William Dean Howells, April Hopes

Max Lester Loges (Lamar 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 1888

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

One of the major themes in the works of William Dean Howells is the complex, often difficult, relationship inside married couples. In

April Hopes

a variation of this theme occurs as he examines the morality of courtship. Bennett argues that Howells shows “that happiness could not be insured by love alone, but that there must be equality in the backgrounds, the principals and the temperaments of the lovers” (171).

April Hopes begins at Harvard on Dan Mavering’s, the central male character, graduation day. Mutual friends of the major characters’ families introduce Alice Pasmer to Dan and Mrs. Pasmer to Elbridge Mavering, Dan’s father, and quickly excuse themselves. The two couples enjoy the various activities of the class day, and Dan, with the help of his friend, Broadman manages

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.

1812 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "April Hopes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 June 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6538, accessed 27 April 2024.]

Save this article