作为美国19世纪现实主义文学最重要的代表人物，威廉·丁·豪威尔斯无论在文学创作，还是文学批评的领域都坚持现实主义的原则。他批判浪漫主义和感伤主义小说。“真实”这个词高悬于豪威尔斯关于文学的一切标准和一切理念之上。豪威尔斯其实没有一个如何去判断文学作品中的现实性的标准，也没有关于作品的艺术性、道德性与现实性之间的关系的系统理论，但他的现实主义的呐喊为19世纪美国文学反映迅猛发展的社会现实，杜绝文学和艺术的模仿起到了重要的推动作用。%As the most important representative of 19th century American realism, William Dean How-ells insisted upon realism in both literary creation and criticism. He criticized romantic and sentimental no-vels, and put "truth" above all literary standards and notions. In fact, Howells did not have any standards judging the reality reflected in literary works, and he lacked systematic theories of the relationship between artistic quality, morality and reality in literary works. But his appeal to realism stimulated the development of a literature which reflected the violent change of the 19th century American society, and which rejected the imitation of others' works.
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