WRITER

William Dean Howells

1837 - 1920

Photo of William Dean Howells

Icon of person William Dean Howells

William Dean Howells ( HOW-əlz; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of William Dean Howells has received more than 421,027 page views. His biography is available in 25 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 24 in 2019). William Dean Howells is the 4,973rd most popular writer (down from 4,625th in 2019), the 6,953rd most popular biography from United States (down from 6,628th in 2019) and the 556th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 420k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 47.62

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 25

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.07

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.77

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Italian journeys
Description and travel, Travel, Biography
1867
A chance acquaintance
Fiction, Upper class, Young women
1873
Their wedding journey
Classic Literature, Fiction
From the book:They first met in Boston, but the match was made in Europe, where they afterwards saw each other; whither, indeed, he followed her; and there the match was also broken off. Why it was broken off, and why it was renewed after a lapse of years, is part of quite a long love-story, which I do not think myself qualified to rehearse, distrusting my fitness for a sustained or involved narration; though I am persuaded that a skillful romancer could turn the courtship of Basil and Isabel March to excellent account. Fortunately for me, however, in attemp-ting to tell the reader of the wedding-journey of a newly married couple, no longer very young, to be sure, but still fresh in the light of their love, I shall have nothing to do but to talk of some ordinary traits of American life as these appeared to them, to speak a little of well-known and easily accessible places, to present now a bit of landscape and now a sketch of character. They had agreed to make their wedding-journey in the simplest and quietest way, and as it did not take place at once after their marriage, but some weeks later, it had all the desired charm of privacy from the outset. "How much better," said Isabel, "to go now, when nobody cares whether you go or stay, than to have started off upon a wretched wedding-breakfast, all tears and trousseau, and had people wanting to see you aboard the cars.
1872
The rise of Silas Lapham
Rich people, Readers, Fiction
1884
The landlord at Lion's Head
Accessible book, Artists, Fiction
1897
A hazard of new fortunes
Fiction, Middle-aged persons, Married people
1889

Among WRITERS

Among writers, William Dean Howells ranks 4,973 out of 7,302. Before him are Frank Belknap Long, Jean Cayrol, Gavino Ledda, Vasily Yan, Richard Hughes, and Jakob van Hoddis. After him are Umihana Čuvidina, A. E. Housman, Karl Wilhelm Ramler, Klabund, Günter Kunert, and Jan Kasprowicz.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1837, William Dean Howells ranks 97. Before him are Carl Koldewey, Georg von Kopp, Władysław Żeleński, Joseph Schröter, Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau, and Leo Königsberger. After him are Petre P. Carp, Juan Lindolfo Cuestas, Nikolai Bugaev, Pedro Varela, Karl Mauch, and Peter Lesgaft. Among people deceased in 1920, William Dean Howells ranks 106. Before him are Aleksey Shakhmatov, Germanus V of Constantinople, Georgios Papasideris, William de Wiveleslie Abney, Ion Dragoumis, and Meri Mangakāhia. After him are Alberto Nepomuceno, Olive Schreiner, Horatio Caro, Robert Harron, Max Fürbringer, and Hermann Oldenberg.

Others Born in 1837

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Others Deceased in 1920

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In United States

Among people born in United States, William Dean Howells ranks 6,953 out of 20,380. Before him are Lana Rhoades (1996), Bill de Blasio (1961), Jason Sudeikis (1975), Doris Eaton Travis (1904), Jimmy Ellis (1940), and Jess McMahon (1882). After him are James C. Adamson (1946), James Best (1926), Gladys West (1930), Frank Schlesinger (1871), Roger B. Taney (1777), and Heather Thomas (1957).

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, William Dean Howells ranks 556. Before him are Edmund Wilson (1895), Mark Frost (1953), Mary Oliver (1935), Paula Fox (1923), Eben Alexander (1953), and Frank Belknap Long (1901). After him are Kenneth Copeland (1936), Sidney Howard (1891), Joanna Russ (1937), Paul Theroux (1941), William Gibson (1914), and Chris Van Allsburg (1949).

American born Writers

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