William Dean Howells

Often regarded as a quintessentially American novelist, much of William Dean Howells' early work -- like that of his admirer, Henry James -- explored tensions between American and European culture. In the novella A Fearful Responsibility, expatriate Americans living in Europe grapple with the Civil War in their own unique ways.

In the short comic play Evening Dress, William Dean Howells' bumbling recurring character Mr. Roberts finds himself in another ridiculous quandary. This time around, a planned evening out on the town is put in jeopardy because Roberts can't locate his formal suit.

As an influential writer and editor, William Dean Howells played a key role in guiding the direction of American letters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this important critical essay, Howells makes a stirring case for literary naturalism as practiced by French novelist and thinker Emile Zola.

In one of William Dean Howells' humorous farces, the then-cutting-edge technological development of the elevator becomes an inescapable prison when a malfunctioning lift traps a bevy of posh Bostonians between two floors of their upscale apartment building.

Throughout his career, author and editor William Dean Howells made it a point to deal with emerging social issues in his novels, often causing controversy and scandal upon their publication. In Dr. Breen's Practice, he introduces readers to Dr. Grace Breen, a working woman navigating the challenges of a professional career long before such a life...

For readers seeking an introductory volume via which to delve into the works of William Dean Howells, often called "The Dean of American Letters," The Daughter of the Storage: And Other Things in Prose and Verse offers up a broad cross-section of his work, including stories, essays, poetry, and more.

This collection brings together two of William Dean Howells' earliest full-length dramas. A Counterfeit Presentment recounts an out-of-the-ordinary encounter that takes place in a hotel lobby. In The Parlour Car, Howells blends his trademark brand of social realism with a more traditional comedy of manners.

In this engaging novel from "Dean of American Letters" William Dean Howells, a sheltered young woman from the Midwest makes her way to New York to pursue a career as an artist. Once there, she experiences a vertiginous degree of culture shock as she falls in with a crowd of counterculture intellectuals.

In this humorous sketch from William Dean Howells, a refined gentleman attempts to navigate the rough-and-tumble vagaries of the marketplace when he sets out to procure the perfect horse. His early efforts go hilariously awry, but he learns some important lessons along the way.

In this clever, humorous play from the "Dean of American Letters," William Dean Howells, a German florist finds himself caught up in a series of remarkable coincidences. Readers will appreciate Howells' deft touch with dialogue and keen insight into human nature.