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The Kentons
""The Kentons"" is a novel written by William Dean Howells that explores the complexities of family relationships and the struggles of everyday life in the late 19th century. The story follows the Kenton family, who are struggling to make ends meet in a small town in Ohio. The father, Henry Kenton, is a struggling farmer who is constantly at odds with his wife, Ellen, over their financial situation. Meanwhile, their daughter, Marcia, is torn between her love for a young man from a wealthy family and her loyalty to her own family. As the family navigates these challenges, they must also confront the changing social and economic landscape of their community, which threatens to upend their way of life. Through nuanced characterizations and vivid descriptions of rural life, Howells offers a poignant and insightful portrait of a family struggling to survive in a rapidly changing world.1902. Howells was an American realist author. He wrote for various magazines including Atlantic Monthly and Harper�������s Magazine. His career blossomed after the publication of his first realist novel, A Modern Instance. The Kentons The Kentons were not rich, but they were certainly richer than the average in the pleasant country town of the Middle West where they had spent nearly their whole married life. As their circumstances had grown easier, they had mellowed more and more in the keeping of their comfortable home, until they hated to leave it even for the short outings, which their children made them take, to Niagara or the Upper Lakes in the hot weather. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
About the author
William Dean Howells
1,284 books104 followersWillam Dean Howells (1837-1920) was a novelist, short story writer, magazine editor, and mentor who wrote for various magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine.
In January 1866 James Fields offered him the assistant editor role at the Atlantic Monthly. Howells accepted after successfully negotiating for a higher salary, but was frustrated by Fields's close supervision. Howells was made editor in 1871, remaining in the position until 1881.
In 1869 he first met Mark Twain, which began a longtime friendship. Even more important for the development of his literary style — his advocacy of Realism — was his relationship with the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison, who during the 1870s wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly on the lives of ordinary Americans.
He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1872, but his literary reputation took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which described the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur of the paint business. His social views were also strongly represented in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888), A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), and An Imperative Duty (1892). He was particularly outraged by the trials resulting from the Haymarket Riot.
His poems were collected during 1873 and 1886, and a volume under the title Stops of Various Quills was published during 1895. He was the initiator of the school of American realists who derived, through the Russians, from Balzac and had little sympathy with any other type of fiction, although he frequently encouraged new writers in whom he discovered new ideas.
Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, Giovanni Verga, Benito Pérez Galdós, and, especially, Leo Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of American writers Hamlin Garland, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles W. Chesnutt, Abraham Cahan, Madison Cawein,and Frank Norris. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence. In his "Editor's Study" column at the Atlantic Monthly and, later, at Harper's, he formulated and disseminated his theories of "realism" in literature.
In 1904 he was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he became president.
Howells died in Manhattan on May 11, 1920. He was buried in Cambridge Cemetery in Massachusetts.
Noting the "documentary" and truthful value of Howells' work, Henry James wrote: "Stroke by stroke and book by book your work was to become, for this exquisite notation of our whole democratic light and shade and give and take, in the highest degree documentary."
In January 1866 James Fields offered him the assistant editor role at the Atlantic Monthly. Howells accepted after successfully negotiating for a higher salary, but was frustrated by Fields's close supervision. Howells was made editor in 1871, remaining in the position until 1881.
In 1869 he first met Mark Twain, which began a longtime friendship. Even more important for the development of his literary style — his advocacy of Realism — was his relationship with the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison, who during the 1870s wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly on the lives of ordinary Americans.
He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1872, but his literary reputation took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which described the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur of the paint business. His social views were also strongly represented in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888), A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), and An Imperative Duty (1892). He was particularly outraged by the trials resulting from the Haymarket Riot.
His poems were collected during 1873 and 1886, and a volume under the title Stops of Various Quills was published during 1895. He was the initiator of the school of American realists who derived, through the Russians, from Balzac and had little sympathy with any other type of fiction, although he frequently encouraged new writers in whom he discovered new ideas.
Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, Giovanni Verga, Benito Pérez Galdós, and, especially, Leo Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of American writers Hamlin Garland, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles W. Chesnutt, Abraham Cahan, Madison Cawein,and Frank Norris. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence. In his "Editor's Study" column at the Atlantic Monthly and, later, at Harper's, he formulated and disseminated his theories of "realism" in literature.
In 1904 he was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he became president.
Howells died in Manhattan on May 11, 1920. He was buried in Cambridge Cemetery in Massachusetts.
Noting the "documentary" and truthful value of Howells' work, Henry James wrote: "Stroke by stroke and book by book your work was to become, for this exquisite notation of our whole democratic light and shade and give and take, in the highest degree documentary."
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March 5, 2020
(My ranking of Howells' best novels: https://azleslie.com/posts/howells-ra...)
The Kentons starts really strong, throwing you into a cycle of each family member's opinion of each other: each has odd neuroses and blind spots, each gets on another's nerves, each gets on the *readers* nerves. Everyone is a believable, realistic character, precisely because everyone is kinda odd. And then an even odder thing happens: the three young adult children keep entering opposites-attract flirtations -- which, to make it more uncomfortable, they tend to replicate. Even on the final page, a successful suitor is referred to as the alter ego of one who turned out to be insufferable. This is all very well done, even though it can't really be said that there is plot here besides the family going on a trip, mock-hilariously, to avoid a bad suitor.
The Kentons starts really strong, throwing you into a cycle of each family member's opinion of each other: each has odd neuroses and blind spots, each gets on another's nerves, each gets on the *readers* nerves. Everyone is a believable, realistic character, precisely because everyone is kinda odd. And then an even odder thing happens: the three young adult children keep entering opposites-attract flirtations -- which, to make it more uncomfortable, they tend to replicate. Even on the final page, a successful suitor is referred to as the alter ego of one who turned out to be insufferable. This is all very well done, even though it can't really be said that there is plot here besides the family going on a trip, mock-hilariously, to avoid a bad suitor.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review