Early Prose Writings of William Dean Howells, 18521861

While William Dean Howells is today best remembered as Mark Twains staunchest defender, Howells was, at his peak, the unrivaled man of letters in America: he had no contemporary equal. The achievements of both Twain and Henry James have since surpassed those of Howells in the literary hierarchy, but the work of Howells still remains an important part of American letters. In The Early Prose Writings of William Dean Howells, 18521861, Thomas Wortham provides a chronological assortment of Howells first prose compositions, beginning with apprentice pieces published before the writers eighteenth birthday. Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, Howells also lived in Hamilton, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, where Howells father, a printer and newspaper publisher, would move the family and set up shop. Howells started writing as a newspaperman, and this volume assembles pieces by Howells which appeared in the Ashtabula Sentinel, the Kingsville Academy Casket, and the Ohio Farmer, as well as the complete text of The Independent Candidatehis first attempt in print of an extended work of fictionserialized in the Ashtabula Sentinel in 185455. Also included here is Howels novela, Geoffrey: A Study of American Life, a thoughtful psychological study, which was never published, as well as Howells letters to the New York World, in which he recorded his impressions and experiences relating to Ohios early response to the declaration of the War Between the States. Dr. Wortham furnishes extensive source annotations to document quotations and references as well as framing each selection by Howells with background and explanatory glosses. As he points out, Howells literary life is not wanting in sufficient documentation, but his apprentice workthat long foreground which has in his instance been too largely represented by a handful of mediocre poems, has been lost in old files of newspapers, journals, and manuscripts. Thanks to Dr. Worthams careful scholarship, American literature now has a much more detailed and accurate picture of the young Howells and his early works.