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The questions and requests for help posted to this page
are those that were originally posted to Howells-L or
to the website. They are posted here so that other readers
may be able to help with these questions. Some other questions
and replies appear in the Howells-L
archives. If you have a serious scholarly question about William
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Students who would like help with research projects should post
questions to the Student Queries page.
If you would like to respond to one of the questions on this page, please use
the Query and Reply Form. Thank you.
| Howells Quotation on Kosciusko
QUESTION: Looking for source of a quotation found in the introduction
to documentary drama "Year One of the Empire" concerning
the anti-imperialist strugggle at the turn of the 19th-20th century,
and the issue of war in the Phillipines: "freedom...will
never again shriek when Kosciusko falls." No citation is
given for this and another quotation ("son of the morning")
from Howells used in the introduction.bbatorsk@nj.devry.edu
12/31/03 |
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Synopsis for The Lady of the Aroostook
Good day!
I am an author of literary encyclopedia and think, you can help
me. I need
to synopsis of The Lady of the Aroostook by Howells. If you can,
please mail
me some information.
Thank you.
Maria
10/21/03 |
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Howells and Southern Fiction
I'm trying to determine how much southern fiction Howells had
read and, specifically, whether he had read any novels by Augusta
Jane Evans (Wilson). While I've found texts dealing with Howells'
attitudes about the South, I'm still searching for a comprehensive
list of texts in his library or a list of texts he had definitively
read. Thanks!
Bradley Johnson
bradjohnson@doane.edu |
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| Holmes's letters to Howells
QUESTION: I've read Howells's letters to Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Jr., but I've been unable to determine whether or not Holmes's
letters to Howells exist and whether or not they've been published
anywhere. Does anyone know anything more about this relationship?
It seems to have been limited to a short period of correspondence
before the Civil war, so both men were quite young.
Stephen H. Wells swells@ccac.edu
6/3/03 |
According to William Moddelmog, Reconstructing Authority (2000),
p. 39,
"Howells and Holmes had been youthful friends; they met at the house of
Holmes's famous father in 1860 and established a correspondence in which they
exchanged poems and philosophical essays. The correspondence, however, ceased
with the Civil War, which Holmes attended as a soldier and which Howells, significantly,
did not."
Moddelmog inserts a footnote here which elaborates somewhat on
the H and H relationship via Holmes's father, the Autocrat, by
citing from Howells's Literary Friends and Acquaintance,
pp. 46-47.
Hope this helps a bit.
Terry Oggel
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| Howells and Chekov
QUESTION: I am working on The Son of Royal Langbrith, and
am looking in particular at chapter XIV, pp. 83-84 (in the Indiana
U. P. edition). Judge Garley makes a reference to a study of
a Russian Island (Sakhalin, as the note indicates). The note
also mentions a book on Sakhalin by Hawes.
I was wondering if Howells could have had in a mind a book by Chekhov, The
Island of Sakhalin, serialized in Russia in 1893 and published in
book form in 1895.
The only hitch is :
Could Howells have possibly read it by the time he wrote Royal Langbrith
?
When was it translated into English ? or into French, or into another
language which he knew (Spanish, Italian & German) ?
I don't think that he knew Russian, but I may be wrong.
I have read extracts of Chekhov's book. It does not express
the theory of remorse expressed by Garley, but I think Howells
could very well have reinterpreted & modified the book in
order to make his point.
I would be very interested to have you opinion on this and would be very
grateful if you could enlighten me.
Thank you,
Guillaume Tanguy.
g.stewart.tanguy@wanadoo.fr |
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Lady of the Aroostook
I'm hoping that you can help me. I have a LADY OF THE AROOSTOOK
with a brown hardback cover and spine stamped with gold text.
10cm x 13cm approx (pocket edition, in one shilling volumes??)
. It was published by Edinburgh University Press
T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY.
The text a couple of pages in reads:
THE LADY OF
THE AROOSTOOK
BY
WILLIAM D. HOWELLS
(then a picture)
Authors Edition
VOL 1
EDINBURGH
DAVID DOUGLAS, CASTLE STREET
1884
I would be grateful for any information that you can give me,
Many thanks,
Hadar
h_leuchter@yahoo.co.uk |
Dear Hadar, I just came across your inquiry about
the Douglas edition of The Lady of the Aroostook. I might be able
to give you a few details on it. Douglass published a series of Howells'
books in the early 1880's. I have the same edition you have in a
matched set of thirteen volumes which was once sent by the publisher
to WDH's brother Joseph. Each volume of this set has written on the
title page "J. A. Howells Presented by David Douglas Edinburg, Scotland." The
books also have J. A. Howells' small Jefferson, Ohio bookplates.
Your copy, like mine, probably lists ten volumes in the page facing
the title page, but the set I own shows the continuing publishing
effort, as it is uniformly bound in thirteen volumes. My binding
is in a dark green floral hardcover. "American Authors" is in the
lower right quadrant of the cover. The book title is in gold in the
upper left part of the cover. The book is not a first printing, though,
as I have another copy which is two volumes bound as one. The title
page date for this book is 1882, so the book had been out two years
prior to the 1884 edition. My note says that this was the only British
edition of Aroostook listed. This book is in plain oxblood dark cloth
with the title in gold on the thickish spine. This book is also a
part of a set of six similarly bound volumes. I hope this comparison
helps you with your inquiry. Gary Culbert |
Howells Criticism
on Jack London?
QUESTION: Does anybody know of any direct reference to Jack London by Howells,
in either his letters or his criticism or? Seems a bit odd, as Earle Labor
recently pointed out, that Howells would totally ignore London, especially
during the younger writer's rapid rise to fame circa 1900-1904.Jonathan
Auerbachja44@umail.umd.edu |
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| Peter Dump
QUESTION: I have been informed by the Globusz Publisher that
the article "American Literary Centres" was written
by William Dean Howells.
I am researching information on the Dump-Dumph family genealogy.
Within the body of the aforementioned text is the following line:
"...and Mr. George Ade and Mr. Peter Dump in their satires
form with those named a group not to be matched elsewhere in
the country...."
Does anyone know where I can find copies of Mr. Peter Dump's
satires and/or further information about him?
This Mr. Peter Dump may be my great-great-uncle.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harold L. Dump, pjhh@iland.net
1-23-03
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Howells, Owen Wister, and Cowboys
QUESTION: I wondered if someone might be able to direct me to
a book that treats (or mentions) an exchange between William
Dean Howells and Owen Wister. The exchange involves Howells cautioning
Wister not to pursue writing a story referring to cowboys' sexual
practice. Thank you.
Karen Chandler
kmchan01@louisville.edu
3/10/2003 |
Here is a reference that might help. Melody Graulich's "What
if Wister were a Woman?" (Reading The Virginian in the
New West, 2003) notes this incident: "Feeling judged by
his father for his 'failures' at business and law, Wister wrote
a novel, A Wise Man's Son, 'the story of a young man whose
father forced him into business.' He sent it to the man he considered
a 'mentor,' W. D. Howells, who recommended that Wister not show
such a 'rebellious' work to a publisher" (205). Graulich cites
Payne's Owen Wister , p. 74, as the source.
D. Campbell, 10-5-04
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| Howells and the "Recent Literature" columns in Atlantic
I would like to know if Howells wrote the unsigned "Recent
Literature" columns that appeared in ATLANTIC MONTHLY. Specifically,
I am interested in the reviews published in 1874. I suspect that
he did not write these, but am not sure how to find out.
Thank you for your time,
Jonathan Daigle, dissertator
University of Wisconsin-Madison
jrdaigle@wisc.edu
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Howells's Address on West 9th St.
COMMENTS: In 1891 when W.D. Howells first moved to NYC, he lived
on West 9th Street, then moved to 17th Street. Please give me
his address on Ninth Street. I am doing an article on important
authors who lived on West 9th Street. Thank you.
nonstopny@aol.com
3/28/03 |
Howells' address in the late 1880's in NYC was
46 West 9th St.
That is how he was heading his letters by 1888 as cited in Life
in Letters.... Howells move to NYC from Boston was considerably
before 1891, I believe.
Best wishes,
Gary Culbert gculbert@echs.bellevue.wa.us
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Expression used by Howells
I am looking for the origin of an expression used either by
Howells or by a critic in relation to Howells. I think that it
also features in the title of a critical book on Howells. This
expression is :
" (there has always been) a little ideality in my reality ".
What I would like to find is the origin of this expression linking
IDEALITY and REALITY.
Thank you ! Guillaume Tanguy, France,
e-g.stewart.tanguy@wanadoo.fr
4/27/03
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