The Damnation of Theron Ware

Harold Frederic's classic of American Realism, The Damnation of Theron Ware, is presented here in a new edition. Born in Utica, New York, in 1856, Harold Frederic was a journalist and writer now best known for his novel Illumination, its title in England, where Frederic lived from 1884 until his death in 1898, the year after Illumination was published. The novel is better known by its American title, The Damnation of Theron Ware. The novel is in the realist tradition that, with variations, encompasses Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Henry James, and others, and spans the period from the Civil War through the first decade of the twentieth century. The style’s impact was felt long after those years. Hallmarks of the style include central focus on characters, detail, realistic settings, and natural patterns of speech, not heightened or romanticized dialogue.