William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life.Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson. William Dean
William Dean (b. 1840-01-08, d. 1905-09-04) was the Chief Locomotive Engineer for the Great Western Railway from 1877, when he succeeded Joseph Armstrong. Howells: A Writer's Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press "UC Press" redirects here, but this is also an abbreviation for University of Chicago Press University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. , 2005. 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 Social Injustice is a concept relating to the perceived unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens. The concept is distinct from those of justice in law, which may or may not be considered moral in practice. (almost alone among America's writers, he spoke out against the infamous Haymarket trials of 1886, which reflected widespread disquiet and brought about the hanging of innocent men). 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 corruption In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, like repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political , industrial greed, and American imperialism. 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 the Atlantic Monthly. It looks at his writing--which included novels, poems, plays, children's books, and criticism--and his many powerful friendships among the literati literati Scholars in China and Japan whose poetry, calligraphy, and paintings were supposed primarily to reveal their cultivation and express their personal feelings rather than demonstrate professional skill. of his day. There is an especially rich examination of the relationship between Howells and Mark Twain (Twain called Howells "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 Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer whose works were set in or near South Berwick, Maine, a declining New England seaport town near the Maine border with New Hampshire. ). As editor of the Atlantic Monthly and later as a columnist for Harper's Monthly, Howells influenced the tastes and values of a growing middle-class readership. He introduced his readers to the works of Thomas Hardy, Ivan Turgenev, Emile Zola, and Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Tolstoy, whom he held up as models to his compatriots. At the same time, Howells championed Henry James as an American writer when others dismissed him as unreadable or un-American for living abroad. Showcasing many noteworthy personalities--e.g., H.G. Wells, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes--William Dean Howells portrays a major literary and cultural pioneer who played a key role in creating an America artistic ethos. I found the book enjoyable and informative. REVIEW BY MARTIN H. LEVINSON, PHD EDITOR: MARTIN H. LEVINSON, PHD |
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