A Belated Guest

Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 30K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Belated Guest (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance) by William Dean HowellsAuthor: Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 22, 2004

Editor's review

Also from Howells's Literary Friends and Acquaintance, this piece recounts in memoir style a late-arriving visitor and related episodes of acquaintance. Howells long worked on the editorial and writing front lines of American letters; the value of such writing lies in restoring names from literary history to tangible people and scenes: a meeting, a conversation, a manner of receiving others. It does not seek argument or conclusion but preserves the atmosphere of an era and silhouettes of persons through gentle, restrained narration. As a public-domain short ebook, it serves as supplementary material for literary-historical sources and essays, and for readers studying Howells's circle of acquaintance for comparison. In reading, attend to the narrator's tone and choices, and appreciate the sense of measure in memoir writing—what is remembered and what is omitted.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in anecdotes and acquaintance details of nineteenth-century American literary figures
Scholars studying Howells's memoir writing and editorial circles
Readers who enjoy short essays, memoir fragments, and gentle narration
Teachers and self-learners seeking brief texts to supplement literary-historical background

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking full biographies, systematic literary history, or definitive conclusions
Readers who prefer fictional plots and strong dramatic conflict
Readers with no knowledge of nineteenth-century American literature who are unwilling to fill the gap

Reading tips

First confirm this piece's place among the surrounding pieces in Literary Friends and Acquaintance; reading it in groups makes personal relationships easier to grasp.
While reading, note clues about the visitor's identity, time, and scene, and distinguish the author's firsthand experience from hearsay retold.
After reading, compare with other pieces in the same group to observe Howells's habits of selection and tone in writing about people and events.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Who is the 'late guest'?

The materials give only the title and source, without the visitor's specific identity or plot details. Confirm the figure using the public-domain original text and related pieces in Literary Friends and Acquaintance; do not speculate without textual basis.

Is this short piece suitable as an introduction to literary history?

It can provide period atmosphere and personal silhouettes, but it is a memoir essay, not a systematic exposition. As an introduction, read it alongside a general literary history or author chronology, treating it as supplementary source material and affective context rather than a knowledge framework.

Why is reading in groups recommended rather than a single piece?

This piece comes from the same group of memoir writings, whose people and scenes are often linked back and forth. Reading a single piece easily loses context; reading in groups better captures the overall thread and choices in Howells's writing about people and events.

Comments

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About the author

Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920 Author

William Dean Howells (1837–1920) was an American author and literary editor, with 107 works held in the collection. His writing spans novels, travel books, memoirs, and literary essays, and his representative works include My Mark Twain, Indian Summer, A Boy's Town, A Modern Instance, and A Hazard of New Fortunes. Howells drew on close observation of everyday life, writing in a plain style with gentle irony and attending to moral questions and human situations amid social change; his travel book Venetian Life and his memoir Literary Friends and Acquaintance record his journeys and personal recollections of American literary figures. Public information is limited, so biographical details are not elaborated here; readers may turn to the works above to learn about his subjects and style.