My Year in a Log Cabin E-Book

William Dean Howells

• Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

In "My Year in a Log Cabin," William Dean Howells offers a unique exploration of frontier life, depicting his year spent in a rustic cabin in the heart of the American wilderness. Through a blend of personal narrative and keen observation, Howells employs a naturalistic literary style that immerses readers in the raw beauty and challenges of rural living. The book is a testament to the ideals of the late 19th century, reflecting the era'Äôs fascination with nature, simplification, and self-sufficiency, while simultaneously critiquing societal norms and the rapid urbanization of the time. William Dean Howells, often referred to as the "Dean of American Letters," was a pivotal literary figure whose experiences and broader socio-political concerns deeply informed his writing. A champion of realism, Howells's literary career was marked by a commitment to portraying everyday American life with authenticity and empathy. His interactions with prominent literary contemporaries and his own pursuits in social reform invigorated his narratives and enabled him to present an honest, textured view of life in a log cabin, capturing both its charm and its tribulations. For readers drawn to the intricacies of American life and the interplay between nature and society, "My Year in a Log Cabin" is an essential read. Howells'Äôs thoughtful reflections and vivid prose not only entertain but also provoke introspection about the fundamental connections between humanity and the environment. This book serves as both a historical document and a philosophical inquiry, making it a relevant read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of American identity.

Leseprobe

William Dean Howells

My Year in a Log Cabin

Published by Good Press, 2022

[email protected]

EAN 4064066199159

Table of Contents

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Table of Contents

In the fall of the year 1850 my father removed with his family from the city of D——, where we had been living, to a property on the Little Miami River, to take charge of a saw-mill and grist-mill, and superintend their never-accomplished transformation into paper-mills. The property belonged to his brothers—physicians and druggists—who were to follow later, when they had disposed of their business in town. My father left a disastrous newspaper enterprise behind him when he came out to apply his mechanical taste and his knowledge of farming to the care of their place. Early in the century his parents had brought him to Ohio from Wales, and his boyhood was passed in the new country, where pioneer customs and traditions were still rife, and for him it was like renewing the wild romance of those days to take up once more the life in a log-cabin interrupted by forty years’ sojourn in matter-of-fact dwellings of frame and brick.

He had a passion for nature as tender and genuine and as deeply moralized as that of the English poets, by whom it had been nourished; and he taught us children all that he felt for the woods and fields and open skies; all our walks had led into them and under them. It was the fond dream of his boys to realize the trials and privations which he had painted for them in such rosy hues, and even if the only clap-boarded dwelling on the property had not been occupied by the miller, we should have disdained it for the log-cabin in which we took up our home till we could build a new house.