Metropolitan: William Dean Howells and the Novel of New York by Adam Gopnik

By glad_bison

Has anyone else here read much Howells? I just got around to *A Hazard of New Fortunes* and it honestly blew my mind—it felt like I stumbled into a whole new side of American lit. The biography mentioned in this review sounds super interesting too, since Howells basically was both a big-name, widely read author for decades and also a critic who pushed a bunch of other realist writers (like Mary Wilkins Freeman, Hamlin Garland, Charles W. Chestnutt, and Sarah Orne Jewett) into the spotlight. It really does sound like it could double as a timeline for that late 1800s/early 1900s literary scene. And personally, I also loved *The Rise of Silas Lapham*. I know he’s not really “in” anymore and most people don’t seem to read him these days, so I’m curious if there are any Howells fans here. If so, I’d love recommendations for other American novels from around that same era or similar vibe.