Literature and Life (Complete)
Perhaps the reader may not feel in these papers that inner solidarity which the writer is conscious of; and it is in this doubt that the writer wishes to offer a word of explanation. He owns, as he must, that they have every appearance of a group of desultory sketches and essays, without palpable relation to one another, or superficial allegiance to any central motive. Yet he ventures to hope that the reader who makes his way through them will be aware, in the retrospect, of something like this relation and this allegiance.
For my own part, if I am to identify myself with the writer who is here on his defence, I have never been able to see much difference between what seemed to me Literature and what seemed to me Life. If I did not find life in what professed to be literature, I disabled its profession, and possibly from this habit, now inveterate with me, I am never quite sure of life unless I find literature in it. Unless the thing seen reveals to me an intrinsic poetry, and puts on phrases that clothe it pleasingly to the imagination, I do not much care for it; but if it will do this, I do not mind how poor or common or squalid it shows at first glance: it challenges my curiosity and keeps my sympathy. Instantly I love it and wish to share my pleasure in it with some one else, or as many ones else as I can get to look or listen. If the thing is something read, rather than seen, I am not anxious about the matter: if it is like life, I know that it is poetry, and take it to my heart. There can be no offence in it for which its truth will not make me amends.
Out of this way of thinking and feeling about these two great things, about Literature and Life, there may have arisen a confusion as to which is which. But I do not wish to part them, and in their union I have found, since I learned my letters, a joy in them both which I hope will last till I forget my letters.
“So was it when my life began; So is it, now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old.”
William Dean Howells
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LITERATURE AND LIFE
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
THE MAN OF LETTERS AS A MAN OF BUSINESS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII
IX.
X.
XI.
CONFESSIONS OF A SUMMER COLONIST
I.
II.
III.
IV
THE EDITOR’S RELATIONS WITH THE YOUNG CONTRIBUTOR
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
LAST DAYS IN A DUTCH HOTEL
(1897)
I.
II.
III
IV
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
SOME ANOMALIES OF THE SHORT STORY
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
SPANISH PRISONERS OF WAR
I.
II.
III.
IV.
AMERICAN LITERARY CENTRES
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
THE STANDARD HOUSEHOLD-EFFECT COMPANY
I.
II.
STACCATO NOTES OF A VANISHED SUMMER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
LITERATURE AND LIFE—Short Stories and Essays
CONTENTS:
WORRIES OF A WINTER WALK
I.
II.
III.
SUMMER ISLES OF EDEN
I.
II.
III.
IV.
WILD FLOWERS OF THE ASPHALT
I.
II.
III.
IV
A CIRCUS IN THE SUBURBS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
A SHE HAMLET
I.
II.
III.
THE MIDNIGHT PLATOON
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
THE BEACH AT ROCKAWAY
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
SAWDUST IN THE ARENA
I.
II.
III.
AT A DIME MUSEUM
I.
II.
AMERICAN LITERATURE IN EXILE
I.
II.
THE HORSE SHOW
I.
II.
III.
IV.
THE PROBLEM OF THE SUMMER
I.
II.
III.
AESTHETIC NEW YORK FIFTY-ODD YEARS AGO
I.
II.
FROM NEW YORK INTO NEW ENGLAND
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
THE ART OF THE ADSMITH
I.
II.
III.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PLAGIARISM
I.
II.
PURITANISM IN AMERICAN FICTION
I.
II.
THE WHAT AND THE HOW IN ART
I.
II.
III.
POLITICS OF AMERICAN AUTHORS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
STORAGE
I.
II.
III.
IV
“FLOATING DOWN THE RIVER ON THE O-HI-O”
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
MY LITERARY PASSIONS
1895
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
I. THE BOOKCASE AT HOME
II. GOLDSMITH
III. CERVANTES
IV. IRVING
V. FIRST FICTION AND DRAMA
VI. LONGFELLOW’S “SPANISH STUDENT”
VII. SCOTT
VIII. LIGHTER FANCIES
IX. POPE
X. VARIOUS PREFERENCES
XI. UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
XII. OSSIAN
XIII. SHAKESPEARE
XIV. IK MARVEL
XV. DICKENS
XVI. WORDSWORTH, LOWELL, CHAUCER
XVII. MACAULAY
XVIII. CRITICS AND REVIEWS
XIX. A NON-LITERARY EPISODE
XX. THACKERAY
XXI. “LAZARILLO DE TORMES”
XXII. CURTIS, LONGFELLOW, SCHLEGEL
XXIII. TENNYSON
XXIV. HEINE
XXV. DE QUINCEY, GOETHE, LONGFELLOW
XXVI. GEORGE ELIOT, HAWTHORNE, GOETHE, HEINE
XXVII. CHARLES READE
XXVIII. DANTE
XXIX. GOLDONI, MANZONI, D’AZEGLIO
XXX. “PASTOR FIDO,” “AMINTA,” “ROMOLA,” “YEAST,” “PAUL FERROLL”
XXXI. ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN, BJORSTJERNE BJORNSON
XXXII. TOURGUENIEF, AUERBACH
XXXIII. CERTAIN PREFERENCES AND EXPERIENCES
XXXIV. VALDES, GALDOS, VERGA, ZOLA, TROLLOPE, HARDY
XXXV. TOLSTOY
CRITICISM AND FICTION
I
II
III
IV
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
PG EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: