William Dean Howells, Indian Summer

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1886

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Much of what happens in

Indian Summer

is reflected in the actual life of its author, William Dean Howells. Like the main character, Theodore Colville, Howells had spent several years in Italy as a young man. Again like Colville, he returned there after an absence of seventeen years. Howells’ visit was prompted from his strenuous efforts in writing

A Modern Instance

. Many of Howells’ literary friends also noticed that several of his personality traits were incorporated into Colville’s character. Howells’ notebook reveals that a number of his experiences in Florence were incorporated into his novel. For instance, several of Colville’s conversations with Reverend Waters were based on Howells’ own talks with Karl Hillenbrand, one of the leaders of the German colony in Florence.

The

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2218 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "Indian Summer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4447, accessed 25 November 2024.]

William Dean Howells, Indian Summer

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback