William Dean Howells: The Literary Legend
William Dean Howells is an American author, critic, and editor who was born as the second son of eight on March 1, 1837 in Martinsville, Ohio (now Martins Ferry) to William Cooper Howells and Mary Dean Howells (Campbell). During his early years he did not have much of an education, instead he assisted his father with is job as a printer for the newspaper and became a printers apprentice. Howells then began to write for other newspapers and, in 1858, became the editor of the Ohio State Journal. During his term as the city editor, he also wrote a number of poems, essays, and reviews of all sorts that sparked the attention of readers nationwide due to their appearances in the Saturday Press.
Among some of Howells' wide variety of works was his campaign biography for the one and only Abraham Lincoln. He used the money that he received from this job to undergo a voyage to New England, the hub of American literature. It was here that Howells met some of the greatest literary legends such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman. The same campaign biography that allowed him to travel to New England also landed him the position of the U.S. consul of Venice, Italy after Lincolns appointment to the oval office in 1861. Howells remained in Italy for about four years and he married and had three children with Elinor Mead.
Howells then moved back to the United States and was employed as the assistant editor of the American Monthly and quickly worked his way up to the position of editor where he remained for 10 years. He published seven novels during his reign as editor of American Monthly, the first of them being Their Wedding Journey. These novels marked the official begging of Howells' career as a novelist and, in 1885, Williams' most famous novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham, was published.
Shortly after the publication of The Rise of Silas Lapham, Howells, influenced by the works and ideas of Leo Tolstoy, became increasingly concerned with social matters, as seen in his later works such as "Editha". Howells was one of few to publicly defend the "Haymarket Extremists", a group of people who were persecuted and executed without clear evidence to prove their role in a bombing that took place in May of 1886. Howells eventually moved to Boston in 1891 to become the editor of the Cosmopolitan where he hoped to voice his political opinions but soon resigned after failing to gain the support to the owner of the Cosmopolitan. Howells then decided to voice his concerns through his works of fiction, using his novel "Editha" to show his opinions concerning matters like the Spanish-American War, a matter that he was not afraid to publicly oppose. Howells believed that the Spanish-American war was being used as a form of justification for the United States to expand into Spanish-held territories.
By the time of his death in May 11, 1920, Howells had published over one hundred works, had become the editor of a variety of publications as well as becoming the United States Consul of Venice, had become the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and had solidified his place among the greatest icons of American literature. His style of writing, soon to be called Howellism realism, mostly dealt with the workings of everyday, middle class citizens and were heavily criticized and labeled as too tame and conservative, being called "teacup tragedies" by critics like Frank Norris (Baym). Despite these allegations, it remains clear that Howells was truly focused on not only the "average Joe" but by all types of people due to the fact that many of his works focused on issues that affected all people rather than just a few or a specific group of people (Baym).
Among some of Howells' wide variety of works was his campaign biography for the one and only Abraham Lincoln. He used the money that he received from this job to undergo a voyage to New England, the hub of American literature. It was here that Howells met some of the greatest literary legends such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman. The same campaign biography that allowed him to travel to New England also landed him the position of the U.S. consul of Venice, Italy after Lincolns appointment to the oval office in 1861. Howells remained in Italy for about four years and he married and had three children with Elinor Mead.
Howells then moved back to the United States and was employed as the assistant editor of the American Monthly and quickly worked his way up to the position of editor where he remained for 10 years. He published seven novels during his reign as editor of American Monthly, the first of them being Their Wedding Journey. These novels marked the official begging of Howells' career as a novelist and, in 1885, Williams' most famous novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham, was published.
Shortly after the publication of The Rise of Silas Lapham, Howells, influenced by the works and ideas of Leo Tolstoy, became increasingly concerned with social matters, as seen in his later works such as "Editha". Howells was one of few to publicly defend the "Haymarket Extremists", a group of people who were persecuted and executed without clear evidence to prove their role in a bombing that took place in May of 1886. Howells eventually moved to Boston in 1891 to become the editor of the Cosmopolitan where he hoped to voice his political opinions but soon resigned after failing to gain the support to the owner of the Cosmopolitan. Howells then decided to voice his concerns through his works of fiction, using his novel "Editha" to show his opinions concerning matters like the Spanish-American War, a matter that he was not afraid to publicly oppose. Howells believed that the Spanish-American war was being used as a form of justification for the United States to expand into Spanish-held territories.
By the time of his death in May 11, 1920, Howells had published over one hundred works, had become the editor of a variety of publications as well as becoming the United States Consul of Venice, had become the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and had solidified his place among the greatest icons of American literature. His style of writing, soon to be called Howellism realism, mostly dealt with the workings of everyday, middle class citizens and were heavily criticized and labeled as too tame and conservative, being called "teacup tragedies" by critics like Frank Norris (Baym). Despite these allegations, it remains clear that Howells was truly focused on not only the "average Joe" but by all types of people due to the fact that many of his works focused on issues that affected all people rather than just a few or a specific group of people (Baym).