A Hazard of New Fortunes

by William Dean Howells

Book Overview

Set against a vividly depicted background of fin de si?cle New York, this novel centers on the conflict between a self-made millionaire and a fervent social revolutionary-a conflict in which a man of goodwill futilely attempts to act as a mediator, only to be forced himself into a crisis of conscience. Here we see William Dean Howells's grasp of the realities of the American experience in an age of emerging social struggle. His absolute determination...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140439234
• ISBN13: 9780140439236
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Hazard Of New Fortunes

A Hazard Of New Fortunes, by William Dean Howells is an excellent novel about the lives of a middle class family in the late nineteenth century. The novel follows a family through a move, a house hunt, and a new business. Howells does a wonderful job capturing the scenes in this book and making them come to life. This book also can be related to our everyday life. The only change that is necessary is to update the social aspect. Howells uses description, language and women to really reveal the lives of his characters, through this he makes them into individuals.The use of language in this novel is a marker of people and a class distinction. There are specific characters that don't need to be named, they just need to talk and the reader can pick them out from the others. These distinctions are made mostly through the use of dialect. Dryfoos has a very particular southern accent. He is rich and is thinks himself to be high society. Though the people around him look down on him because of his speech and his behaviors. Another character with a different dialect is Lindau, who is a German-speaking friend of the March's. He is very difficult to understand, but by reading his speech the reader can almost hear him saying his lines.Women also play a very large role in this novel. Howells shows almost every type of women that any of the men might have encountered. He shows a strong domestic power through Mrs. March, while also showing power and artistic ability through Alma Leighton. Each woman seems to illustrate a different element of what makes a whole woman. One of the characters doesn't have a great deal of money but she has excellent manners and performs good deeds, so she is looked on as high society. Another character that has a great deal of money but not much class is looked down on for being wild and unrefined. Not all of these women see themselves as other do, but they do act on their instincts.Howells makes notable use of description in this novel. He goes to great lengths to show the reader how a scene is conducted. For some readers this description may be too much and for other it helps to sharpen the image of the event. Near the beginning of the book the reader encounters a house hunt. In this pursuit the reader is given a description of every house they look at and a description of the people who work there. This shows the reader the exact detail of the structures and allows them to picture it just as the March's do. Another usage of description in this novel is through the movement of the characters. There is a conversation between two of the characters in which Howells describes how the one man smiles. This gives the reader a look into the mind of the character, it helps them to get a feel for what kind of person he is. All of these pieces help the reader to picture the story and to know each of the characters not only by name but by action as well.A Hazard Of New Fortunes is a very good book if you enjoy deep descriptions and the use of

A hazard which has gloriously succeeded.

William Dean Howells in his lifetime was ranked with his friend,Henry James as a writer of a new realistic kind of fiction,and however mild and idealistic it seems today,was considered by its admirers as refreshingly revolutionary and by others as cynical meanspiritedness seeking to sacrifice all that was "noble" in art.While actually having little in common with James, (he seems to be closer in spirit to Trollope)Howells' name was always side by side with James' and it was probably supposed that their future reputations would share a similiar fate. Unfortunately,that was not the case-while Henry James is considered a giant of American belles lettres,Howells has been relegated to minor status and except by a happy few,little read."A Hazard of New Fortunes",possibly Howell's best work,is one of the better known-but most people aren't aware that it is one of the greatest works of fiction in American literature.It is an impressive panorama of American life towards the end of the last century.People from Boston,the west,the south and Europe all converge in New York to enact a comedy of manners or tragedy,depending on their fortunes,that compares in its scope and masterly dissection of society, with"The Way We Live Now".Howell's light irony touches upon the eternal divisions between the haves and the have-nots,male and female,the socially secure and the unclassed,and with the Marches,the book's ostensible heroes,uses a typical normal middleclass family-with all of its intelligence,understanding,decency on one side and with all of its pretensions,timidity,selfishness on the other-to reflect the social unease and lack of justice in a supposedly sane and fair world.The book is subtle in its power and underneath its light tone probes the problems of its day with compassion and insight.Indeed,many of the problems it depicts are still relevant today.William Dean Howells wrote so many novels of worth that he deserves to have more than just a cult following; "A Hazard of New Fortunes" amply illustrates this.

One of the best books I have ever read

W.D. Howells used to be the editor of Harper's magazine in an era when the world was undergoing dramatic change all around. Mr. Howells manages to capture in a kaleidascopic fashion the world of New York from the varied perspectives of the staff of a fictional magazine in New York.It might take some readers some time in getting used to the language of the book. But it's worth it. If you're a sucker for a fast-moving plot, don't bother. I enjoyed this story for its marvellous descriptions of New York City, its acute observations about people and its ability to capture a society undergoing a lot of change. It's a book that provides a snapshot of a certain era. It's especially fascinating to read about this topic given what's happening now, at the turn of another century and all the other changes that are coming with it. While we're going through the Information Revolution, they went through the Industrial Revolution. I often think about what an apt title this would be for a sequal, "A Hazard of New Fortunes II," more than 100 years later. Only this time the story would be told from the perspectives of an editor, publisher, Web production people etc of a venture-funded Web site. Perhaps Kurt Andersen has already done this with "Turn of the Century." I haven't read it yet.

One of the best books I have ever read

W.D. Howells used to be the editor of Harper's magazine in an era when the world was undergoing dramatic change. Mr. Howells manages to capture in a kaleidascopic fashion the world of New York from the varied perspectives of the staff of a fictional magazine in New York.It might take some readers some time in getting used to the language of the book. But it's worth it. If you're a sucker for a fast-moving plot, don't bother. I enjoyed this story for its marvellous descriptions of New York City, its acute observations about people and its ability to capture a society undergoing a lot of change. It's an especially fascinating read at the turn of another century and all the other changes that are coming with it. I often think about what an apt title this would be for a sequal, "A Hazard of New Fortunes II," more than 100 years later. This time the story would be told from the perspectives of an editor, publisher, Web production people etc of a venture-funded Web si!te. Perhaps Kurt Andersen has already done this with "Turn of the Century." I haven't read it yet.

A must for anyone interested in the Gilded Age

Howells' "Hazard" is an extremely evocative novel of New York in the 1880s. Unlike the more famous works of Edith Wharton, Howells' characters carefully reflect the full spectrum of American society of the day. The character of Fulkerson is one of the earliest instances of that American institution, the born salesman. And the other archetypes are there as well: the fallen Southern beauty and her gracious father, the German immigrant socialist, the farmer-cum-robber baron and grasping family, the society girl who turns to settlement house work. I have yet to find a novel that gives a more comprehensive snapshot of the era. Also of interest to any Atlantic readers like myself, Howells served as that monthly's editor for some twenty years. The book's office scenes are heavily based on the experience. It provides a very interesting bit of journalistic history.