The Rise of Silas Lapham
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Howellsâ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners.
After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
The novel focuses on important themes in the American literary traditionâthe efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral valuesâand provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age.
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William Dean Howells (1837â1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed âthe Dean of American Letters,â he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own writings, including the Christmas story âChristmas Every Dayâ and the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham. He is known as the father of American realism. In 1915, he was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction.
Grover Gardner âs narration career spans 25 years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile magazine has called him one of the âBest Voices of the Centuryâ and features him in their annual âGolden Voicesâ update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 Earphones Awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishersâ Association.
