Archiv der Kategorie: Classics of Fiction (English)

Their Wedding Journey – William Dean Howells

The artistic descriptions of characters, places, and incidents; the fine observation, which detects what ordinary spectators either see inadequately or miss altogether; the delightful humor which pervades the whole; and the simple beauty of style-all these combine to render this story by Mr. Howells one of time most attractive ever published in America. This first attempt at fiction greatly increased his public of readers. There is really very little to the book ; two characters, Basil and Isabel, occupy the foreground, and are carefully and faithfully drawn ; they are relieved by a background of pleasing bits of American and Canadian scenery. Such a commonplace subject had never been treated in such an … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Suburban Sketches – William Dean Howells

Mr. W. D. Howells’ Suburban Sketches in the neighbor hood of Cambridge and Boston are characterized by many of the same features which are so charming in his well known pictures of Italian life. The fluent style, the kindly humor, the quaint suggestiveness, are all present; we only miss the quality which is superior to them all, the naturalness which was so conspicuous in those sketches and which seems to be in a degree wanting in these. Perhaps it is because of the defect in the matter, but some how or other Cambridge and Boston, and the Horse Railroad which connects the two, which last feature figures very prominently in these sketches, do not … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

The Leatherwood God – William Dean Howells

‘The Leatherwood God’ is a veritable history , for it tells the truth and more than the truth . It satisfies the reader’ s demand for facts and it fulfills his cravings for fantasy. It convinces us that the novelist is the true historian and the real biographer, and that such a novelist as Mr. Howells, whether or not he wear the aggressive label of realist, will be considered a leading authority upon the American life of which he writes. He has written many novels during his long literary career, he has described and recorded many aspects of humanity in many parts of the world, but when he returns to his native Ohio … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

The Seen and Unseen at Stratford-On-Avon – William Dean Howells

‘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 his pungent ideas into the mouth of Shakespeare. There are some lovely descriptive nature bits and the atmosphere of English feeling and history. The showery past is wonderfully mirrored … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Familiar Spanish Travels – William Dean Howells

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; beggars and guides; gypsies and donkeys. And back of all this living present, adding richness to the scene like a figured tapestry, is the romantic history of Spain’s past.

Familiar Spanish Travels.

Format: eBook.

Familiar Spanish Travels.

ISBN: … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

New Leaf Mills – William Dean Howells

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 the way in which simple people then lived on what was then the western fringe of our civilization. … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Imaginary Interviews – William Dean Howells

Mr. Howells’s philosophy in these Easy Chair essays is distinctly of the inclusive order, and the wide range of subjects treated is indicated by the following titles from the thirty-odd that make up the volume: ” The Practices and Precepts of Vaudeville,” “The Superiority of Inferiors,” ” Unimportance of Women in Republics,” “The Quality of Boston and the Quantity of New York.” Surely Mr. Howells has taken the earth for his possession; but has he not gone up and down in it for seventy-odd years? It is his right to speak and our privilege to listen.

Imaginary Interviews.

Format: eBook.

Imaginary Interviews.

ISBN: 9783849657864

Excerpt from the text:

I. THE RESTORATION OF

Seven English Cities – William Dean Howells

To travel with Mr. Howells would indeed be the perfection of journeying, and it is hard to suppress a pang of envy for any friend whom he happens to refer to as his companion. But, fortunately, Mr. Howells has that grace with his pen which includes himself among the realities he presents, and makes the illusion of listening to him, instead of reading, quite easy. In “Seven English Cities” he is as gossipy and entertaining as ever. Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield receive his first attention ; and he insists that in spite of the cavalier treatment these places usually receive from travelers, they are ” worthy to be seen and known.” A doubt … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Fennel And Rue – William Dean Howells

A young New York novelist receives a letter from a girl asking for the solution of a serial story he is writing, for she is so ill that she does not believe she will live to finish it. His publishers answer the letter in good faith only to find out that it was all a girlish prank. The vanity wounded author writes her a scathing letter. Later at a Long Island house-party he meets her, as she is the hostess’s paid assistant to entertain the guests. The unspoken love story that ensues ends most unexpectedly. Mr. Howells’s delicate satire and pungent irony is nowhere more apparent than in this skeleton romance. He sees … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Roman Holidays And Others – William Dean Howells

With that genially serious attention to minute details, that humorous circumstantiality in treating the commonplace, which we have all come to know so well and to like (or dislike) so heartily in Mr. Howells, he has filled a substantial volume with his easily-flowing narrative of a Mediterranean vacation journey, naming his book ‘Roman Holidays and Others.’ The first landing of his party was made at Madeira, whence they proceeded to Gibraltar, and then to Genoa, Naples, Rome, Leghorn, Pisa, Genoa again, and Monte Carlo. The style of the narrative – if it is necessary to indicate it at all – is well illustrated by the opening words of the second chapter: “There … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...