William Dean Howells: Novels 1886–1888

by William Dean Howells, Don L. Cook (Editor)

The foremost champion of realism in late-nineteenth-century American fiction, William Dean Howells was both a sympathetic observer and a sharp critic of the social beliefs and practices of his time. The three novels in this Library of America volume perceptively and often satirically examine the conflict between Christian ideals and commercial success, the contrast between a society’s rituals of courtship and the realities of love, and the way in which a community’s democratic aspirations are contradicted by its class divisions. Frequently confused and uncertain in their actions, Howells’s characters reflect their creator’s sense of the complexity and vigor of what he called “poor Real Life.”

In The Minister’s Charge (1886), Lemuel Barker leaves his impoverished farm and comes to Boston hoping to become a published poet. Proud, innocent, and implacably honest, he is quickly plunged into the humiliating depths of urban homelessness. His plight weighs on the conscience of David Sewell, a minister who could not bear to tell Barker how bad his poetry was. As he witnesses Lemuel’s attempts to live a dignified life in a city marked by cruel indifference and unexpected kindness, Sewell must confront the “complicity” he shares in the fate of every member of his society.

April Hopes (1887) was, by Howells’s later recollection, the first novel that he wrote “with the distinct consciousness that he was writing as a realist.” Alice Pasmer is the only daughter of parents whose dwindling investments have forced their return from Europe to New England. When Alice meets Dan Mavering, the easygoing son of a wealthy wallpaper manufacturer, her mother begins a careful campaign to bring about their marriage. Mrs. Pasmer’s plans, and Dan Mavering’s hopes, are soon frustrated by Alice, whose character combines high moral scruples with easily aroused jealousy.

The heroine of Annie Kilburn (1888) returns to her Hatboro’, Massachusetts, home after eleven years abroad and finds a once-quiet village rapidly turning into a sprawling factory town with paved streets, electric lights, and a department store. Unmarried at thirty-one, the daughter of a prominent “old” family, she renews ties with old friends and begins a life devoted to good deeds. Her charitable goals are questioned by the Reverend Peck, a widower who preaches egalitarianism while neglecting his own small daughter. When her efforts to help the poor prove futile, Annie is attracted both by the minister’s radical vision and by the gentle tolerant skepticism of her friend Dr. Morell. Throughout Annie Kilburn, Howells portrays the faults and virtues of his heroine and her neighbors with affection, understanding, and wit.

Genres: Literature, Collections

900 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Willam Dean Howells (1837-1920) was a novelist, short story writer, magazine editor, and mentor who wrote for various magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine.

In January 1866 James Fields offered him the assistant editor role at the Atlantic Monthly. Howells accepted after successfully negotiating for a higher salary, but was frustrated by Fields's close supervision. Howells was made editor in 1871, remaining in the position until 1881.

In 1869 he first met Mark Twain, which began 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 during the 1870s wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly on the lives of ordinary Americans.

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 of the paint business. His social views were also strongly represented in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888), A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), and An Imperative Duty (1892). He was particularly outraged by the trials resulting from the Haymarket Riot.

His poems were collected during 1873 and 1886, and a volume under the title Stops of Various Quills was published during 1895. He was the initiator of the school of American realists who derived, through the Russians, from Balzac and had little sympathy with any other type of fiction, although he frequently encouraged new writers in whom he discovered new ideas.

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, Madison Cawein,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.

In 1904 he was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he became president.

Howells died in Manhattan on May 11, 1920. He was buried in Cambridge Cemetery in Massachusetts.

Noting the "documentary" and truthful value of Howells' work, Henry James wrote: "Stroke by stroke and book by book your work was to become, for this exquisite notation of our whole democratic light and shade and give and take, in the highest degree documentary."

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 of Howell's later novels, my favorite being a slanted towards social justice volume, Annie Kilburn. He did continue to write for another 30 years, mixing factual books and articles with fiction. Very subtly humorous, unlike the overt wit of his friend Mark Twain, but a window into the New England of the later 1800's.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of William Dean Howells before. Found out he's considered father of realism, was a diplomat under Abraham Lincoln, and edited Mark Twain. In addition, he was a great humanitarian. Thoroughly enjoyed the novels in this collection.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my reviews of the individual titles in this book.

[Martin Bihl]

The Minister's Charge - finished 04/18/16

April Hopes - finished 04/28/17

Annie Kilburn - finished 05/04/18