William Dean Howells : the Development and Demonstration of his Theory of Fiction through 1892 Page: 1
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This study of the development of iow ls's theory of fiction and
the ext nt of its expression in l owels own novels involves a study
of the development of .owell ss literary tastes. 1 Milestones along his
course of reading in world literature may be set up to mark the points
at which he discovered writers whose works he emulated in his own, and
whose works partly determined his owm critical standards,
Holwlls's childhood environment, as he tells us himself, prompted
his search for lifelike literature In his youth he was under the
spell of the ronan.tic~meodraatic nov lists--Dicens, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, hackeray, ~oott; and he never quite got away fro: what they
taught hit., that a novel should ohara its reader as well as present
hi.a a picture of life or instruct hiqJ
lis first important discovery, with regard to the development of
his own writing, was the work of Jaue ~ sten, intheearly eighteen -
Sftie. F e n ovels apparently inspired hi' to write his comedies
of manners 4ti- . ,i^i .si K His next important find was the drama
of the Italian, Carlo Goldoni, in the 'sixtias , which convinced him
that realist, hough he w.s the. ashamed to odt- it , is more desira-
ble in fiction than roantieis . s he novels that crystallized his
conception of style were those of Bjdr'stjerne Bjbrnson, w k h e~s h is- .
covered rn. 837; and the novels that formalated for him his concern tir
of p'lot ..develop; met were those of Ivan T~.rgene, +as irstread
in - 1f%,
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Miles, Elton R. William Dean Howells : the Development and Demonstration of his Theory of Fiction through 1892, thesis, 1947; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc53529/m1/4/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .