{"product_id":"william-dean-howells-a-writers-life-hardcover","title":"William Dean Howells: A Writer's Life - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSusan Goodman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eCarl Dawson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePossibly the most influential figure in the history of American letters, William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was, among other things, a leading novelist in the realist tradition, a formative influence on many of America's finest writers, and an outspoken opponent of social injustice. This biography, the first comprehensive work on Howells in fifty years, enters the consciousness of the man and his times, revealing a complicated and painfully honest figure who came of age in an era of political corruption, industrial greed, and American imperialism. Written with verve and originality in a highly absorbing style, it brings alive for a new generation a literary and cultural pioneer who played a key role in creating the American artistic ethos. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilliam Dean Howells \u003c\/i\u003etraces the writer's life from his boyhood in Ohio before the Civil War, to his consularship in Italy under President Lincoln, to his rise as editor of \u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly. \u003c\/i\u003eIt looks at his writing, which included novels, poems, plays, children's books, and criticism. Howells had many powerful friendships among the literati of his day; and here we find an especially rich examination of the relationship between Howells and Mark Twain. Howells was, as Twain called him, \"the boss\" of literary critics--his support almost single-handedly made the careers of many writers, including African Americans like Paul Dunbar and women like Sarah Orne Jewett. Showcasing many noteworthy personalities--Henry James, Edmund Gosse, H. G. Wells, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, and many others--\u003ci\u003eWilliam Dean Howells \u003c\/i\u003eportrays a man who stood at the center of American literature through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eI found this book hard to put down. Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson have written a highly readable, thoroughly researched, and well-balanced life of a major literary figure. Howells really comes alive for us in these pages.--Robert Richardson, Jr., author of \u003ci\u003eEmerson: The Mind on Fire\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHenry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Behind the public image of the this man of letters, Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson have shown William Dean Howells to have been a complicated and painfully honest man in an era of political corruption, industrial greed, and American imperialism. This biography is a major accomplishment, massive in scope and engaging in its narrative. A terrific read.\"--Jerome Loving, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Last Titan: A Life of Theodore Dreiser\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWalt Whitman: The Song of Himself \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWilliam Dean Howells: A Writer's Life\u003c\/i\u003e will be one of the most important literary biographies in years.\"--Linda Wagner-Martin, author of \u003ci\u003eZelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSusan Goodman\u003c\/b\u003e, Professor of English and H. Fletcher Brown Chair of Humanities at the University of Delaware, is author of \u003ci\u003eCivil Wars: American Novelists and Manners, 1880-1940 \u003c\/i\u003e(2003) and \u003ci\u003eEllen Glasgow: A Biography \u003c\/i\u003e(2003), among other books. \u003cb\u003eCarl Dawson, \u003c\/b\u003e Professor of English at the University of Delaware, is author of \u003ci\u003eLiving Backwards: A Transatlantic Memoir \u003c\/i\u003e(1995), \u003ci\u003eLafcadio Hearn and the Vision of Japan \u003c\/i\u003e(1992), and other books.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 519\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.8 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 01, 2005\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47739368374493,"sku":"9780520238961","price":93.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/2Pbu0bujDx9780520238961.webp?v=1775444906","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/william-dean-howells-a-writers-life-hardcover","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}