Well, sir, he continued, wheeling round in his leather-cushioned swivel-chair, and facing Bartley, seated so near that their knees almost touched, so you want my life, death, and Christian sufferings, do you, young man? William! he called out, and he handed the letter to a boy who came to get it.
There! Lapham pounded with his great hairy fist on the envelope he had been addressing. He took a note-book from his pocket, laid it on his knee, and began to sharpen a pencil. Take your time, said Bartley, with the ease he instantly felt. Sit down! I’ll be with you in just half a minute. He did not rise from the desk at which he was writing, but he gave Bartley his left hand for welcome, and he rolled his large head in the direction of a vacant chair. Walk right in! he called out to the journalist, whom he caught sight of through the door of the counting-room. When Bartley Hubbard went to interview Silas Lapham for the Solid Men of Boston series, which he undertook to finish up in The Events, after he replaced their original projector on that newspaper, Lapham received him in his private office by previous appointment. as I should always say it paid but if I done it, and the thing was to do over again, right in the same way, I guess I should have to do it." An excellent study of social class, with observations through his characters' actions and thoughts that are as recognisable in today's society as they evidently were in the Boston of the 1880s.Too long, many thought, but this may be a function of such works being first published in serialised form. This last paragraph from the book seems to convey the conditions/consciousness dialectic of Marxism, as Silas reflects on whether he has any regrets: "About what I done? Well, it don't always seem as if I done it.Seems sometimes as if it was a hole opened for me, and I crept out of it. I decided Howells - or at least as evidenced in this book - was a bit of a leftie, if not even an armchair Marxist. Hard going to read this for me, but rewarding on looking back at and through it with the group. The Wednesday morning Keele 'Continuing and Professional Education' class today featured The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).
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