the rise of silas lapham by william dean howells

The clergyman Sewell laments that love 'is painted by novelists in a monstrous disproportion to the other relations of life' and young people believe that 'love is perpetual, that the glow of a true passion lasts forever, and that it is sacrilege to think or act otherwise.' (p. xii) In the story itself are appeals to realism, especially pertaining to love. Cook notes that the articles consider 'the book and its author as literary historical phenomena, as products and agent of an intellectual literary movement away from an ideal, romantic conception of the individual and society and toward a realist, pragmatic acceptance of the limited choices and virtues with which people have to get by in the world in which they find themselves.' (p. The Rise of Silas Lapham is considered a 'realist' novel.

I learned from the preface that Howells was the editor of the Atlantic magazine and 'an early advocate and friend of Henry James, and Mark Twain, and later defended and explained the words of Ibsen, Tolstoy, Zola, Turgenev, and many others to an often hostile public.' (p. They interact with the more established upper class family, the Coreys, and go through some changes in fortune. 7) The book describes Lapham's family life consisting of his wife Persis and his daughters Irene and Penelope. Per a footnote, 'The paint mine consists of a deposit of an iron compound which, when burned, pulverizes, and mixed with linseed oil produces a high quality paint.' (p. At the beginning, Silas Lapham has gone from rags to riches because of material very valuable for making paint found on his land. It had footnotes that explained different words in the book. I went to the Central Tacoma Free Media Exchange (a.k.a.) the 'Big Little Library' and found a Norton critical edition. But I found a copy of the book in the most unlikely place.

I had never heard of the book or the author before. For the discussion on Wednesday, NovemThe Classics Book Club selected The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells.

The rise of silas lapham by william dean howells