SOURCE: “Henry B. Fuller: Friend of Howells,” in The South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. LII, 1953, pp. 431-44.

In the following essay, Murray unfavorably compares Fuller's literary career to that of William Dean Howells.

One of the pleasantest ways to absorb American literary history in the barren stretch from 1865 to the turn of the century is to read the letters of William Dean Howells. The man was keenly alive to literary and social forces; as editor and novelist he was himself shaping American writing. His letters have charm, not the cool elegance of James or the rowdy virility of Mark Twain, but a warm, human urbanity and an admirable sanity. Above all, he is inclusive. He knew his Ohio, and he had lived in Italy; he was accepted by the literati under the Cambridge elms and by the busy penmen of New York City. He wrote constantly and to everyone...