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Despite efforts at revival by John Updike and others, William Dean Howells still remains in the shadows of his close friends Mark Twain and Henry James. This book works against decades of unfavorable comparisons with these literary giants. William Dean Howells and the Ends of Realism helps us to see him as a writer very much aware of his limitations and of his enormous importance in the development of an American literary tradition. A close look at his late works gives us a richer understanding of this powerful moment of transition in American literature, a moment when Howells and his venerable friends were inspiring and anointing a new generation of writers and taking a long, hard look at their own legacies and contributions.
List of contents
Introduction Chapter 1: The Error He Championed: The Minister's Charge and Howells after The Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 2: A Hazard of New Fortunes and the Aesthetic Immaturity of the American Reader Chapter 3: Disintegrating Under the Reader's Eye: The Aging Howells and his Public, 1890-1920 Chapter 4: The Leatherwood God and My Mark Twain: The Importance of Samuel Clemens in Howells's Literary Imagination after 1910 Chapter 5: The Vacation of the Kelwyns, The Critical Bookstore, and Henry James's Right of Leaning Back. Conclusion Bibliography Index
About the author
Paul Abeln received his Ph.D. American and Comparative Literature from Washington University in 2000.
Summary
Despite efforts at revival by John Updike and others, William Dean Howells still remains in the shadows of his close friends Mark Twain and Henry James. This book works against decades of unfavorable comparisons with these literary giants. William Dean Howells and the Ends ofRealism helps us to see him as a writer very much aware of his limitations and of his enormous importance in the development of an American literary tradition. A close look at his late works gives us a richer understanding of this powerful moment of transition in American literature, a moment when Howells and his venerable friends were inspiring and anointing a new generation of writers and taking a long, hard look at their own legacies and contributions.
