William Dean Howells

In his first novel Howells introduces to us the March Family from Boston, a newly married couple. The story follows Basil and Isabel March on their honeymoon journey to New York and Hudson River, then west to Niagara Falls and finally to Quebec and Montreal. The story continues in A Hazard of New Fortunes when Marches, now with children, move from Boston to New York. The book, which takes place in late 19th century New York City, tells the story of Basil March, who finds himself in the middle of...

This unique collection of William Dean Howells' complete travel books has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards. Extract: "Nothing can be fairer to the eye than these «summer isles of Eden» lying all about Venice, far and near. The water forever trembles and changes, with every change of light, from one rainbow glory to another, as with the restless hues of an opal; and even when the splendid tides recede, and go down with the sea, they leave a heritage of...

"The Standard Household-Effect Company (from Literature and Life)" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to...

"The Elevator" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to...

"The White Mr. Longfellow (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance)" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to...

This carefully edited collection of William Dean Howells has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author, literary critic, and playwright. Nicknamed «The Dean of American Letters», he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story «Christmas Every Day», and the novels The Rise...

"Modern Italian Poets; Essays and Versions" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are...

Set during the early 1890s in a fashionable summer resort somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, A Traveler from Altruria is narrated by a Mr Twelvemough, a popular author of light fiction who has been selected to function as host to a visitor from the faraway island of Altruria called Mr Homos. In the novel, the island state of Altruria serves as a foil to America, whose citizens, compared to Altrurians, appear selfish, obsessed with money, and emotionally imbalanced. Mainly, A...

Mr. Howells shows a light and exquisite touch in «April Hopes,» a novel, it is safe to say, in which all his finer qualities are seen at their best. The sweetness of it is perhaps a trifle cloying now and then to robust palates, but the story is for all the world like a spring day where showers and sunshine grace fully intermingle. Story, we say, while in reality there is no story at all, in accordance with Mr. Howells' views of the lack of stories in «real» life. Only an account of how two...

Apart from his many novels, William Dean Howells was a prolific author of plays, especially farces. This volume includes the following of his works: The Parlor-Car, The Sleeping Car, The Register, The Elevator, The Garotters, Five O'clock Tea, A Likely Story, The Albany Depot, A Letter Of Introduction, The Unexpected Guests, Evening Dress, Bride Roses.

'The Shadow of a Dream' makes readers familiar with this rather peculiar development of a peculiar subject, and the tragic ending which is so much more pronounced than any other of the real facts of Howells' novels on which one can decisively lay a finger, as to give the reader an actual shock of horror. This bit of «the stuff that dreams are made of» but gives us an instance of the strange power of dream phantasies over our waking life – a power that more than one of us has felt,...

Mr. Howells' novel exhibits the influence of many disturbing elements upon the mind of the writer. What they call the «zeitgeist» in Germany is strongly reflected in the pages of «Annie Kilburn;» and the lenses through which current social phenomena are viewed are not those of optimism. The heroine is a not quite young woman, who, after a long residence abroad, returns orphaned to her old home. This is a New England manufacturing town in a transition state between colonial Puritanism and...

Out of a mere thread of a plot and a few characters Mr. Howells weaves a very charming little comedy. His characters consist of Miss Constance Wyatt, her father and mother, a Mr. Bartlett, a painter and his friend Rev. Arthur Cummings. The scene opens in the parlor of the Ponkwasset Hotel, the time being in the fall, and the house almost deserted by boarders. Mr. Bartlett and his friend are in the midst of a discussion of Mr. Bartlett's affairs, when Gen. Wyatt and his daughter enter the...

A large part of Howell's time in Venice was given up to a critical study of life in that city, and in his «Venetian Life,» which appeared in 1866, he has given to the world the result of his observation and study. The book abounds in dainty pen pictures of the beauties of Venice ; as he tells us of the Grand canal, we can almost hear the dipping paddles of passing gondolas, and the barcarolle wafted on the evening breeze. It may seem almost sacrilege to lovers of the old legends, that he...

"A Counterfeit Presentment; and, The Parlour Car" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are...

In this book of travels Mr. Howells relates the incidents and impressions of his trip through Spain. In a leisurely, discursive fashion he notes what most appealed to him as he journeyed from San Sebastian through Burgos, Madrid, Toledo, Cordova, Seville to Granada, Ronda, Algecirus, and Tarifa. Like a glorified cinemacolor film, he passes in review Spanish scenery, the architecture of cathedrals and palaces; theatres and hotels; picturesque street-scenes, Moorish remains; the King and Queen;...

How many of the intelligent play-goers of this intelligent land and of the present period could tell, without the play-bills in their hands, that Alfieri was the creator of Ristori's «Mirra» and of Salvini's «Saul» ? How many of the general readers of English verse know who Alfieri was or what he did ? And yet Vittorio Alfieri is the most familiar figure among the score of 'Modern Italian Poets' upon whom Mr. Howells dwells in his volume of Essays and Versions. Tommaso...

"American Literary Centers (from Literature and Life)" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks...

"A Belated Guest (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance)" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks...

'The Vacation of the Kelwyns' was written at the time of his greatest literary activity but for purely personal reasons was denied publication by him during his lifetime. The exquisite delineation of the New England character, as affected by the Shaker faith, and the delicate love story set against the quaint rural background, will undoubtedly rank this with the most distinguished of Mr. Howells' works.

Here Mr. Howells reintroduces the charming couple whose honeymoon was described in one of the author's most delightful books, «Their Silver Wedding Journey.» Through Hamburg, Karlsbad, Nuremberg, Weimar, Berlin, Frankfort and Dusseldorf and along the banks of the Rhine the gifted literary necromancer conducts the reader through the eyes of his pleasant middle-aged travelers as they wend their leisurely way through parts of Europe as it was a good many years before the First World War.

Mr. Howells would, we imagine, be the last person in the world to suppose that, in «New Leaf Mills,» he had produced a work in any way comparable with his own masterpieces. But, slight as the new story is, it has all the charm of his inimitable style, and exhales all the sweetness of the personality which has made him the most beloved of our men of letters. He has simply gone back to the time of his Ohio boyhood sixty years ago, and fished out of his recollections the materials for a picture of...

There is something delightfully intimate about this miscellany of verse, fiction and study. One has almost the feeling of being invited to draw up a comfortable seat opposite the «Easy Chair» to listen to the words from its depths. Perhaps it is the variety that seems to bring the author nearer, for a number of short unrelated stories offer more opportunity for revelation of personality than a long connected narrative. Perhaps it is because these tales are of the sort in which Mr. Howells could...

'The Seen and Unseen at Stratford-on-Avon' is a fantasy in which Mr. Howells enjoys the society of the great dramatist while they leisurely go to various pageants and festivities together. Shakespeare becomes his guest for a week-end and the immortal play wright confides that he «Never felt quite happy about the way people talked of Anne.» The dialogue between them is rich in humor and quite as delicious as anything that the distinguished American author has ever done, putting many of...