My Year in a Log Cabin E-Book

William Dean Howells

• Herausgeber: DigiCat
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

In "My Year in a Log Cabin," William Dean Howells offers a vivid exploration of rural American life through the lens of his own experiences dwelling in a log cabin. The narrative is marked by Howells's signature realism, meticulously capturing the intricate details of his surroundings and interactions with nature. Written during a period when American literature was increasingly focused on realism and social commentary, this work provides an intimate portrait of a simpler lifestyle contrasted with the complexities of urban life, allowing readers to reflect on themes of self-reliance, nature, and the American spirit. William Dean Howells, known as the "Dean of American Letters," was a pivotal figure in the transition toward modern American realism. His commitment to depicting authentic experiences was informed by his background as a journalist and editor, as well as his personal travels across the United States. Having witnessed the rapid industrialization of America, Howells's venture into the wilderness symbolizes a nostalgic return to a more unadulterated existence, showcasing his critical perspective on contemporary society. Readers seeking a thoughtful examination of American life will find "My Year in a Log Cabin" both enlightening and engaging. Howells invites us to ponder our relationship with nature and community in this reflective and beautifully rendered narrative, making it a significant addition to any literary collection about American identity and realism.

Leseprobe

William Dean Howells

My Year in a Log Cabin

 

EAN 8596547378952

DigiCat, 2022 Contact: [email protected]

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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.