THE ADVANCE OF REALISM IN HOWELLS AND JAMES Throughout his long career as "dean of American letters," William Dean

Howells ( 18371920) made his influence felt as critic and novelist by Decrying the mawkish sentimentalism that had appeared in much of the fiction after the 'fifties, and by substituting therefor a more honest transcript of manners, marked by far better artistry. His reticent realism maintained the favor of a large reading public and led the way to the thoroughgoing realism of today. Like Mark Twain, Howells was a son of the virile Middle-West who worked his way up through rough-and-tumble journalism; but unlike him, he was contemplative by temperament, he loved the classics, and, instead of recording the rugged life about him, identified himself completely with the East. Born in 1837 at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, the son of a country printer with Swedenborgian leanings, the boy early showed a bookish inclination, and read not only all the great English authors, but the foreign as well, doting on Heine. With John J. Piatt he published Poems of Two Friends ( 1859), and he contributed other poems to the Atlantic Monthly. For writing a campaign life of Lincoln he was made consul at Venice. The appointment enabled him to study Italian, and to write his sketches of Venetian Life ( 1866), and Italian Journeys ( 1867). On his return, the cosmopolite took up editorial duties, first with The Nation, then for fifteen years with the Atlantic Monthly, and last with Harper's Magazine. Naturally such connections gave him an immense influence. He encouraged unknown writers as dissimilar as Mark Twain and Henry James, and gave recognition to many another. He became more and more interested in the writing of novels. In Their Wedding Journey ( 1871), A Chance Acquaintance ( 1873), and A Foregone Conclusion ( 1874) he exhibited the wholesome charm and felicity of expression for which he was to become famous, and a growing sense of realism as well. In turning from the waning transcendentalisms of New England to the delineation of actual life, he chose to present the conflict arising between different grades of sophistication.