşmesidir. Bu çalışmada Howells’ın kariyerinin son döneminde yazdığı romanları ve edebiyat eleştirileri üzerinde durulup özellikle edebiyat eleştirileri üzerinden Howells’ın yirminci yüzyılın sonunda edebiyat dünyasında meydana gelen değişimleri nasıl karşıladığı, kendi edebiyat anlayışını ve pratiğini nasıl şekillendirdiği incelenecektir. Howells’ın modern edebiyat dünyasıyla karşılaşması, hem entelektüel -
ANALYSIS the Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) William Dean Howells
ANALYSIS The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) William Dean Howells (1837-1920) “Novels like Silas Lapham mark a descent, a degradation. Of course art is debased when it has fallen so low into realism. Art is ever pointing upward, and the influence of true art upon man is to make him look upward, too...in the novel-writing of Mr. Howells we can already mark this scientific decadence. He began with people who were not quite commonplace, whose motives and acts and ideas were a little bit above the common. He now declares that nothing is worthy to be studied but the common feelings of common people; and having begun Silas Lapham with people who were inoffensively commonplace, he was unable to finish the book without falling a stage lower. It has seldom been our duty to read a book whose moral tone was so unpleasantly, so hopelessly bad; it is a book without heart or soul, neither illumined by religion nor warmed by human sympathy. This is all the more astonishing that Mr. Howells seems convinced that he is fulfilling a high moral purpose in writing it. It might be explicable on the theory that it was the legitimate outcome of the doctrine of total depravity; but it is more probably the logic of the downward progress of godless science.... It is the progress from man to the apes, from the apes to the worms, from the worms to bacteria, from bacteria to--mud. It is the descent to dirt.” Anonymous “Novel-Writing as a Science” The Catholic World XLII (November 1885) “The aspect of social life presented in this story is well-nigh universal; it is real, it is vital, and it is not without deep significance; in dealing with it Mr. -
Conflicts of Values Between Traditional and Modern Cultures in William Dean Howells a Modern Instance: a Sociological Approach
CONFLICTS OF VALUES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN CULTURES IN WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS A MODERN INSTANCE: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH RESEARCH PAPER Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Getting Bachelor Degree in English Department by NIKA YULANDA A320 040 379 SCHOOL OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA 2010 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A Modern Instance is the third novel of William Dean Howell’s. The compilation novel book entitled William Dean Howells: Novels 1875-1886: A Foregone Conclusion, A Modern Instance, Indian Summer, The Rise of Silas Lapham (Library of America) publishing on November, 1982 by Library of America, consists of four novels, namely, A Foregone Conclusion, A Modern Instance, Indian Summer, The Rise of Silas Lapham. It consists of 1217 pages. In this book A Modern Instance is in the second order. A Modern Instance consists of 41 chapters and 415 pages. It is one of William Dean Howells novels which describes the real condition in that time. William Dean Howells is a famous novelist from realism era. He was born on first, March 1837 in Martin Ferry, Belmont Country, Ohio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dean_howells). Howells was the most productive and versatile writer of his time. His works include short stories, poems, drama, travelogues, volumes of critics and autobiography. For the last thirty years of his life he was the dominant figure in American letters. He received many honors and was chosen as the first president of the American Academy of Arts letters. His literary works are Their Wedding Journey (1872); The Lady of the Aroostook (1879); A Modern Instance (1882); The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885); The Minister's Charge (1886); A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889); The Quality of Mercy (1892); The Landlord at Lion's Head (1897). -
The Howellsian Volume 8, Issue 1 New Series the Howellsian Spring 2005 the Howellsian
The Howellsian Volume 8, Issue 1 New Series The Howellsian Spring 2005 The Howellsian A Message from the President Inside this issue: The Howells Society welcomes all its The Society is dedicated to aiding and From the President 1 members in its first issue of the new series expanding the work of scholars and crit- From the Editor of the Howellsian. Future issues of the ics as they continue to illuminate the newsletter will include abstracts of papers scope and depth of Howells' writings. Howells Society Activities 2 presented at conferences, short essays on recent Howells scholarship, inquiries with —Elsa Nettels, President Book excerpt:: William Dean 3 reference to Howells, and news of forth- Howells: A Writer’s Life by Susan coming meetings and publications of inter- Goodman and Carl Dawson est to Howellsians. We invite contributions Howells Sessions at ALA 5 to the newsletter, and hope to see many of you at the panels presented by the Howells Society at the meeting of the American Lit- Recent criticism on Howells 7 erature Association in Boston in May. Announcements: 8 Papers on Howells presented at the Irospects article on Howells ALA and elsewhere and recent books in which Howells figures prominently, such as those by Susan Goodman, Hildegard Hoel- ler, and Augusta Rohrbach, are compelling evidence of the importance of Howells William Dean Howells in 1907 and the richness of his work as a field In the next issue: of study. • Account of the ALA business meeting • Review of ALA panels A Message from the Editor • Announcement of officers We apologize for the and support. -
I. Introduction
I. Introduction This research focuses on a famous American novelist William Dean Howells'. The Rise of Silas Lapham. Being aware of the social condition, the novelist has realistically presented the social reality of late 19th century. He has merged the social facts with artistic creativity in the novel. Mr. Silas Lapham, the central character of the novel, represents the proletariat (Middle Class) of the late 19th century. He belongs to the middle class of people in the sense that he is working in his paint business. Due to the Socio-economic condition Silas Lapham is compelled to work though he does not get enough money for his labour. Instead of getting good position in the bourgeois society he has been treated as an object in relation to bourgeois people like Tom Corey's family. His human value has been turned into mere money relation in the society. Tom Corey is representing the upper class of society in the sense that the possesses a lot of means of production. Tom Corey's family treats Silas Lapham as an insignificant person because Tom Corey's family does not think of the life of lower class people. But Silas Lapham, being aware of the social condition, he wants to have a respectable status in the society. In order to upgrade himself to the desired social stratum, he works very hard. Throughout the novel, William Dean Howells has tried to present the fragmentation in the contemporary society on the basis of class. The society is divided into two different hostile camps where people are struggling to get a good socio- economic status. -
English 743: Studies in Later American Literature “American Literary Realism”
English 743: Studies in Later American Literature “American Literary Realism” Course Description: 1885 has been considered the annus mirabilis of American literary realism: in that year, the Century Magazine published excerpts of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn while serializing both William Dean Howells’s Rise of Silas Lapham and Henry James’s Bostonians. This seminar will focus on the era surrounding this literary landmark in order to investigate how realism, once emerging onto the scene, so quickly became a standard mode of American prose fiction. What characteristics distinguished a realist work from a non- realist one? How do local-color fiction and literary naturalism fit into the equation? We will attempt to address these questions by reading classic texts from the last three decades of the nineteenth century. Course Objectives: The main objectives of this class are 1) to investigate the characteristics, historical and ongoing, of American literary realism; 2) to track chains of intellectual and artistic influence in order to get a “feel” for America’s literary history in the period between 1865 and 1900; 3) to consider which texts from this period are most relevant to our contemporary social, intellectual, and historical moment; and 4) to develop a mature literary research methodology. Required Texts: Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, introd. John Seelye (Penguin, 2002) William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham, introd. Kermit Vanderbilt (Penguin, 1983) Henry James, The Bostonians (Penguin, 2001) George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes, introd. Michael Kreyling (Penguin, 1988) Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs (Penguin, 1996) Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, introd. -
Realism in the Novels of William Dem Howells a Thesis
REALISM IN THE NOVELS OF WILLIAM DEM HOWELLS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY BEULAH LEE JONES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ATLANTA, GEORGIA AUGUST, 1948 / l/ ii PREFACE William Dean. Howells was one of the pioneers of a literary movement in American literature known as realism. Like all pioneers, he has been highly praised and adversely criticized. It is noteworthy that these ap¬ praisals have often been made without due regard to Howells’ creed, and that many of the studies of his novels have been in the nature of compara¬ tive studies, with varied concepts of realism as criteria, rather than Howells' own doctrine of realism. Such practices in the evaluation of ones works without examining the theory that underlies them often leads to faulty criticism. Realizing this, the writer of this thesis purposes to evaluate Howells’ fictional practices in the light of his literary theory. Of the many studies made of Howells, the writer is aware of only three detailed ones. Delmar Gross Cooke, Oscar W. Firkins, and Alexander Harvey are the scholars who made these. Each of their works is entitled William Dean Howells. In most anthologies and all histories of American literature there is a discussion of Hov/ells' realism. Many contributions of this nature have been made to periodicals. However, with the exception of the study made by Russell Blankenship, ^ they all fall into the category of comparative stud¬ ies. Herein, then, lies the significance of -
Volume 15, Numbers
Volume 15, Number 1 (Fall 2012) The HowellsianIn This Issue: Essay “Howells, Julian Hawthorne, and the Realism War,” by Gary Scharnhorst . 2 Call for Howells Essay Prize Submissions from presenters of Howells papers at the 2012 American Literature Association Conference . 3 Essay Abstracts Papers delivered at the 2012 American Literature Association Conference, San Francisco . 4 Call for Papers for Howells Panels at the 2013 ALA Conference, Boston . 7 Minutes of the Howells Society Annual Meeting, May 2012. 8 William Dean Howells (1912, oil on canvas) by Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933). Colby College Museum of Art. Image from the-athenaeum.org. Volume 15, Number 1 (Fall 2012) The Howellsian Howells, Julian Hawthorne, “Agnosticism in American Fiction” in January 1884. He conceded that Howells and Henry James “have done more and the Realism War than all the rest of us to make our literature respectable during the last ten years,” but he added a caveat: Howells Gary Scharnhorst “does not seem, as yet, to have found a hall fit to adorn” his University of New Mexico “finely wrought tapestry.”7 After The Rise of Silas Lapham appeared in November 1885, “the romantic-idealists found On August 14, 1860, the day W. D. Howells first vis- it time to strip off their kid gloves and go to war with ited Concord, the door of the Wayside was opened to his Howells,” as Edwin H. Cady has explained,8 and Julian ral- ring by the “tall” and “handsome” thirteen-year-old son of lied if he did not rush to the frontlines. In the first review he Nathaniel Hawthorne.1 Neither of the two young men could wrote in his new job as literary editor of the New York have guessed the extent to which their paths would cross World in June 1886, he tried to call a truce: “the antago- over the next half-century. -
Personal Continuums: the Autobiographical Fiction and Fictional Autobiographies of Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, and Henry Roth
1 PERSONAL CONTINUUMS: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION AND FICTIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF ABRAHAM CAHAN, ANZIA YEZIERSKA, AND HENRY ROTH Neil Andrew Steinberg Department of English University College London November, 1991 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of London. ProQuest Number: 10609158 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10609158 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT The title of this thesis, "Personal Continuums: The Autobiographical Fiction and Fictional Autobiographies of Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, and Henry Roth", suggests that there is a significant pattern in the work of all three writers which lies in the close literary connection between their autobiographical fiction and fictional autobiographies. The phrase "personal continuum" was used by Roth to describe his attempt to regenerate himself as a writer thirty years after the publication of Call It Sleep. It is a useful expression because it describes all three writers* search for some form of continuity or connection between fiction and autobiography. -
The Howellsian Includes: (1) an Account Message from the Editor
Volume 11, Numbers 1 & 2 (Spring/Fall 2008) Table of Contents A Message from the Editor Among other items, this double-issue of The Howellsian includes: (1) an account Message from the Editor......................................................1 of the two panels we hosted at the ALA this year; (2) information about the Howells TheEditor Sought for The Howellsian ..................................... Howellsian1 Fellowship at the Houghton Library; (3) an invitation for members to subscribe to the Update on the Howells Fellowship at the Houghton Library, Harvard University ............................1 Howells Listserv; (4) a call for applica- tions for the position of editor of The Join the Howells Listserv .....................................................1 William Dean Howells Howellsian; and (5) a call for papers for W.D. Howells Business Meeting .........................................2 Society Prize Essay the 2009 ALA Conference in Boston.The 2008 American Literature Association The William Dean Howells Society Es- National Conference .............................................................3 next issue (Vol. 12, No. 1, N.S.) of The Howellsian will be published in spring say Prize will be awarded at the 2009 ALA The Cowhiding in The Kentons: conference to Dr. Lance Rubin for his paper, Late Howells and the 2009. Domestic Histories of Violence ..........................................3 —Rob Davidson, Interim Editor “Consumption and Cannibalism in the Al- trurian Romances of William Dean Howells.” Smiling Aspects: Howells