William Dean Howells (1837-1920), eminent American novelist and critic, whose championing of such diverse American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Henry James, and Mark Twain made him the most influential literary force of his day.

Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, Howells learned the printing trade from his father; later, he worked as a typesetter and as a journalist in Ohio. Following the presidential nominations in 1860, he wrote the campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln's election, Howells was appointed United States consul in Venice, Italy, in 1861. When he returned to the United States in 1866, he became assistant editor of the literary magazine The Atlantic Monthly; he served as editor in chief from 1871 through 1881. After leaving The Atlantic Monthly, Howells devoted most of the rest of his life to his own writing, achieving a preeminent position in American literature through his realistic fiction and his many works of literary criticism. From 1909 until his death, he was president of the newly formed American Academy of Arts and Letters (see National Institute of Arts and Letters).

Howells's works of fiction include more than 30 novels, the first of which were comedies of manners and studies of contrasting character types, including The Lady of the Aroostook (1879) and A Fearful Responsibility (1881). After 1881, when he began serializing his stories in the literary journal Century, Howells wrote novels containing realistic descriptions of American life, including A Modern Instance (1882), the story of a failed marriage, and A Woman's Reason (1883), a study of Boston (Massachusetts) Back Bay society. The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) is perhaps his most famous book; it is a study of a self-made businessman who is ultimately ruined but never loses his integrity. In the mid-1880s Howells became concerned with social issues of his time. He risked public denunciation in 1887 when he expressed his belief that the Chicago anarchists tried for their involvement in the Haymarket Square Riot were convicted and executed for their political beliefs, not for their crimes. These social concerns were reflected in Howells's fiction. His novel Annie Kilburn (1888) deals with class contrasts in a New England town, and he also explored the problems of industrial America in the novels A Traveler from Altruria (1894) and Through the Eye of the Needle (1907). In the view of many critics, A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), a dramatic novel about the newly rich, socialism, and labor strife in New York City, is Howells's best work of fiction.

Howells is known as much for his literary criticism as for his fiction. His critical works include the essay “Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading” (1899) and the books Criticism and Fiction (1891), My Literary Passions (1895), and Literature and Life (1902). More important than his own writing was his use of his literary reputation in support of a diverse group of authors. Howells introduced American audiences to many European realist writers (see Realism), including Émile Zola, Benito Pérez Galdós, Henrik Ibsen, and Leo Tolstoy. The American authors whom he encouraged included Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Hamlin Garland, all of whom participated in the realism movement in the United States. Howells also played an important role in promoting women writers; the Americans whose talent he recognized early include Sarah Orne Jewett, Edith Wharton, and Emily Dickinson. Howells's most important literary relationships were with Henry James and Mark Twain. He was one of the first to recognize their abilities, and he was an editor and friend to both of them throughout their careers. As his own career ended, Howells's critical influence diminished under the attacks of such American critics as H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. Howells's reputation was revived in later years, however, and he is generally regarded as the most important American literary critic of his time.