Their Wedding Journey

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

3.2

Word count: 417K words
Chapters: 42

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.Their Wedding Journey by William Dean HowellsAuthor: Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 23, 2004

Editor's review

Their Wedding Journey, an early representative work by Howells, follows a newlywed couple traveling through the eastern United States and Canada, using their experiences on the road to string together gentle observations on married life, social customs, and the experience of landscape. The book does not rely on plot for its appeal but excels in dialogue and scene; the narrator often interjects commentary in a light tone, capturing the authentic texture of nineteenth-century middle-class American travel. It is valuable for understanding the formation of Howells's realist style and also serves well as a comparative read alongside travel literature and marriage narratives. While reading, one may focus on how the couple respond differently to the same scenery, for that is the author's entry point for observing their relationship. This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain eBook, convenient for searching and checking against the original text, and suited to slow reading and excerpting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy travel literature and journey-based narrative
Scholars and students studying the origins of American literary realism
Readers interested in the everyday life of marriage and how couples relate
Intermediate and advanced learners who wish to do close-reading practice with a public-domain English book

Not a good fit for

Novel readers seeking tense plots and dramatic conflict
Beginners who need detailed historical notes and an introduction
Young readers who prefer contemporary urban subject matter

Reading tips

Read in sections following the travel route, looking up place names and modes of transport as you go
Excerpt the couple's dialogue and compare how the two respond to the same scene
Consult material on nineteenth-century American travel conditions to appreciate the details
After finishing, compare with Howells's later works to see how his style evolved

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

Is this book a travelogue or a novel?

It is generally regarded as a novel framed by travel, with a fictional newlywed couple and a continuous journey narrative, while extensively incorporating the author's observations of scenery, towns, and hotel life; it has both the feel of a travelogue and the character portrayal of a novel.

Can I understand it without a background in American geography?

You can follow the main thread, but much of the book's interest comes from specific place names, routes, and period travel methods; readers may consult maps as they read and learn about nineteenth-century rail and water travel conditions for a fuller reading experience.

Why is slow reading recommended rather than reading straight through?

The plot unfolds slowly, and the book's value lies largely in the wit of its dialogue and the details of its scenes; reading straight through quickly tends to leave only a vague impression, whereas reading chapter by chapter with excerpts allows a fuller appreciation of the author's gentle observations on marriage and travel.

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.