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"Modern Italian Poets; Essays and Versions" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

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"The Man of Letters as a Man of Business" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

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Set during the early 1890s in a fashionable summer resort somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, A Traveler from Altruria is narrated by a Mr Twelvemough, a popular author of light fiction who has been selected to function as host to a visitor from the faraway island of Altruria called Mr Homos. In the novel, the island state of Altruria serves as a foil to America, whose citizens, compared to Altrurians, appear selfish, obsessed with money, and emotionally imbalanced. Mainly, A Traveler from Altruria is a critique of unfettered capitalism and its consequences, and of the Gilded Age in particular.
Through the Eye of the Needle is a Utopian novel that follows A Traveler from Altruria. Howells casts this book in the form of an epistolary novel – a form favored by some other Utopian and dystopian writers. Aristides Homos, Howells's Altrurian protagonist, writes a series of letters home to his friend Cyril. Homos is now located in the densely urban environment of New York City, where he confronts the contrasts between America c. 1900 and his own pastoral and agrarian Utopianism in their most extreme forms. The dramatic center of the book is the love affair between Homos and Evelith Strange, a wealthy widow of the American plutocracy.
William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author, literary critic, and playwright. Nicknamed «The Dean of American Letters», he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story «Christmas Every Day», and the novels The Rise of Silas Lapham and A Traveler from Altruria. Howells is known to be the father of American realism, and a denouncer of the sentimental novel.

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"The Minister's Charge; Or, The Apprenticeship of Lemuel Barker" by William Dean Howells. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

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'The Shadow of a Dream' makes readers familiar with this rather peculiar development of a peculiar subject, and the tragic ending which is so much more pronounced than any other of the real facts of Howells' novels on which one can decisively lay a finger, as to give the reader an actual shock of horror. This bit of «the stuff that dreams are made of» but gives us an instance of the strange power of dream phantasies over our waking life – a power that more than one of us has felt, and sets us wondering likewise if there is, after all, any definite boundary between sanity and insanity, and whether it is really only a question of majority decision. The story is, of course, handled with all the delicate finish and fidelity of which Howells is along acknowledged master.

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Mr. Howells shows a light and exquisite touch in «April Hopes,» a novel, it is safe to say, in which all his finer qualities are seen at their best. The sweetness of it is perhaps a trifle cloying now and then to robust palates, but the story is for all the world like a spring day where showers and sunshine grace fully intermingle. Story, we say, while in reality there is no story at all, in accordance with Mr. Howells' views of the lack of stories in «real» life. Only an account of how two young things fell in love with one another and quarreled and made up, and quarreled again, and made up again, and broke off the engagement once more, and finally made up for good and got married. But how charmingly the affair is put before us—all the foolish, silly, entrancing details are there, and never does the author exceed the limits of probability or the canons of good taste. It is like a pretty play, for the narrative in the book is a poor pennyworth of bread to an infinite deal of sack in shape of bright and sparkling dialogue. We sit and watch Dan and Alice at their love meetings and their love quarrels, hear them exchange their bits of romantic nonsense, see them go through their little deceits and flights of tragedy and playings at broken hearts, and listen while they utter protestations of undying affection and vows of unwavering faith. It is all very pretty very dainty, very touching, and everyone who assists at the performance must feel that here at any rate is a bit of reality—softened, indeed, and modified somewhat by the essentially idealistic temperament of the author, who finds it hard not to give a Watteau-like grace to all his fond imaginings— yet sufficiently «real» to chime in with the actual or fancied experiences common to the majority of commonplace humanity. The doctrine of elective affinities has no place in the world of 'April Hopes.' «Girlhood», in the author's view, «is often a turmoil of wild impulses, ignorant exaltations, mistaken ideals, which really represent no intelligent purpose, and come from disordered nerves, ill-advised reading, and the erroneous perspective of inexperience.» When two creatures thus constituted indulge in the frantic effort of trying to reconcile their ideals the comedy and tragedy of courtship begin, for as Mr. Howells says once more, «the difficulty in life is to bring experience to the level of expectation, to match our real emotions in view of any great occasion with the ideal emotions which we have taught ourselves that we ought to feel.»

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Mr. Howells' novel exhibits the influence of many disturbing elements upon the mind of the writer. What they call the «zeitgeist» in Germany is strongly reflected in the pages of «Annie Kilburn;» and the lenses through which current social phenomena are viewed are not those of optimism. The heroine is a not quite young woman, who, after a long residence abroad, returns orphaned to her old home. This is a New England manufacturing town in a transition state between colonial Puritanism and nobody knows what. Annie Kilburn stands for that peculiarly modern condition of mind in which dissatisfaction with social relations as they exist is rather paralyzed than tempered by the operation of a practical sense which teaches the futility of all the remedial agencies that suggest themselves. She strongly yearns to do good; to better the state of the poor; to equalize social conditions. With a woman's impulsiveness she begins many things; with a New England woman's intellectual alert ness she quickly realizes the uselessness of her experiments. But she is not alone in the desire to right wrongs and remove abuses. An atmosphere of restlessness, doubt, and perplexity surrounds the story, which is full of futile reformers and hypocrites and feeble essays at amelioration undertaken in dense misapprehension of what is really needed. Tolstoi dashed with anarchy might be said to be the most conspicuous flavors in the book. An ie Kilburn herself is a would-be philanthropist, who feels her hands tied by inevitable circumstances. The Rev. Mr. Peck is an evangelical dreamer who lacks administrative and coordinating power, and drifts into a deadly quarrel with the respectable hypocrites of his congregation. Gerrish, the head and type of these, is a vulgar, purse-proud, greedy, and overbearing tradesman, who demands «the promises» from his pastor, and is furious when the latter attempts to apply the teachings of Christ to conduct. Putney is an irregular genius, who is strongly drawn to the side of all the protestants against modern social conditions; who, as a lawyer, prefers to defend boycotting Knights of Labor, and who is the opposite of the Gerrish tribe, Bohemian against Philistine, a natural «revolte,» in short. Then there is Mrs. Munger, the social leader, who manages everybody, and wishing to start a social union for the benefit of the working people, pro poses to raise funds by an outdoor theatrical performance, followed by a supper and dance from which the beneficiaries are to be excluded. Mr. Howells' art has never been more finely displayed than in the handling of the feminine elements of «Annie Kilburn.» The whole episode of Mrs. Munger's call upon her friends for the purpose of gathering opinions as to the supper and dance plan is described with consummate humor and in sight. The visit of the three former girl friends to Annie upon her return from Rome is perhaps equally good. There is marvelous perception and skillful description in all this ; but there is also a certain want of humanity, which produces a slightly uncomfortable impression.

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"The Rise of Silas Lapham" is a Bostonian novel. A Boston family of the strict Brahminical type, the Coreys, finds itself under obligations for help in a painful emergency to the Laphams, a family of crude manners, mushroom wealth, and sterling virtue. The Laphams, pricked to social ambition by the new acquaintance, build a house on the Back Bay. The contrast of the two social worlds is amusingly depicted in the chapters that record their intercourse; and the elder Lapham allows himself to become intoxicated at a dinner to which he and his family have been self-sacrificingly invited by the Coreys. Meanwhile, Tom Corey, only son of the distinguished family, has obtained a place in the mineral-paint establishment of Silas Lapham, and has seen something informally of the two Lapham girls, the elder of whom, Penelope, is interesting, while her younger sister Irene is dazzlingly beautiful. The young man makes love to the elder girl, but so unobtrusively that he is supposed by both families and both girls to be making love to the other. He proposes to Penelope; she refuses in remorse and dismay; Irene is momentarily furious; the Lapham family is thrown into consternation, and the Corey family, recoiling from any bond with the Laphams, is still further distressed by the discovery that the choice has fallen on the plainer and less valued girl. The question whether a girl may decently marry the man she loves if the joint anticipations of two families have previously bestowed him on a consenting sister seems to be too easy to be worth putting or answering when you have removed it from the texture of the novel; but it is argued extendedly and gravely and dejectedly by the lover and the girl and the girl's parents and the Unitarian minister and the Unitarian minister's wife. This is by far the best novel by Mr. Howells and should not be missed from any bookshelf.

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Apart from his many novels, William Dean Howells was a prolific author of plays, especially farces. This volume includes the following of his works: The Parlor-Car, The Sleeping Car, The Register, The Elevator, The Garotters, Five O'clock Tea, A Likely Story, The Albany Depot, A Letter Of Introduction, The Unexpected Guests, Evening Dress, Bride Roses.

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Mr. Howells' refined humor is one of his most charming characteristics. It creeps out, however, on the most solemn occasions, and many a situation that might have been pathetic or commonplace is given a piquant turn by some deft touch of mellow satire which pleases and never wounds. This delicate, subdued humor, appealing to the finer sensibilities of the reader, is purely American. It is allied to the French in subtlety, but it has none of the Gallic dash and effervescence. It is a Puritan heritage, with a rich and mellow flavor. The average American combines the cynical penetration of the Frenchman with the mild contemplativeness of the Briton. The one does not sour him, it suggests piquant similes ; the other does not render him indifferent, it only makes him tolerant. Mr. James is also able to start with a satirical purpose and do effective work, but the finer touches are beyond his reach. Mr. Howells, as we have said, has this gift to perfection ; it gives his writings their broadly human interest ; but it is not often that he surrenders himself entirely to the mood of the moment. When he does, the reader is sure of a treat, and this he has in «A Fearful Responsibility.» The very idea of a modest and scholarly man of Professor Elmore's unsophisticated nature being burdened with the guardianship of a brilliant young American girl in a foreign city at once suggests ludicrous possibilities. In this instance the motive is wrought out with rare skill. The hesitation and remorse of the Professor in managing Lily's love affairs ; the querulousness of Mrs. Elmore ; and the perfect resignation of the young lady to whatever fate may have in store are pleasantly depicted. Upon the humorous relations of the dramatis personae the chief interest of the story depends. With the exception of Hoskins, none of the characters is much more than a shadow. But the artist-consul is among the finest personages that Mr. Howells has introduced to us.

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