William Dean Howells: A Writer’s Life
by Susan Goodman, Carl Dawson
On This Page
Description
Possibly the most influential figure in the history of American letters, William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was, among other things, a leading novelist in the realist tradition, a formative influence on many of America's finest writers, and an outspoken opponent of social injustice. This biography, the first comprehensive work on Howells in fifty years, enters the consciousness of the man and his times, revealing a complicated and painfully honest figure who came of age in an era of political show more corruption, industrial greed, and American imperialism. Written with verve and originality in a highly absorbing style, it brings alive for a new generation a literary and cultural pioneer who played a key role in creating the American artistic ethos. William Dean Howells traces the writer's life from his boyhood in Ohio before the Civil War, to his consularship in Italy under President Lincoln, to his rise as editor of Atlantic Monthly. It looks at his writing, which included novels, poems, plays, children's books, and criticism. Howells had many powerful friendships among the literati of his day; and here we find an especially rich examination of the relationship between Howells and Mark Twain. Howells was, as Twain called him, "the boss" of literary critics-his support almost single-handedly made the careers of many writers, including African Americans like Paul Dunbar and women like Sarah Orne Jewett. Showcasing many noteworthy personalities-Henry James, Edmund Gosse, H. G. Wells, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, and many others-William Dean Howells portrays a man who stood at the center of American literature through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A long and detailed discussion about Howells. I didn't learn as much as I hoped. I found some bad writing & I wished for more in-depth discussion/thinking about Howells' politics.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
8 Works 126 Members
Susan Goodman is Professor of English and H. Fletcher Brown Chair of Humanities at the University of Delaware.
14 Works 76 Members
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- William Dean Howells
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 813.4 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English Later 19th Century 1861-1900
- LCC
- PS2033 .G66 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 19th century
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 35
- Popularity
- 813,272
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
