Lone Star College-Kingwood Library

The Rise of Silas Lapham

William Dean Howells

Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, March 1, 1837

Died in New York, New York, on May 11, 1920

Known as the “dean of American letters,” Howells is largely responsible for the dominance of the realistic school of writing in modern American literature.

Beginnings

For more about the life and times of the author, watch The Rise of Silas Lapham and William Dean Howells by Peggy Whitley (approx 6 min; requires Windows Media Player. Note: this may take a few minutes to load.)

William Dean Howells was a self-taught author who started writing for newspapers. His first published works were poems: "Old Winter, Loose Thy Hold On Us"; "Poems of Two Friends". His works appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Press and the Cincinnati Dial.

Traveling

Most of Howells' education was acquired through traveling, including a tour of New England and Canadian factories which eventually developed into a literary pilgrimage of New England. Several of his books, including The Rise of Silas Lapham, focused on working conditions and the class system during the end of the 19th century. Howells later traveled to Venice as the United States consul. After the Civil War, he returned to America and pursued a career as a full-time author. His experiences in Italy became background material for several travel books and essays on Italy and Italian poets. In the decade from 1881 to 1891, Howells wrote what many critics consider his best works:

A Modern Instance, Indian Summer, The Rise of Silas Lapham, Annie Kilburn, A Hazard of New Fortunes

BOOKS

Librarian Talk . . . About Books!

Books offer helpful information about time periods, authors and the literary works. Use them to help begin your review of literature on The Rise of Silas Lapham.
Apply online for a library card. Use your card to 1) Place a Hold on a book and have it sent to the library closest to you 2) Access journal and reference databases from home, and 3) Access Online Book Database (NetLibrary).
Use the library catalog to search for other books containing critical essays about Howells’ novels and specifically Silas Lapham. Look at books on the shelf nearby to find other sources of information on Howells. Check with your instructor, or the Circulation desk to see if any books have been placed on reserve for your class, or search the library catalog for reserve books.
Online books (database paid for by our libraries) are available at NetLibrary. Use your library card to log in. Create a free account to save favorite titles or your own notes on the books you read.

Biographical Information
PN 41 .D5 - V. 12 - Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB), Information on American Realists and Naturalists. Howells at his desk, Photo from Dictionary of Literary Biography, v.12, and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, v. 41.

Howells at his desk, Photo from Dictionary of Literary Biography, v.12, and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, v. 41.

PN771 .G27 - V. 7, 17 and 41 - Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) includes biographical information as well as excerpts from critical essays discussing Howells’ work. In order to find specific pages on The Rise of Silas Lapham in this source, use the Title Index for TCLC. Under The Rise of Silas Lapham, each volume and the page numbers for information on this work will be listed.

Historical Background -

Between the ending of the Civil War in 1865 and the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the United States underwent major changes. Immigration caused an elemental change in what had been predominantly a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant population. Business became the primary concern of the nation, and the industrial leaders were the real power in the country. A series of ineffectual Presidents made the federal government a minor influence in the citizens' lives. The literary romantics gave way to the realists who felt that everyday life should be depicted with its social injustices, its morality or lack of it, its class distinctions, and its “culture of consumption."

Every writer is influenced by the time in which he lives. Listed below are some books in the Lone Star College-Kingwood Library that give background information on Howells and The Rise of Silas Lapham.

Topics to consider:
PS214 .P5 - Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature
PS374 .N29 - The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism

Business Ethics:
HF5387 .E75 - Essentials of Business Ethics
PS173 .B87 W3 - The Businessman in American Literature

Morality:
PS228 .C34 C35 - The Calvinist Roots of the Modern Era

Howells’ place in American literature:
PS214 .H5 - The Great Tradition: An Interpretation of American Literature Since the Civil War

Information on the novel

Howells believed the novel could be a primary influence on the reader’s desire to initiate social change and that the realistic novel offered a reader an experiential reference that could germinate into ideas for social change. Much of his writing reflects his disdain for the sentimental style of literature so popular at the time he wrote. How has he attempted to do this in The Rise of Silas Lapham? In the realistic novel, Howells believed he should supply information to aid the reader in picturing the story, but the author should not intrude his own ideas. He uses other devices to provide commentary on issues raised in the book. Who or what are some of these devices? Howells used speech or language that echoed the realistic style of speech heard on the street or in everyday life. This was another way Howells tried to distance his work from other novels of the time. What are some examples of this realistic speech?

Librarian Talk about Finding Journal and Newspaper Articles!
Electronic databases are purchased by the libraries for your research use. Use them to find articles in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs and more. Home access to article databases is available with your updated library card barcode. If you need assistance finding an article contact the Reference Librarians and they will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information - and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact you if necessary.

Use your library card to login to these online journal databases

Use databases to find critical analysis of Silas Lapham in scholarly literary journals. Your library bar code number is the login.

Literature Resource Center - This literary database contains articles from some of the reference works shown above as well as analysis of Howells’ work. Searching by the title of the the novel will pull up everything on The Rise of Silas Lapham. This method of searching is not perfect as it pulls up articles from reference works as well as scholarly journals. However, a quick scan of the titles will show you which ones are helpful for this paper. See the MLA link below for more information on using that database to find articles.
MLA (Modern Language Association) - Linked through Literature Resource Center, this is an index of schloarly literary criticism essays. Some of these are full text, but many are located in the library in other databases or on microfiche. Use Check LinkSource to find the articles in other databases.
JSTOR - This database is entirely scholarly and full text. You will be able to find and read scholarly journal articles about Silas Lapham. If you need help focusing your search, see one of the librarians.
ProjectMuse - Another database which is entirely scholarly and full text.
ProQuest Research Library - This database contains articles from over 3,200 magazines, journals, and newspapers. In order to limit to articles from scholarly literary journals, click the Scholarly journals including peer reviewed box on the search page. When you search for articles on the novel, use a keyword from the title and the author's last name. Another search might be to use the author's name and a topic keyword such as "naturalism." Many of the articles you find in this database will be full text.
Academic Search Complete - Use the advanced search screen and limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals in order to find articles from scholarly literary journals.

INTERNET

Librarian Talk about the Internet!

The internet can be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you DO want to find reputable sites. Evaluate for:

Accuracy - The information should be researched and show proof of that research.
Source - Look at the domain: .edu .gov .org .net are valid research sources. Your company's website is also a valuable resource.
Authority - What are the author's credentials? (Don't quote from another college freshman's paper.)
Coverage - Does the page have the information you need for your research?
Objectivity - If a work is biased, use it - just make sure your professor knows YOU know. Offer both sides of issues, where applicable.

Use the Internet with caution. Look for sites of a scholarly or academic level for research in literature. The following Internet sites have been reviewed and are appropriate for research on Howells and The Rise of Silas Lapham.

William Dean Howells A good site presented by Donna Campbell, faculty member Washington State University. Take a look at the selected bibliography and, under the Classroom link, the reading questions for The Rise of Silas Lapham. The links to other sites are useful, too. Many of Howells' works are available online through project Gutenberg. To get to them, use the Scholarship link.

The Literary Encyclopedia An article on The Rise of Silas Lapham with links to information on William Dean Howells.

American Culture in the 19th Century Look at the industrial age as it developed across America.

The novel is available online at: The Rise of Silas Lapham

GETTING HELP FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Citing Sources Using the Library MLA Style Guide | Lone Star College-Kingwood library guide. Examples of both paper and electronic citations.

Avoiding Plagiarism | Excellent information and guide on how to avoid plagiarism from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.

University of Texas Copyright Crash Course | This helpful guide on copyright is suggested by Lone Star College-Kingwood Teaching and Learning Center.

Learning Center | Check our hours for in-house tutoring.

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Page by Bettye Sutton and Becky Bradley, 2001. Updated 5/08 B.Bradley.