A Modern Instance

A Modern Instance

infobox Book |
name = A Modern Instance
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = William Dean Howells
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = J. R. Osgood & Co.
pub_date = 1882
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 514 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

A Modern Instance, is a novel written by William Dean Howells.

ummary

The novel explores the deterioration of what could have been an otherwise healthy marriage through industrial enterprise and capitalistic greed. The story chronicles the rise and fall of the romance between Bartley Hubbard and Marcia Gaylord, who migrate from Equity, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts following their marriage. The reader believes at the beginning of the story that their love for each other is unbreakable, but as the plot advances, more and more troubles arise, alienating the couple. Soon their entire marriage collapses, inundated with problems from a wide array of areas. Marcia Hubbard, lost and desolate in the gloom of her husband's abandoning her, is offered solace in the comforting touch of her friend Ben Halleck, who secretly is attracted to her. However, he worries that she may reject him, unable to move on from her previous partner. The story concludes in a meaningless vortex of isolation representing modern society. Marcia Hubbard, still attached to Bartley, confines herself to her father's home in Equity, Maine, from which she never leaves. Bartley, on the other hand, has died. Ben Halleck stands hesitantly, unable to determine whether or not he should seize the chance and propose to her.

ignificance

"A Modern Instance" is regarded as one of the most pivotal works in the career of William Dean Howells; it solidified his reputation as a champion of realism in America. Part of that realism is the groundbreaking unapologetic portrait of Bartley Hubbard as an agnostic and which could be modeled on Howells' friend Mark Twain [Myrtle M. Duffy. Twain in Howells' "A Modern Instance." American Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4, A Mark Twain Issue (Winter, 1964), pp. 612-614] .

References


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