Realist Magic in the Fiction of William Dean Howells STEPHANIE C

Copy Link

Recommended publications

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 and the Antiurban Tradition 55

william dean howells and the antiurban tradition a reconsideration gregory I. crider The debate about William Dean Howells' attitudes toward the late nineteenth-century American city involve the much broader question of the place of antiurbanism in American thought. Responding to the charges of H. L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis and other post-World War I critics who had condemned the author as a complacent symbol of the nineteenth-century literary establishment, scholars in the fifties and early sixties portrayed him as a Middle Western rural democrat who spent much of his adult life criticizing urban-industrial America.1 Unfortu nately, in attempting to revive Howells' reputation, these critics exag gerated his occasional nostalgia for the Ohio village of his youth, leaving the impression that he was an alienated critic of the city, if not genuinely antiurban. Although recent scholars have partly revised this view, critics have generally continued to accept the argument that the author's well- known affinity for socialism, together with his nostalgia for a vanishing countryside, left him an unswerving critic of the city.2 During the years in which scholars were discovering these antiurban sentiments, urban historians and sociologists began challenging the depth and cohesiveness of what had long been accepted as a monolithic, anti- urban tradition, dating back to Jefferson and Crevecoeur, and persisting through the transcendentalists, the pragmatists and literary naturalists, and the Chicago school of urban sociology, to the present. R.
William Dean Howells (1837-1920) Was Born in Martinsville (Now Martins Ferry), Ohio

William Dean Howells Topic Guide for Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov) Introduction William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was born in Martinsville (now Martins Ferry), Ohio. Howells worked at the Ohio State Journal in Columbus before becoming an editor at the Atlantic Monthly. With the publication of his novel, A Modern Instance, in 1882, Howells became known for realism, a writing style he promoted through his work at the Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine. His reputation continued to grow through the 1885 publication of The Rise of Silas Lapham. Howells also wrote much in support of American writers, encouraging writers such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett and Paul Laurence Dunbar. His varied Christian Socialist involvement led him to embrace social justice and to critique industrial capitalism, viewpoints which can be seen in his 1890 novel, A Hazard of New Fortunes, which was inspired by the Haymarket riots. Important Dates . March 1, 1837: William Dean Howells is born in Martinsville (now Martins Ferry), Ohio. 1852: Howells’ father secretly has one of Howells’ poems published in the Ohio State Journal. 1858: Howells begins work at the Ohio State Journal writing poems and short stories, and translating works from French, Spanish, and German into English. December 24, 1862: Howells marries Elinor Mead at the American Embassy in Paris. 1865: Howells returns to America and begins writing for the Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine. January 1866: Howells becomes assistant editor at the Atlantic Monthly. 1871-1881: Howells serves as Atlantic Monthly’s full editor. 1872: Howells begins publishing novels.
A Hazard of New Professions: Mrs. Mandel and the Business of Class

A Hazard of New Professions: Mrs. Mandel and the Business of Class LI Hsin-ying National Taiwan University1 When asked to explain Mrs. Mandel in A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), Fulkerson proudly claims to have invented her (143). Her placement in the Dryfoos family must have been a novelty at the time for William Dean Howells to endorse his boast. To the parvenu Dryfooses she serves the function of surrogate mistress of the household—hostess, guardian of the daughters, chaperone, housekeeper, governess, social secretary, travel companion, personal assistant. More than the sum of her duties, she, in Fulkerson’s words, “runs the whole concern socially and economically” (144). The idea perhaps never really caught on, because her profession lacks a proper name to this day. Yet the demand for her kind of talent was such that Edith Wharton found similar employment for two characters in The House of Mirth (1905)—Carry Fisher and Lily Bart—although she also shied from naming the profession.1 This paper studies the occupation of Mrs. Mandel, the first of her kind in American Literature, to examine the specific socio-cultural conditions that inspired her creation and her relevance to the discussion of these socio-cultural issues in Howells’ novel. The character satisfies an urgent need of the expanding upper class in late nineteenth-century America, where the nouveau riche, in their attempt to find social acceptance, created a prospective market for cultural guidance. Howells turns this potential commodification of class knowledge into a fictional career opportunity for destitute genteel women. The vocation offers the novelist a chance to dramatize the power relations between money and taste, adding another dimension to the novel’s major conflict between capital and labor.
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
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).
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.
THEME: LITERATURE, DRAMA, MUSIC Massachusetts "Red Top

THEME: LITERATURE, DRAMA, MUSIC Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE: (Dec. 1968) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Massachusetts COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Suffolk INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER AND/OR HISTORIC: "Red Top" (William Dean Howells House) STREET AND NUMBER: 90 Somerset Street CITY OR TOWN: Belmont COUNTY: CODE Massachusetts Suffolk CATEGORY ACCESSIBLE I/) OWNERSHIP STATUS (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC District Q Building Public a Public Acquisition: Occupied 2$X| Yes: Site Q Structure Private 30? In Process Unoccupied !I Restricted Q Both Being Considered Lj Unrestricted j | Object Q a Preservation work in progress Q No: flQ U PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Agricultural j | Government | | Park p] Transportation | | Comments a: Commercial Q Industrial |Q[ Private Residence d] Other (Specify) Q Educational j | Military | | Religious | | IX) Entertainment Q Museum Q Scientific ( | OWNERS NAME: Mrs. Samuel Beatty STREET AND NUMBER: UJ 90 Somerset Street CITY OR TOWN: Be Imont Massachusetts COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Registry of Deeds STREET AND NUMBER: Suffolk County Building TY OR TOWN: Cambridge Massachusetts APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: 1% I Tl-E OF SURVEY: DATE OF SURVEY: Federal [~] State County Local DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: STREET AND NUMBER: CITY OR TOWN: CONDITION (Check One) Excellent | | Good £ft Fair Q Deteriorated Q Ruins Q Unexposed Q INTEGRITY (Check One) (Check One) Altered CX Unaltered Q Moved Q Original Site [£ "Red Top" is a two-and-a-half-story house faced with brick and stucco There are two tall interior chimneys. The multiform front (east) elevation has a gable roof, in the end of which are set two ^ windows in a shallow single-story projection.
Akron1312396256.Pdf (290.92

THROUGH A SELECTIVE LENS: DARWINIAN ANALYSIS OF CLASS STRUGGLES IN GILDED AGE LITERATURE A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Amelia Ostrowski August, 2011 THROUGH A SELECTIVE LENS: DARWINIAN ANALYSIS OF CLASS STRUGGLES IN GILDED AGE LITERATURE Amelia Ostrowski Thesis Approved: Accepted: ________________________________ ___________________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Patrick Chura Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ___________________________________ Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Hillary Nunn Dr. George R. Newkome _______________________________ ___________________________________ Committee Member Date Professor Robert Pope ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1 II. LITERARY THEORY, CULTURE, AND EVOLUTION: PUTTING THE HUMAN BACK IN HUMANITIES..................................................................10 “Like Confessing Murder”: Evolution’s Dangerous Reputation.................10 The Descent of Culture.................................................................................14 Industrial Evolution……………………………………………………………..22 III. SELECTIVE SOCIETY: MAINTAINING STANDARDS IN EDITH WHARTON’S THE HOUSE OF MIRTH AND THEODORE DREISER’S SISTER CARRIE…………………………………………………………………….27 Altruism and Self-Preservation…………………………................................27 Carrie Meeber’s
Each Entry Is Annotated, Editions Are Frequently Noted, and Paperback Availability Is Indicated

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 083 597 CS 200 745 AUTHOR Lueders, Edward, Ed. TITLE The College and Adult Reading List of Books in Literature and the Fine Arts. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Champaign, Ill. PUB DATE 67 NOTE 466p.; Published by Washington Square Press AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, Ill. 61801(Stock No. 42607, $0.90 non-member, $0.75 member) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$16.45 DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; *Annotated Bibliographies; *Art; Art Appreciation; Bibliographies; *Books; *Literature; Literature Appreciation; *Music; Paperback Books; Reading; Reading Materials ABSTRACT The 760 books included in this reading list are judged "especially valuable, important, and rewarding for intelligent, interested, but esentially nonprofessional, college and adult readers." Each entry is annotated, editions are frequently noted, and paperback availability is indicated. The books are arranged according to subject--literature, music, and art--and each subject is further divided into more specific topics, e.g., American fiction, British literary criticism, linguistics. (This document previously announced as ED 029 021.) (LH) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION B WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO The College DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS and STATED DD NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SFN T OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF Adult Reading List EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. of BOOKS IN LITERATURE and op CD THE FINE ARTS EDWARD LUEDERS Editorial Chairman Prepared by the Committee (»I College and Adult Reading List of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH r- WSP WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS.