William Dean Howells

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William Dean Howells
70th birthday in 1907 in the Sunday supplement of the New York Times

William Dean Howells (born March 1, 1837 in Martinsville (now Martins Ferry), Ohio , † May 11, 1920 in New England ) was an American writer, literary critic and magazine editor. His best known works are A Modern Instance (1881) and The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).

life and career

Born the second of a total of eight children, Howells experienced an unsteady childhood. The family moved frequently and lived, among other places, in the utopian municipality of Eureka Mills . Shaped by his father, an editor and typesetter, William D. Howells learned the profession of typesetter. At the same time, he learned several languages, including German, in self-study, and began writing short poems and essays, which he published in the Ohio State Journal and Atlantic Monthly .

Howells achieved a first national success with a biography of the presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln , which he used in his election campaign. With the proceeds from this work Howells funded his move to New England , where he met numerous literary greats, including Nathaniel Hawthorne , Henry David Thoreau , Walt Whitman , Ralph Waldo Emerson and Sarah Orne Jewett .

After a brief period in New England, Howells accepted the office of Honorary Consul of Venice , which was offered to him in gratitude for his achievements in the presidential campaign. During his four-year stay in Italy (1861-1865) he met his wife Elinor Mead Howells, who gave him three children (Winifred * 1863, John Mead * 1868, Mildred * 1872).

Returning to New England, Howells also returned to the Atlantic Monthly . Here he first worked as a deputy editor before he became editor in 1871. As the influential editor of a literary magazine, many well-known American authors became personal friends of Howell. He and Mark Twain had a friendship lasting for decades . He personally devoted himself to fundamental literary studies and became an advocate of (American) realism. In the confrontation with romantics, the Realism War propagated by Howells developed .

In 1881 Howells ended his engagement with the Atlantic Monthly and published his work in various regional magazines. At the same time, he made a name for himself as a sponsor of regional authors and helped them publish their works.

In recognition of his achievement, Howells was elected its first president in 1904 after founding the American Academy of Arts and Letters . It was at this very same academy that the Howells Medal, which is still known to this day, came into being in 1915 as a further recognition of Howells' .

Howells died in New England on May 11, 1920 of complications from pneumonia.

Writing phases

In addition to his work as an editor and publisher of various magazines, Howells wrote numerous short stories, poems and novels. There are three phases to be distinguished here.

  • Early works : Howell's early works are primarily concerned with earning a living. Howells tried to meet the tastes of the American East Coast population in order to be able to produce as much commissioned work as possible, which would ensure his financial survival. The successful creation of a campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln should also be seen in this context.
  • Realism : Irritated by the contrast between romantic writing and the obvious problems of "real" America, Howells devoted himself to realism. For Howells, romance was one of the fundamental problems of writing because, in his opinion, it helped Americans turn a blind eye to reality and flee into fantasy worlds. Howells was one of the first authors to address the social problems of the Gilded Age . He dealt with the problem of slavery ( An imperative duty , 1892), the exploitation of the workers ( Annie Kilburn , 1888) and social grievances ( Editha , 1905). His best-known work The Rise of Silas Lapham , which deals with the rise of a businessman, should also be seenin this context. Howells hoped that the explicit description of these abuses could lead to a rethinking of the American people.
  • Autobiographical phase : Recalling his Ohio roots and spurred on by a visit in 1888, many of Howell's late works deal with his homeland (including A boy's town 1890 and The Kentons 1903). These works, which are clearly autobiographical, are among Howells' weaker works among critics.

Based on the novel A Traveler from Altruria (1894, German A Traveler from Altruria ) and its sequel Through the Eye of the Needle (1907, German: Durchs Nadelöhr ), Howells is considered an early representative of the socially committed utopian novel . The novel Seen and Unseen at Stratford-upon-Avon: A Fantasy (1914) and a number of fantastic narratives - mainly collected in Questionable Shapes (1903) and Between the Dark and the Daylight (1907) - form the basis for Howells' classification as Forerunner of modern science fiction and fantasy . His story Christmas Every Day (1892), the inspiration for Danny Rubin's screenplay should of Groundhog Day (1993) have been.

bibliography

  • Poems of Two Friends (poems, with John J. Piatt, 1860)
  • Venetian Life (Travel Essays, 1866)
  • Italian Journeys (travel essays, 1867)
    • German: Living in Venice. Translated by Gertraud Michel. Rütten & Loening, 1987, ISBN 3-352-00117-0 .
  • No Love Lost: A Romance of Travel (Poems, 1869)
  • Suburban Sketches (Essays, 1871)
  • Their Wedding Journey (novel, 1872)
  • A Chance Acquaintance (novel, 1873)
  • Poems (poems, 1873)
  • A Foregone Conclusion (Roman, 1874)
  • The Parlor Car (Drama, 1876)
  • A Counterfeit Presentment (Drama, 1877)
  • The Lady of The Aroostook (novel, 1879)
  • The Undiscovered Country (novel, 1880)
  • A Fearful Responsibility ( short stories, 1881, also called A Fearful Responsibility and Tonnelli's Marriage , 1882)
  • Dr. Breen's Practice (novel, 1881)
  • The Sleeping Car (Drama, 1882)
  • A Modern Instance (Roman, 1882)
  • A Woman's Reason (novel, 1883)
  • Three Villages (Essays, 1884)
  • Tuscan Cities (Essays, 1885)
  • The Rise of Silas Lapham (novel, 1885)
    • German: The great temptation. Translated by Eduard Klein. With an afterword by Karl-Heinz Wirzberger. People and World, Berlin 1958.
  • Indian Summer (novel, 1886)
  • The Minister's Charge (novel, 1886)
  • Annie Kilburn (novel, 1887/88)
  • Modern Italian Poets (Essays, 1887)
  • April Hopes (novel, 1888)
  • Mark Twain's Library of Humor (1888, with Mark Twain)
  • A Hazard of New Fortunes (novel, 1889)
  • The Shadow of a Dream (novel, 1890)
  • A Boy's Town (children's book, 1890)
  • Criticism and Fiction (Essays, 1891)
  • Christmas Every Day (short stories, 1892)
  • The Quality of Mercy (novel, 1892, also called Mercy )
  • An Imperative Duty (Roman, 1892)
    • German: sense of duty. Translated by A. Wiedemann. Engelhorn's general novel library vol. 12, vol. 8, 1895.
  • The Coast of Bohemia (novel, 1893)
  • My Year In a Log Cabin (1893)
  • The World of Chance (novel, 1893)
  • The Mouse-Trap and Other Farces (Drama, 1894)
  • A Traveler from Altruria (Roman, 1894)
    • German: A traveler from Altruria. Translated by Wolfgang Barthel. Rütten & Loening, 1980.
  • Stops of Various Quills (Poems, 1895)
  • The Day of Their Wedding (novel, 1896)
  • A Parting and a Meeting (Roman, 1896)
  • Idyls in Drab ( The Day of Their Wedding and A Parting and a Meeting , 1896)
  • The Landlord At Lion's Head (novel, 1897)
  • The Open-Eyed Conspiracy (novel, 1897)
  • The Story of a Play (novel, 1898)
  • Ragged Lady (novel, 1899)
  • Their Silver Wedding Journey (Roman, 1899, abridged edition as Hither and Thither in Germany , 1920)
  • A Pair of Patient Lovers (short stories, 1901)
  • The Flight of Pony Baker (novel, 1902)
  • The Kentons (novel, 1902)
  • Questionable Shapes ( short stories, 1903)
  • Letters Home (novel, 1903)
  • The Son of Royal Langbrith (novel, 1904)
  • Editha (1905)
  • London Films (Essays, 1905)
  • Miss Bellard's Inspiration (novel, 1905)
  • Certain Delightful English Towns (Essays, 1906)
  • Between the Dark and the Daylight (short stories, 1907)
  • Through the Eye of the Needle (Roman, 1907)
    • German: Through the eye of the needle. Translated by Wolfgang Barthel. Rütten & Loening, 1990, ISBN 3-352-00366-1 .
  • The Mulberries in Pay's Garden (Poems, 1907)
  • Heroines of Fiction (Essays, 1908)
  • The Landlord At Lion's Head (novel, 1908)
  • Fennel and Rue (Roman, 1908)
  • My Mark Twain: Reminiscences (1910)
  • New Leaf Mills (novel, 1913)
  • Seen and Unseen at Stratford-upon-Avon: A Fantasy (short story, 1914)
  • The Leatherwood God (novel, 1916)
  • Years of My Youth (autobiography, 1916)
  • The Vacation of the Kelwyns (Novel, 1920)
  • Mrs. Farrell (novel, 1921)
Letters
  • Life in Letters of William Dean Howells (1928, Ed. Mildred Howells)
  • Mark Twain-Howells Letters (1960, Eds. HN Smith and William M. Gibson)
  • WD Howells: Selected Letters (6 Vols., 1978–1983, Ed. C. Lohmann et al.)
  • If Not Literature: Letters of Elinor Mead Howells (1988, Eds. Ginette de B. Merrill and George Arms)
Works
  • A selected edition of WD Howells (1968 ff., Ed. John K. Reeves, Indiana University Press)
  • The Complete Plays of WD Howells (1960, by Walter J. Meserve)
  • WD Howells as Critic (1973, Edwin H. Cady)
  • The Early Prose Writings of William Dean Howells (1853–1861) (1990, Ed. Thomas Wortham)
  • Novels 1875-1886 (1982)
  • Critical Essays on WD Howells, 1866-1920 (1983, Edwin H. Cady and Norma W. Cady)

literature

Monographs
  • George N. Bennett: William Dean Howells: The Development of a Novelist. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1959.
  • George N. Bennett: The Realism of William Dean Howells, 1889–1920. Vanderbilt Univ. Press, Nashville 1973.
  • Van Wyck Brooks: Howells: His Life and World. Dutton, New York 1959.
  • Edwin H. Cady: William Dean Howells: Dean of American Letters. 2 vols.Syracuse 1958.
  • Edwin H. Cady: Young Howells & John Brown: Episodes in a Radical Education. Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus 1985, ISBN 0-8142-0388-4 .
  • George C. Carrington: The Immense Complex Drama: The World and Art of the Howells Novel. Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus 1966.
  • Everett Carter: Howells and the Age of Realism. Lippincott, Philadelphia 1954.
  • John W. Crowley: The Black Heart's Truth: The Early Career of WD Howells. Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1985, ISBN 0-8078-1632-9 .
  • OW Firkins: William Dean Howells: A Study. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge 1924.
  • Olov W. Fryckstedt: In Quest of America: A Study of Howells' Early Development as a Novelist . Dissertation, Uppsala 1958.
  • William M. Gibson, George Arms: A bibliography of William Dean Howells. New York 1948, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dbibliographyofwi00gibs~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D . Reprint: Arno Press, New York 1971.
  • Susan Goodman, Carl Dawson: William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life . University of California Press, Berkeley 2005, ISBN 0-520-23896-6 .
  • Kenneth S. Lynn: William Dean Howells: An American Life . : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1970, ISBN 0-15-142177-3 .
  • Rodney D. Olsen: Dancing in Chains: The Youth of William Dean Howells . New York University Press, New York 1991, ISBN 0-8147-6172-0 .
  • Elizabeth S. Prioleau: The Circle of Eros: Sexuality in the Work of William Dean Howells. Duke Univ. Press, Durham 1983, ISBN 0-8223-0492-9 .
  • Kermit Vanderbilt: The Achievement of William Dean Howells. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton 1968.
  • Birgit Wetzel-Sahm: “The novel ends well that ends faithfully”: Strategies of conflict resolution in William Dean Howells' novels. Dissertation Mainz 1994. Mainz Studies in American Studies Vol. 29. Lang, Frankfurt a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-631-48473-9 .
  • James L. Woodress: Howells and Italy. Duke University Press, Durham 1952.
  • James L. Woodress: A bibliography of writing about William Dean Howells. University of Texas, Arlington 1969.
Lexicons

Web links

Commons : William Dean Howells  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wikisource: William Dean Howells  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Clute : Howells, William Dean. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3rd edition (online edition), version dated April 12, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Howells, William Dean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, literary critic, and newspaper editor
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Martinsville Ferry , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1920
Place of death New England