William Dean Howells - (1837-1920)
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I. Personal and Professional Life William Dean Howells, an American novelist, critic, editor, and realist writer, was born on March 1, 1837, at
Martin's Ferry, Belmont County, Ohio. He was one of eight children of a struggling printer and publisher, William Cooper Howells and Mary Dean Howells (Carter 13). As the Howells family traveled around Ohio with
their father, from one ailing enterprise to another, Howells received little formal education (Carter 14). Although Howells received little formal education, his father supported his interest in
literature and supplied Howells with works from his extensive private collection of famous authors. From reading these works, Howells taught himself Spanish and German in order to
read works by Spanish and German authors (Carter 14). Howells continued his self-education as his family moved throughout Ohio. From Hamilton, Ohio, where his father edited the Intelligencer
, Howells's family moved to Dayton where his father tried unsuccessfully to revitalize the ailing Transcript. From Dayton, the family moved to Xenia
where Howells underwent an experiment in primitive living in a log cabin beside a mill. At the age of fourteen, the Howells family traveled to Columbus where William Dean Howells became a compositor on the
Ohio State Journal (Carter 14). After Columbus, the Howells family moved to Ashtabula and Jefferson, where his father became co-owner of the Ashtabula Sentinel
. Finally, at the age of twenty, William Dean Howells moved back to Columbus as a reporter, editorial writer, and news editor for the Journal (Carter 14). In 1860, Howells began to contribute to the
Atlantic Monthly and correspond with its editor, James Russell Lowell (Carter 15). Later that year, Howells traveled to Boston and was introduced to Oliver Wendell Holmes, James T. Fields,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. After becoming acquainted with these famous authors, Howells wrote, "Nothing else so richly
satisfactory…could have happened to a like youth at such a point in his career" (Howells qtd. in Carter 15). William Dean Howells meanwhile returned to Columbus for a few months
and met a woman, Elinor Mead, who would become his wife in a long and happy marriage (Carter 15). William Dean Howells was appointed United States Consul at Venice as a reward for
writing the campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln (Campbell "The William"). He lived in Venice between 1861 and 1865, and returned to the United States thereafter. Howells
returned to America with a new baby girl, Winifred, the materials for two books of travel, and a desire to actively re-enter the world of American letters (Carter 16).
In order to get a position in journalism, William Dean Howells worked for the New York Times as well as the Nation. In 1866, Howells returned to Boston and Cambridge where he
read and edited manuscripts, read proofs, and wrote the reviews for the Atlantic, for fifty dollars a week (Carter 16). In 1871, Howells became the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic,
which was one of the most powerful literary magazines of the day. He continued his work with the Atlantic until 1881 (Carter 16).
Shortly thereafter, William Dean Howells and Elinor Howells gave birth to two more children, Mildred and John Mead (Carter 16). In 1881, he left the Atlantic to devote himself
entirely to writing fiction, for which he was already beginning to make himself known. Three years later, Howells contracted with Harper and Brothers to write a novel a year as
well as a smaller book and an essay on current literature for their monthly magazine (Carter 16). In response to the Haymarket Square Riot in 1886, Howells wrote a letter of outrage to the New York Tribune
(Carter 16). After many of the participants were hanged, Howells wrote an editorial letter called "A Word for the Dead." In doing this, Howells risked his
livelihood and his reputation in a vain attempt to save the condemned individuals (Campbell "The William"). His daughter, Winnie, died in 1889 due to physical disease,
although Howells believed her illness was psychological in origin (Campbell "The William"). After his daughter's death, William Dean Howells moved from Boston to New
York permanently. In 1900, he took up the department in Harper's Monthly known as "The Editor's Easy Chair," and conducted it for twenty years (Carter 17).
Howells had a secure place in American Culture; he received degrees from Columbia, Yale, Oxford, and Princeton. He became the first president of the American Academy of Arts
and Letters in 1908 and remained at this position until his death in 1920 at the age of eighty-three (Carter 17). II. Published Works
William Dean Howells wrote over thirty fiction novels, the first of which were comedies of manners and studies of contrasting character types, including The Lady of the Aroostook in 1879 and A Fearful Responsibility
in 1881 (Cooke 199-200). Howells began incorporating realism into his writings after 1881, as he wrote novels containing realistic descriptions of American life, including A Modern Instance
in 1882, the story of a failed marriage, and A Woman's Reason in 1883, a study of Boston Back Bay society (Cooke 240-243). In 1885, Howells published one of his most famous books, The Rise of Silas Lapham
, a study of a self-made businessman who is ultimately ruined but never loses his integrity (Cooke 98-99). During the 1880s, Howells increasingly became concerned with
social issues. Howells's objection to social injustice is manifest well as he openly denounced the hanging of the participants of the Haymarket Square Riot (Carter 17).
Howells also wrote about his social concerns in fiction. The novel Annie Kilburn, published in 1888, described the class contrasts in a New England town (Cooke 222).
Howells also delved into the problems of the industrial age in his novels, A Traveler from Altruria in1894 and Through the Eye of the Needle in 1907 (Lynn 5). Considered by many
to be Howells's best fictional work, A Hazard of New Fortunes, published in 1890, explored situations involving the newly rich, socialism, and labor conflict in New York City (Cooke
124). Howells's critical works included the essay "Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading" in 1899 and the books Criticism and Fiction in 1891, My Literary Passions in 1895, and Literature and Life
in 1902 (Cooke 45-55). III. The Major Works of William Dean Howells TRAVEL NOVELS
The Vacations of the Kelwyns, an Idyl of the Middle Eighteen-Seventies. New York: Harper, 1920. Mrs. Farrell, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1921. IV. Helpful Links
http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/howells
http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/howells.htm V. Works Cited
Campbell, Donna M. "The William Dean Howells Society." Gonzaga University. 12 pages. 20 Feb. 2001 http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/howells Carter, Everett. Howells and the Age of Realism
. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1954. Cooke, Delmar Gross. William Dean Howells: A Critical Study. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1922. Gibson, William M. William Dean Howells
. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1967. Lynn, Kenneth S. William Dean Howells: An American Life. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971. "William Dean Howells- (1837-1920)." 16 Feb. 2001 http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/wdh/howells.html http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/howells.htm
This essay was submitted by a student of Breen Reardon, an English teacher at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Throughout his childhood, William Dean Howells suffered from many difficulties (Carter 14). As Howells first moved from
Hamilton to Dayton, his new life in the larger city was challenging. Howells also imagined that he was dying from a terrible disease. Although he faced a few minor difficulties in
his childhood, the life of a boy in the 1840s and 1850s in small towns on a river with intelligent and loving parents was an extremely good life (Carter 15).
Venetian Life. London: Trubner, 1866.
Italian Journeys. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1867.
Three Villages. Boston: Osgood, 1884.
Tuscan Cities. Boston: Tricknor, 1886.
A Little Swiss Sojourn. New York: Harper, 1892.
London Films. New York: Harper, 1906.
Questionable Shapes. New York: Harper, 1903.
Between the Dark and the Daylight, Romances. New York: Harper, 1907.
The Daughter of the Storage and Other Things in Prose and Verse. New York: Harper, 1916.
Their Wedding Journey. Boston: Osgood, 1872.
A Chance Acquaintance. Boston: Osgood, 1873.
A Foregone Conclusion. Boston: Osgood, 1875.
The Lady of the Aroostook. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, 1879.
The Undiscovered Country. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1880.
Doctor Breen's Practice, a Novel. Boston: Osgood, 1881.
A Modern Instance, a Novel. Boston: Osgood, 1882.
A Woman's Reason, a Novel. Boston: Osgood, 1883.
The Rise of Silas Lapham. Boston: Ticknor, 1885.
Indian Summer. Boston: Ticknor, 1886.
The Minister's Charge, or The Apprenticeship of Lemuel Barker. Boston: Ticknor, 1887.
April Hopes. New York: Harper, 1888.
Annie Kilburn, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1889.
A Hazard of New Fortunes, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1890.
The Shadow of a Dream, a Story. New York: Harper, 1890.
An Imperative Duty, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1892.
The Quality of Mercy, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1892.
The World of Chance, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1893.
The Coast of Bohemia, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1893.
A Traveler from Altruria, Romance. New York: Harper, 1894.
The Day of Their Wedding, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1896.
The Landlord at Lion's Head, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1897.
An Open-Eyed Conspiracy, an Idyl of Saratoga. New York: Harper, 1897.
The Story of a Play, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1898.
Ragged Lady, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1899.
Their Silver Wedding Journey. New York: Harper, 1899.
The Kentons, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1902.
Letters Home. New York: Harper, 1903.
The Son of Royal Langbrith, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1904.
Miss Bellard's Inspiration, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1905.
Through the Eye of the Needle, a Romance. New York: Harper, 1907.
Fennel and Rue, a Novel. New York: Harper, 1908.
The Leatherwood God. New York: Century, 1916.
The William Dean Howells Society is an excellent source with extensive links, works, and many other interesting facts about the life and times of William Dean Howells.
Here you will find a large list of the works of William Dean Howells as well as a few links to the actual piece that you can view online.
"The William Dean Howells Page." San Antonio College. 1 page. 20 Feb. 2001
Zwick, Jim. "William Dean Howells on the Philippine-American War." Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935. 5 pars. 20 Feb. 2001 http://www.boondocksnet.com/howells/index.html