English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

5-29-1961

Abstract

This study of Howells' fiction is a discussion of representative novels of the author's from A Foregone Conclusion in 1875 through his last novel, The Vacation of the Kelwyns, in 1920. The arrangement of the novels in chronological order is primarily for convenience; no attempt has been made to trace the literary development of the author. My purpose, rather, has been to show that Howells, throughout the greater part of his career as a novelist, was consistent in his literary method. To understand that method is to have a better understanding of meaning in the novels. Finally, in demonstrating that there exists a genuine relationship between method and meaning in the novels, I have suggested that Howells' fiction embodies an attitude which, as later formulated in the philosophy of William James, came to be known as pragmatism.

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

George Warren Arms

Second Committee Member

Thomas Matthews Pearce

Third Committee Member

Hoyt Trowbridge

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

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