Books with title THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM

Known as “The Dean of American Letters”, William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was a realist author and literary critic best known for his tenure as one of the most influential editors of the Atlantic Monthly, which is still an important publication today. And though Howells is known mostly for his work as a literary critic, he was also a novelist who wrote works like The Rise of Silas Lapham, Christmas Every Day, and much more. Along the way, he was a literary critic of the works of some of his greatest contemporaries, like Emile Zola, and he knew many American writers, including Mark Twain, Henry James, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Perhaps his most famous novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham is Howells's somewhat cynical take on the "rags to riches" story that was popularized by Horatio Alger Jr. in the late 19th century. The title character has to overcome what society deems his lower class standing.

Howells, William Dean; THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM; Ticknor and Company; Boston; 1885; First Edition. First state ads at front with "Works" and broken "r" in "sojourner." William Dean Howells' richly humorous characterization of a self-made millionaire in Boston society provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age. After establishing a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston, where they awkwardly attempt to break into Brahmin society. Silas, greedy for wealth as well as prestige, brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy, and the family is forced to return to Vermont, financially ruined but morally renewed. As Kermit Vanderbilt points out in his introduction, the novel focuses on important themes in the American literary tradition: the efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral values.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The Rise of Silas Lapham is a realist novel by William Dean Howells published in 1885. The story follows the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. Silas earns a fortune in the paint business, but he lacks social standards, which he tries to attain through his daughter's marriage into the aristocratic Corey family. Silas' morality does not fail him. He loses his money but makes the right moral decision when his partner proposes the unethical selling of the mills to English settlers. Howells is known to be the father of American realism, and a denouncer of the sentimental novel. The resolution of the love triangle of Irene Lapham, Tom Corey, and Penelope Lapham highlights Howells' rejection of the conventions of sentimental romantic novels as unrealistic and deceitful.

[This is the MP3CD audiobook format in vinyl case.] Howells' best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners. After establishing a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position, the consequences of which are both humorous and tragic. The novel focuses on important themes in the American literary tradition--the efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral values--and provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age.