The Mask of Fiction: Essays on W. D. Howells - Softcover

Crowley, John W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155849751X ISBN 13: 9781558497511

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009

Synopsis

W. D. Howells (1837-1920) occupies a peculiar position in our current literary history. Situated on the periphery, he is one of whose "marginality" seems, nevertheless, to be a necessary counterpart to the "centrality" of other writers―such as his friends Henry James and mark Twin―who are more securely fixed in the canon. Paradoxically, Howells has been an indispensable man in the middle, linking such binary pairs as East/West, romance/realism, elitism/socialism, patriarchal canon/women writers.

This volume brings together nine related essays by John W. Crowley. The first four center respectively on Howells and the Civil War, his attitudes toward women, his friendship with a homosexual writer, and the tragically short life of his daughter Winifred. Crowley's overarching purpose here is to establish Howells as perhaps the representative male writer of his time, within the gender codes of Victorian America.

The last five chapters discuss Howell's later fiction, focusing on its intense concern with psychology an psychic phenomena. Crowley not only brings this relatively neglected work more fully into view, but also argues that Howells used the writing of this fiction as a process of psychological self-healing that resembles the self-analysis of Sigmund Freud during the same years.

About this title

About the Author:

Professor of English at University of Alabama, John W. Crowley is the author of George Cabot Lodge and The Black Heart's Truth: The Early Career of W. D. Howells.

Review:

"The Mask of Fiction is an important contribution to an understanding of Howells the man and the artist. Sensitive and compassionate, gracefully written and moving at a brisk pace, it makes compelling reading and should appeal to scholars and general readers alike."―Ginette De B. Merrill

"For almost two decades Crowley has probed the life and novels of Howells with a precision and understanding that has had a major critical influence. This revision of selected essays marks a new stage in his awareness and ours."―George Arms, University of New Mexico

"These lively essays remind me that John Crowley is the best informed and most stimulating writer in the present generation of Howells interpreters and critics."―Kermit Vanderbilt, San Diego State University

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 155849751X
• ISBN 13: 9781558497511
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284