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The Rise of Silas Lapham
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The Rise of Silas Lapham Mass market paperbound - 2002

by William Dean Howells; Introduction by Louis Auchincloss


Summary

“Let fiction cease to lie about life; let it portray men and women as they are, actuated by the motives and the passions in the measure we all know.”—William Dean Howells

The Rise of Silas Lapham, first published in book form in 1885, was the first important novel to center on the American businessman and the first to treat its theme with a realism that was to foreshadow the work of modern writers. In his story of Yankee Silas Lapham—one of the millionaires who flourished with the expanding industrialization of post-Civil War years—William Dean Howells probed the moral and social conflicts that confronted a self-made man who attempted to crash Boston’s old-guard, aristocratic society. Howells was essentially sympathetic to his hero: his Silas Lapham was a man of conscience who fully realized his folly. But he was also an ambitious man who knowingly let his aspirations lead him to hazard both his fortune and his family’s happiness for status in a society that could never accept him. “His perceptions were sure, his integrity was absolute,” wrote Henry Seidel Canby of William Dean Howells, whom he credited as being “responsible for giving the American novel form.”

From the publisher

Let fiction cease to lie about life; let it portray men and women as they are, actuated by the motives and the passions in the measure we all know. William Dean Howells

The Rise of Silas Lapham, first published in book form in 1885, was the first important novel to center on the American businessman and the first to treat its theme with a realism that was to foreshadow the work of modern writers. In his story of Silas Lapham one of the millionaires who flourished with the expanding industrialization of the post-Civil War years William Dean Howells probed the moral and social conflicts that confronted a self-made man who attempted to crash Boston s old-guard, aristocratic society. Silas Lapham is a man of conscience who fully realizes his folly. But he is also an ambitious man who knowingly lets his aspirations lead him to hazard both his fortune and his family s happiness for status in a society that can never accept him. His perceptions were sure, his integrity was absolute, wrote Henry Seidel Canby of William Dean Howells, whom he credited as being responsible for giving the American novel form. "

Details

  • Title The Rise of Silas Lapham
  • Author William Dean Howells; Introduction by Louis Auchincloss
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Signet Book, Bergenfield, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 2002-03-01
  • ISBN 9780451528223 / 0451528220
  • Weight 0.39 lbs (0.18 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.74 x 4.24 x 0.69 in (17.12 x 10.77 x 1.75 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Businessmen
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001049556
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

"[Howells's] perceptions were sure, his integrity was absolute." Henry Seidel Canby

About the author

William Dean Howells was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on March 1, 1837. His father was a printer and newspaperman, and the family moved from town to town. Howells went to school where he could. As a boy he began learning the printer s skill. By the time he was in his teens he was setting type for his own verse. Between 1856 and 1861 he worked as a reporter for the Ohio State Journal. About this time his poems began to appear in the Atlantic Monthly. His campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln, compiled in 1860, prompted the administration to offer him the consulship at Venice, a post he held from 1861 to 1865. He married Elinor Gertrude Meade, a young woman from Vermont, in 1862 Paris. On his return to the United States in 1865, Howells worked in New York before going to Boston as assistant to James T. Fields of The Atlantic Monthly. In 1871 he became editor-in-chief of the magazine. In this position he worked with many young writers, among them Mark Twain and Henry James, both of whom became his close friends. His first novel, Their Wedding Journey, appeared in 1872. The Rise of Silas Lapham was serialized in Century Magazine before it was published in book form in 1885. A Hazard of New Fortunes was published five years later. His position as critic, writer, and enthusiastic exponent of the new realism earned him the respected title of Dean of American Letters. He died in 1920.
Louis Auchincloss is a highly acclaimed novelist, literary critic, and historian. His more than fifty books include The Rector of Justin, The House of Five Talents, and The Atonement. He is also the author of several nonfiction works including The Man Behind the Book: Literary Profiles and a member and current president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York City."
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The Rise Of Silas Lapham

The Rise Of Silas Lapham

by Howells, William Dean

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The Rise of Silas Lapham

The Rise of Silas Lapham

by William Dean; Auchincloss, Louis Howells

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The Rise of Silas Lapham

by HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN

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USA: Signet Classics, 2002. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6?" - 7?" tall. Paperback in Very Good Condition. With a new Introduction by Louis Auchincloss. Originally published in book form in 1885, this was the first book to deal with the American businessman and the first to treat its theme with realism, foreshadowing the work of modern writers. Silas Lapham was a self-made man and a millionaire in the post-Civil War era; the story explores his moral and social conflicts as he tries to break into Boston's Old Guard. Gently used clean and unmarked paperback, tight and square binding. Pages have no markings of any kind. Faint wear to cover edges. 368 pages. 4.25 x 6,75. 2002, Signet Classics, USA.
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The Rise of Silas Lapham
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The Rise of Silas Lapham

by William Dean Howells; Introduction-Louis Auchincloss

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