Hello Sheila
"What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy
ending."
William Dean Howells said this to Edith Wharton as he tried to console
her over the failure of the stage version of "The House of Mirth". He
had been a source of encouragement to her before, publishing one of
her early poems while he was editor of "Atlantic Monthly".
She quotes his "tragedy with a happy ending" remark in her
autobiography,"A Backward Glance", according to an online exhibition
about Wharton organized by the Smithsonian. This includes a bronze
relief portrait of Howells:
William Dean Howells and his daughter Mildred
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/wharton/howell.htm
Edith Wharton's World
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/wharton/
The sources I have found are confident it was said by Howells to
Wharton. However, two different books of hers are given as the source.
Perhaps she quoted him twice? The Smithsonian gives her autobiography
as the source, but it is apparently also in "French Ways and Their
Meaning":
"We had been talking of that strange exigency of the American public
which compels the dramatist (if he wishes to be played) to wind up his
play, whatever his point of departure, with the ‘happy-ever-after’ of
the fairy-tales . . . . ‘Yes,’ said Mr. [William Dean] Howells; ‘what
the American public wants is tragedy with a happy ending . . . .’” –
Edith Wharton, French Ways and Their Meaning (1919)."
footnote to review of "Atomised"
http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/ecology/morgan/bookclub/bookclub_houellebecq.htm
Here's another description of the event giving rise to Howells'
remark:
"and Edith Wharton regretted having adapted her first major literary
success for the stage. 'I now doubt if that kind of a play, with a
"sad" ending and a negative hero, could ever get a hearing from an
American audience,' she wrote during its very brief Broadway run. In
consoling her as they left the theatre, the critic and novelist
William Dean Howells famously remarked: 'What the American public
always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.'"
article by Philip French from The Observer
http://gaws.ao.net/hom/print/observer.html
Thanks for an interesting question. I hope this is helpful.
Please feel free to 'request clarification' if you have trouble with
any links or need further help with this.
Regards - Leli
search terms: "tragedy with a happy ending" Americans Howells |
,
0 Comments
)