The Howellsian Volume 5, Number 1 (June, 2000)

At the annual conference of the American Literature Association, held in Long Beach, California, May 25-28, 2000, the William Dean Howells Society acted a sponsor of one session.  Chaired by Sanford E. Marovitz, emeritus faculty member at Kent State University and vice-president of the Society, the session included papers from three panelists:  Matthew R. Davis from the University of Washington read "William Dean Howells, Failed Utopianism, and the Promise of Supernatural Brotherhood"; Sarah (Sally B. Daugherty from Wichita State University presented "The Home-Towners: Howells the Critic vs. Howells the Novelist" ;and William Morgan from Brandeis University delivered "From Sympathy to Complicity: Howells's Realist History of Sentimental Ethics."  Attendance at the session was gratifyingly large.  The Society plans to sponsor one session, perhaps two, at the next ALA conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in late May, 2001.  Please send abstracts of papers of no more than ten-double space typed pages to the current program chair, Sanford E. Marovitz (Department of English, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242) by December 15, 2000, for consideration for presentation in this session.

Donna Campbell, secretary-treasurer of the Society, reminds all of us that now is the time for all good members to renew their membership in the Society.  Please send your renewal check of ten dollars (a bargain price) either to her (English Department, Gonzaga University, 508 East Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA 99258-0018), or to Jesse S. Crisler (3127 JKHB, Department of English, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602-6280).  Please inform colleagues that they may also become members by filling out the Membership Mail-in Form accessible at the Society's website, .  Members who have not visited this site recently will certainly want to review the many links to Howells, his work, his life, and his contemporaries, which Donna has assembled.  Members may also be interested in subscribing to Howells-L by sending a message to Donna at majordomo@gonzaga.edu, leaving the subject line blank, and typing subscribe howells-l as the body of the message; Howells-L may laws be accessed through a link at the Society website.  Please send Donna any announcements of possible interest to society members, including calls for papers, information on new publications relating to Howells, queries, suggestions, or other items that you think could be appropriately placed on the Society's web page.

Enclosed with this copy of  The Howellsian is, as usual, a membership list.  Please examine this closely both for mistakes in your listing and for alterations you may desire to make in it.  Send changes to Jesse S. Crisler (jesse_crisler@byu.edu).

At the ALA meeting in Cambridge next year, the Society will hold its biennial business meeting; among other items of business to be transacted will be the election of officers, that is, vice president and program chair, and secretary-treasurer and website manager.  Sanford Marovitz will automatically become president, as stipulated in our bylaws.