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Between the Dark and the Daylight
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284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
About the author
William Dean Howells
1,289 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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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 27, 2015
I don't know what I expected when I started this, but I know it wasn't what a got! I had been planning to read something of this new-to-me author and found a place for him before this quarter's challenge ends. I poked around to find something short to be sure I could finish it, and the default edition of this one is 100 pages - short, but long enough!
Lo and behold - it's a collection of seven short stories. While I haven't a clue whether they are in any way representative of his longer work, I suspect in some ways they are. They are not strong on humor, but only one seems to be without any humor at all. The subtitle on some editions reads :Romances. I wouldn't call them such because - except for the endings - there truly isn't much romance during the stories. If there is anything to do with "romance", several touch on the accidental way we have of meeting the one with whom we live out our lives.
Howells is an author I ought to have read earlier. Wikipedia classes him as a realist author and he is on the list of Realism authors found at Writers History - a list Reading with Style has used before. I will definitely be reading more of him.
Lo and behold - it's a collection of seven short stories. While I haven't a clue whether they are in any way representative of his longer work, I suspect in some ways they are. They are not strong on humor, but only one seems to be without any humor at all. The subtitle on some editions reads :Romances. I wouldn't call them such because - except for the endings - there truly isn't much romance during the stories. If there is anything to do with "romance", several touch on the accidental way we have of meeting the one with whom we live out our lives.
Howells is an author I ought to have read earlier. Wikipedia classes him as a realist author and he is on the list of Realism authors found at Writers History - a list Reading with Style has used before. I will definitely be reading more of him.
July 17, 2012
A delightful group of stories by Richard Marsh first published in 1902. The quaint language and customs of the time added enjoyment in the reading. I may have to explore Mr. Marsh's again sometime.
July 10, 2023
Really enjoyed this collection of short stories written in 1902. I’m keen to try some of Marsh’s novels next. He seems to be able to write both comedy and melodrama very well, and I feel like he has a good heart to his stories. I’m especially interested in his Judith Lee mystery novels. It was not very usual to have a female amateur sleuth at that time.
July 26, 2017
Seven short stories collected under the subtitle of Romances, which doesn't best describe them. Of the seven, five were presented through that popular framework of gentlemanly conversation over the cigars down at the club.
'A Sleep and a Forgetting' was the most substantial offering, in which a doctor became both intrigued and attracted to a young woman who has lost her memory after witnessing the death of her mother in an accident. Can he cure her, does he even want to?
Other highlights included the convalescing man haunted by visions who finds the presence of a widow therapeutic in 'The Eidolons of Brooks Alford,' and 'A Case of Metaphantasmia,' the story of a collective dream experienced by the passengers on a train.
But the story which hit me the hardest was 'Editha,' where a patriotic lady who forces her fiance into enlisting when war is declared is tasked with visiting his mother if he doesn't return alive.
The bitter ending delivered not one but two kickers.
'A Sleep and a Forgetting' was the most substantial offering, in which a doctor became both intrigued and attracted to a young woman who has lost her memory after witnessing the death of her mother in an accident. Can he cure her, does he even want to?
Other highlights included the convalescing man haunted by visions who finds the presence of a widow therapeutic in 'The Eidolons of Brooks Alford,' and 'A Case of Metaphantasmia,' the story of a collective dream experienced by the passengers on a train.
But the story which hit me the hardest was 'Editha,' where a patriotic lady who forces her fiance into enlisting when war is declared is tasked with visiting his mother if he doesn't return alive.
The bitter ending delivered not one but two kickers.
August 24, 2022
Un auteur américain que j'aime beaucoup, mais attention, la présentation de l'édition que j'ai achetée (Pithy Press) laisse beaucoup à désirer : pas de numérotation des pages, aucune table des matières pour ce livre de nouvelles, mise en page absente et police trop petite. Il vaut mieux rester sur le livre électronique pour l'accessibilité et pour même ménager ses yeux. D'ailleurs l'aperçu permet de vérifier avant l'achat, ce qui me semble honnête. Exigez donc la qualité pour le "support" aussi.
October 9, 2014
'Editha' is the only false note in this otherwise charming collection. I could have slapped her, but at least I was able to finish the story knowing that the author would have slapped her as well.
July 9, 2021
The stories just got worse as the volume went on. The first one was pretty good though.
October 31, 2012
super fun little read...glad I found it in the Ebook library.
January 3, 2013
Interesting short stories.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews