William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 - May 11, 1920) was an American realist author. ... Image:William Dean Howells. ... For other uses, see Alias. ... is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about work. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... ... For other uses, see Realism (disambiguation). ... The Daily News Building, on which Howells collaborated with Raymond Hood John Mead Howells (August 14, 1868 - September 22, 1959) was an American architect. ... James Russell Lowell (b. ... Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ... Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ... Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau[1]) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance... Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Realism (disambiguation). ...

Biography

Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, originally Martinsville, to William Cooper and Mary Dean Howells, Howells was the second of eight children. His father was a newspaper editor and printer, and the father moved frequently around Ohio. Howells began to help his father with typesetting and printing work at an early age. In 1852, his father arranged to have one of Howells' poems published in the Ohio State Journal without telling him. Martins Ferry is a city located in Belmont County, Ohio. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ...

In 1856, Howells was elected as a Clerk in the State House of Representatives. In 1858, he began to work at the Ohio State Journal where he wrote poetry, short stories, and also translated pieces from French, Spanish, and German. He avidly studied German and other languages and was greatly interested in Heinrich Heine. In 1860, he visited Boston and met with American writers J. T. Fields, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ohio has a bicameral legislature, the Ohio General Assembly, consisting a House of Representatives and Senate (the Ohio State Senate), based on its constitution of 1851. ... Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was a journalist, an essayist, and one of the most significant German romantic poets. ... Boston redirects here. ... James Russell Lowell (b. ... Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ... Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ... Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau[1]) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance... Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ...

Said to be rewarded for a biography of Abraham Lincoln used during the election of 1860, he gained a consulship in Venice. On Christmas Eve 1862, he married Elinor Mead at the American embassy in Paris. Upon returning to the U.S., he wrote for various magazines, including Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. From 1866, he became an assistant editor for the Atlantic Monthly and was made editor in 1871, remaining in the position until 1881. In 1869, he first met Mark Twain, which sparked a longtime friendship. Even more important for the development of his literary style--his advocacy of Realism--was his relationship with the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison, who in the 1870s wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly on the lives of ordinary Americans (Fryckstedt 1958). For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... The Atlantic Monthly (also known as The Atlantic) is an American literary/cultural magazine that was founded in November 1857. ... Harpers redirects here. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... For other uses, see Realism (disambiguation). ... Jonathan Baxter Harrison, around 1880 Jonathan Baxter Harrison (April 5, 1835 - June 17, 1907), Unitarian minister, journalist, environmentalist, and social critic. ...

He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1872, but his literary reputation took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which described the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur in the paint business. His social views were also strongly reflected in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888) and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890). He was particularly outraged by the trials resulting from the Haymarket Riot. The Rise of Silas Lapham is a novel written by William Dean Howells in 1885 about the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. ... A Hazard of New Fortunes is a novel by William Dean Howells. ... The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886 in Chicago is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers. ...

While known primarily as a novelist, his short story "Editha" (1905) appears in many anthologies of American literature.

Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, Giovanni Verga, Benito Pérez Galdós, and, especially, Leo Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of American writers Hamlin Garland, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles W. Chesnutt, Abraham Cahan, and Frank Norris. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence. In his "Editor's Study" column at the Atlantic Monthly and, later, at Harper's, he formulated and disseminated his theories of "realism" in literature. Ibsen redirects here. ... Émile Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France. ... Giovanni Verga. ... Republican homage, bust by Erminio Blotta, at Independencia Park, Rosario, Argentina Benito Pérez Galdós (May 10, 1843 – January 4, 1920) was a Spanish novelist. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Lyof, Lyoff) (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... Hamlin Hannibal Garland (September 14, 1860 – March 4, 1940) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. ... For the U.S. Continental Congress delegate, see Stephen Crane (delegate). ... From the daguerreotype taken at Mount Holyoke, December 1846 or early 1847. ... Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (October 31, 1852 – March 13, 1930) was a prominent female American writer of the Victorian era known for her short stories and novels of life in New England villages. ... Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Sarah Orne Jewett Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American author whose works were set in her native New England. ... Charles W. Chesnutt at the age of 40 Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an African American author and political activist best known for novels and short stories from Fayetteville, North Carolina. ... Abraham Cahan (July 7, 1860 - 1951) was a leading writer and lecturer for socialist and labor movements in New York City. ... For other persons of the same name, see Benjamin Norris. ...

In 1904, he was one of the first seven chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he became president. In 1928, eight years after Howells' death, his daughter published his correspondence as a biography of his literary years. American Academy of Arts and Letters is an organization whose goal is to foster, assist, and sustain an interest in American literature, music, and art. ...

He was the father of the architect John Mead Howells. The Daily News Building, on which Howells collaborated with Raymond Hood John Mead Howells (August 14, 1868 - September 22, 1959) was an American architect. ...

Quoted as saying, "We hope the time is coming when not only the artist, but the common, average man...will reject the ideal grasshopper wherever he finds it...Because it is not like a real grasshopper".

Selected works

• Their Wedding Journey, 1871, 1887, 1916
• A Chance Acquaintance, 1873
• A Foregone Conclusion, 1875
• A Modern Instance, 1882
• why i'm gay, 1883

The Rise of Silas Lapham, 1885 The Rise of Silas Lapham is a novel written by William Dean Howells in 1885 about the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. ...

• Indian Summer (1886)
• A Hazard of New Fortunes, 1890
• The Shadow of a Dream, 1890
• The Day of Their Wedding, 1895
• A Traveller from Altruria, 1892-3
• The Whole Family: a Novel by Twelve Authors

WD Howells was the grandfather of the late anthropologist duch bag. he was crazzy and ate bugs and screamed at his mom A Hazard of New Fortunes is a novel by William Dean Howells. ... A Traveler from Altruria is a Utopian novel by William Dean Howells first published in installments in The Cosmopolitan, Vol. ...

Additional works

• A Counterfeit Presentment (1877)
• The Lady of the Aroostook (1879)

The following were written during his residence in England and in Italy, as was The Rise of Silas Lapham in 1885.

• The Undiscovered Country (1880)
• A Fearful Responsibility (1881)
• Dr. Breen's Practice (1881)
• A Woman's Reason (1883)
• Three Villages (1884)
• Tuscan Cities (1885)

He returned to the United States in 1886. He wrote various types of works, including fictional, poetry, and farces, of which The Sleeping-Car, The Mouse-Trap, The Elevator, and Out of the Question are characteristic.

• The Minister's Charge (1886)
• Annie Kilburn (1887/88)
• Modern Italian Poets (1887)
• April Hopes (1888)
• Criticism and Fiction (1891)
• The World of Chance (1893)
• The Coast of Bohemia (1893)
• My Year In a Log Cabin (1893)
• The Story of a Play (1898)
• Ragged Lady (1899)
• Their Silver Wedding Anniversary (1899)
• The Flight of Pony Baker (1902)
• The Kentons (1902)
• Questionable Shapes (1903)
• Son of Royal Langbrith (1904)
• London Films (1905)
• Certain Delightful English Towns (1906)
• Between the Dark and the Daylight (1907)
• Through the Eye of the Needle, A Romance (1907)
• Heroines of Fiction (1908)
• The Landlord At Lion's Head (1908)
• My Mark Twain: Reminiscences (1910)
• New Leaf Mills (1913)
• Seen and Unseen at Stratford-on-Avon: A Fantasy (1914)
• The Leatherwood God (1916)
• Years of My Youth (autobiography) (1916)

His poems were collected in 1873 and 1886, and a volume under the title Stops of Various Quills appeared in 1895. He was the founder of the school of American realists who derived through the Russians from Balzac and had little sympathy with any other form of fiction, although he was full of encouragement for new writers in whom he discovered a fresh note. It can hardly be doubted that his was the most influential work done in American fiction during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... This article is about the art form. ... Look up farce in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon is a town in Warwickshire, England. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Balzac redirects here. ...

Published as

• Novels 1875-1886: A Foregone Conclusion, A Modern Instance, Indian Summer, The Rise of Silas Lapham (Edwin M. Cady, ed.) (Library of America, 1982) ISBN 978-0-94045004-2
• Novels 1886-1888: The Minister's Charge, or The Apprenticeship of Lemuel Barker; April Hopes; Annie Kilburn; The Rise of Silas Lapham (Don L. Cook, ed.) (Library of America, 1989) ISBN 978-0-94045051-6

Volumes in the Library of America series The Library of America (LoA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. ... Volumes in the Library of America series The Library of America (LoA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. ...

References

• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 154. 
• Fryckstedt, Olov W. 1958. In Quest of America: A Study of Howells’ Early Development as a Novelist. Upsala, Sweden: Thesis.

Everett Franklin Bleiler (born 1920) is an editor and bibliographer of science fiction and Fantasy. ...

See also

• William Dean Howells House, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Redtop, his home in Belmont, Massachusetts
• American realism

Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government  - Type Mayor-City Council  - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area  - Total 7. ... Redtop in Belmont, Massachusetts. ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex County Settled 1636 Incorporated 1859 Government  - Type Representative town meeting Area  - Town  4. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

William Dean Howells

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

William Dean Howells

• Works by William Dean Howells at Project Gutenberg
• Essays by William Dean Howells at Quotidiana.org
• William Dean Howells Societyincludes a biographical sketch of Howells, links to his works (including the "Editor's Study" columns), questions and replies, bibliographies, and pictures.
• Realism in American Literature at the Literary Movements site

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.