TY - BOOK ID - 77869448 TI - Dancing in chains : the youth of William Dean Howells PY - 1991 SN - 0814762638 0585081174 9780585081175 9780814761724 0814761720 0814761720 PB - New York, NY : New York University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Critics KW - Novelists, American KW - Biography. KW - Howells, William Dean, KW - Howells, W. D. KW - Howells, William D. KW - Childhood and youth. KW - Ohio KW - United States KW - Ohayo KW - Ohaĭo KW - State of Ohio KW - أوهايو KW - Ūhāyū KW - Штат Агаё KW - Shtat Ahai︠o︡ KW - Агаё KW - Ahai︠o︡ KW - Охайо KW - Okhaĭo KW - Oohááyoo Hahoodzo KW - Οχάιο KW - Ochaio KW - Ngò-hài-ngò KW - 오하이오 주 KW - Ohaio-ju KW - 오하이오 KW - Ohaïyo KW - אוהיו KW - מדינת אוהיו KW - Medinat Ohayo KW - Ohium KW - Respublica Ohioensis KW - Ohajas KW - Охајо KW - Ohajo KW - Охайо Муж Улс KW - Okhaĭo Muzh Uls KW - オハイオ州 KW - Ohaioshū KW - オハイオ KW - Ogayo KW - Огайо KW - Ogaĭo KW - אהאיא KW - 俄亥俄州 KW - Ehai'e Zhou KW - 俄亥俄 KW - Ehai'e KW - Social life and customs. KW - Social life and customs KW - Howells, William Dean KW - Biography KW - Youth KW - Novelists [American ] KW - 19th century KW - 1783-1865 UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77869448 AB - "Dancing in Chains is far more than a sensitive biography (though it is surely that); it is also a model of psychologically informed social and cultural history. Olsen recognizes that psychic conflicts often play themselves out on a higher plane, that psychic and intellectual history are intertwined. He presents a wonderful nuanced picture of Howells."-Jackson Lears,Rutgers University In this insightful study of the childhood and youth of William Dean Howells, Dancing in Chains demonstrates how the turbulent social and cultural changes of the early nineteenth century shaped the young Howells's emotional and intellectual life. His early diaries, letters, poetry, fiction, and newspaper columns are used to illustrate Olsen's argument, which also in turn throws light on the dominant tensions in antebellum America. Accepting the emergent middle-class ethos of civilized morality, with its new conceptions of child rearing and gender spheres, Howells's parents urged him to achieve self-control and individual success while also teaching him to seek the good of others rather than his own glory. For Howells the conflicts coalesced at the time of his leaving home, an increasing common rite of passage for antebellum youth. Trying to affirm his sense of literary vocation, he tested his aspirations against the family's Swedenborgian religious convictions and the antislavery commitments of his village while experimenting with competing literary ideologies in the process of meeting the demands of the new mass reading audience. For Howells the resulting tensions eased toward the end of his youth but reappeared in his more mature works of fiction and social criticism in later years. Portraying the ordeal of coming of age during a momentous period of American history, Dancing in Chains is a fascinating study with a broad appeal to general readers as well as scholars. ER -