William Dean Howells

William Dean Howells was an American novelist, literary critic and playwright. He was known for his realistic fiction and as editor of The Atlantic Monthly. His most famous works include The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) and A Traveller from Altruria (1894). He was also an opponent of sentimental fiction.

William Dean Howells, the second of eight children, was born on 1 March 1837 in Martinsville, Ohio (now Martins Ferry). His father, William Cooper Howells, was a newspaper editor and printer. The family moved frequently but spent nine years in Hamilton, Ohio. The young Howells helped his father with typesetting and printing. In 1852, his father published one of his poems in the Ohio State Journal without telling him.

In 1856, Howells became a clerk in the Ohio House of Representatives. He began writing for the Ohio State Journal in 1858, submitting poems, stories and translations. He admired German literature, particularly the works of Heinrich Heine. In 1860, he traveled to Boston to meet James T. Fields, James Russell Lowell, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the same year, he wrote Life of Abraham Lincoln to support Lincoln's presidential campaign. This biography secured him a consulship in Venice, where he served from 1861 to 1865.

In 1862, Howells married Elinor Mead in Paris. They later had a son, the architect John Mead Howells. After returning to the United States in 1865, Howells settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began writing for major magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. In 1866, he became assistant editor of The Atlantic Monthly, negotiating a higher salary before accepting. He became editor of the magazine in 1871, a position he held until 1881.

As editor, Howells met Mark Twain and became a close friend. He also formed a literary relationship with the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison. Inspired by Harrison's articles about ordinary Americans, Howells embraced realism in literature.

His first novel, Their Wedding Journey, was published in 1872. His reputation grew with A Modern Instance (1882), about a failing marriage. The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), about the rise and fall of a businessman, became his best-known novel.

Howells's later novels, including Annie Kilburn (1888) and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889), reflected his social concerns. He opposed the executions following the Haymarket affair and joined the Anti-Imperialist League in 1898. He supported young writers such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Paul Laurence Dunbar.

In 1902, Howells published The Flight of Pony Baker, a children's book inspired by his youth. He spent summers at Kittery Point, Maine, before moving to York Harbour in 1910 after the death of his wife. He became president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

William Dean Howells died in his sleep in New York City on 11 May 1920. His daughter later published his correspondence as a biography of his literary life.