The Howellsian, Volume 9, Number 2 (Fall 2006) Page 1
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Realist Magic in the Fiction of William Dean Howells STEPHANIE C
Realist Magic in the Fiction of William Dean Howells STEPHANIE C. PALMER 14LHEN the character Bartley Hubbard in William Dean Howells's A Modern In stance (1882) brags that the ideal newspaper would solicit "an account of suicide, or an elopement, or a murder, or an acci dent" from "every fellow that could spell, in any part of the country," he voices Howells's own misgivings about the sensa tional aspect of communication through mass culture.1 Rather than fostering cognitive and emotional connections between diverse social groups for the purpose of preventing further suf fering, newspaper accounts of personal calamities or large- scale industrial accidents in the late nineteenth century tried to thrill readers solely for the purposes of prestige and circula tion. Howells was not committed to determining how to pre vent suicide, murder, or industrial accidents, but he had a deep interest in determining what—if not sensational tales of for tune and disaster—would inspire people from different eco nomic, political, and religious backgrounds to see each other as respected members of a human community. Howells's key Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 210-236. ISSN: 0891-9356. © 2002 by The Regents of the University of California/Society. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center Street, Suite 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223. 1 William Dean Howells, A Modern Instance, ed. George N. Bennett, David J. Nord- loh, and David Kleinman, vol. 10 of A Selected Edition of W. D. -
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. -
Fall 2005) Page 1
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. -
Stae
GEORGE C. CARRINGTON, JR. STAe <ffnwnetibe The World and Art of the Howells Novel Ohio State University Press $6.25 THE IMMENSE COMPLEX DRAMA The World and Art of the Howells Novel GEORGE C. CARRINGTON, JR. One of the most productive and complex of the major American writers, William Dean Howells presents many aspects to his biogra phers and critics — novelist, playwright, liter ary critic, editor, literary businessman, and Christian Socialist. Mr. Carrington chooses Howells the novelist as the subject of this penetrating examination of the complex relationships of theme, subject, technique, and form in the world of Howells fiction. He attempts to answer such questions as, What happens if we look at the novels of Howells with the irreducible minimum of exter nal reference and examine them for meaning? What do their structures tell us? What are their characteristic elements? Is there significance in the use of these elements? In the frequency of their use? In the patterns of their use? Avoiding the scholar-critic's preoccupation with programmatic realism, cultural concerns, historical phenomena, and parallels and influ ences, Mr. Carrington moves from the world of technical criticism into Howells' fiction and beyond, into the modern world of anxious, struggling, middle-class man. As a result, a new Howells emerges — a Howells who interests us not just because he was a novelist, but because of the novels he wrote: a Howells who lives as an artist or not at all. George C. Carrington, Jr., is assistant pro fessor of English at the Case Institute of Tech nology in Cleveland, Ohio. -
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. -
Literary Digest, XXXI (Aug
AMERICAN CRITICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD THE FICTION OF WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Carl Leroy Marshall, B.S. in Edu., M.A. The Ohio State University 195J+ Approved by: 7 '- I ~ v ' ' 1 - \ Adviser [I ti TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages P r e f a c e .......................................... ii Chapter I. The First Phase: Non-Controversial Criticism ........................ 1 Chapter II. Idealistic-Moralistic Criticism . 13 Charter III. Realistic Criticism ....... 101 Chapter IV. Iconoclastic Criticism.......... llj.6 Chanter V. Sociological Criticism.......... 169 Chap ter VI. Conventional Criticism.......... 188 Chapter VII. Scholarly Criticism . 203 Chapter VIII. Conclusion....................... 223 Works Cited .... ....................... 2,37 li PREPAGE For almost eighty years literary critics and reviewers have disputed the quality, the meaning-, and the worth of the novels of William Dean Howells. During that time they have reached a general accord on only one point: that he had a clear, supple prose style. Whether or not the critics have approved of Howells, they have been compelled to deal with him, not only because of the massiveness of his work (and his eminence as an editor and a critic), but also be cause of its importance as an expression of realism. Their numerous and varied comments indicate several distinctive attitudes which seem to me to account in some measure for the conflicting evaluations. I have sought to distinguish and identify those attitudes through.studying the American criticism published in books and in magazines of respectable literary standing. I have felt that these sources promised serious, well-considered opinions that would represent most adequately the major trends of critical thought. -
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.