This novel may well have been the first in American Literature to give
serious consideration to the emerging class of self-made businessmen.
While they would later come to be targets of ridicule and hatred, Howells--writing
in the flush of victory in the Civil War, which Northern industrialists
had so much to do with--treats his subject, if not gently, then sympathetically.
Silas Lapham is a Vermonter who takes over a minor paint business from
his father and turns it into a significant success. He is the very
symbol of the nouveau riche, post-War millionaire. However, his attempts
to penetrate Boston society prove futile, his speculations in other businesses
and in stock ventures prove disastrous and a rival paint company brings
him to the brink of financial ruin. But Lapham, who had cut some
corners and made some moral compromises on the road to success, proves
unwilling to stoop to deceit in order to save his own skin. He recognizes
that his rivals have natural advantages that he can not compete with and
is honest with bidders for his company about these facts. Thus, though
he is eventually driven out of business, Silas emerges as something of
a hero.
If the novel's moral aesthetics seem somewhat dated, recall that it
was written at the height of the Victorian era. Meanwhile, the language
has worn well; it does not seem as dated as some other novels of its time.
And I, for one, found the essentially positive treatment of Lapham to be
a refreshing departure. It stands in honorable opposition to the
more negative, and somehow less human, portrayals of Dreiser, Lewis,
Sinclair and that ilk.
(Reviewed:02-Mar-00)
Grade: (B+)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-REVIEW:
of Tom Sawyer (Atlantic Monthly [unsigned; William Dean Howells] 1876:
May)
-ESSAY:
Opinions on "The White Man's Burden" By William Dean Howells (Excerpt
from "Opinions of W. D. Howells," New York Sun (April 30, 1899)
-The
William Dean Howells Society Site
-The
San Antonio College LitWeb William Dean Howells Page
-PAL:
William Dean Howells (1837-1920)(Perspectives in American Literature:
A Research and Reference Guide)
-AITLC
Guide to William Dean Howells (ACCESS INDIANA Teaching & Learning
Center)
-ETEXTS:
William Dean Howells (1837-1920)
-ETEXT:
Rise of Silas Lapham
-ESSAY:
William Dean Howells on the Philippine-American War (Jim Zwick, Anti-Imperialism
in the US)
-ESSAY:
On Writing in America: The Politics, Criticism, and Fiction of
William Dean Howells (Alex Spare, U. of Colorado)
-ESSAY:
IT WAS A MESS! HOW HENRY JAMES AND OTHERS ACTUALLY WROTE A NOVEL (Alfred
Bendixen, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of OLD CLEMENS AND W.D.H. The Story of a Remarkable Friendship. By
Kenneth E. Eble (Carl Bode, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Gore Vidal: 'The Peculiar American Stamp', NY Review of Books
Novels, 1875-1886 by William
Dean Howells
-REVIEW:
Edmund Wilson: The Fruits of the MLA, NY Review of Books
Their Wedding Journey by
William Dean Howells
-REVIEW:
Denis Donoghue: The Return of the Native, NY Review of Books
An American Procession by
Alfred Kazin
-REVIEW:
of AN AMERICAN PROCESSION By Alfred Kazin ( Marcus Cunliffe, NY Times
Book Review)
GENERAL:
-REVIEW:
of THEODORE DREISER At the Gates of the City 1871-1907. By Richard
Lingeman (Cynthia Ozick, NY Times Book Review)
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
Gentle sir:
Please re-consider this slightly flawed though Really Good Book. It's deserving of an A-, at least.
(For what's it's worth, Gore Vidal likes it too.)
- Brent Anderson
- May-22-2004, 06:06
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