Book dossier

The Whole Family

by William Dean Howells, Several Authors, Twelve Authors

The collaborative efforts of twelve different authors writing a chapter each, The Whole Family is a 1908 novel conceived of by writer William Dean Howells and directed by Elizabeth Jordan, the editor Harper's Bazaar at the time. Howells' wished to explore how an entire family might both affect and be affected by a marriage. The narrative became somewhat of a mirror for the at-times contentious relationships between its various authors. The chapters and their authors are:The Father by William Dean HowellsThe Old-Maid Aunt by Mary E. Wilkins FreemanThe Grandmother by Mary Heaton VorseThe Daughter-in-Law by Mary Stewart CuttingThe School-Girl by Elizabeth JordanThe Son-in-Law by John Kendrick BangsThe Married Son by Henry JamesThe Married Daughter by Elizabeth Stuart PhelpsThe Mother by Edith WyattThe School-Boy by Mary Raymond Shipman AndrewsPeggy by Alice BrownThe Friend of the Family by Henry Van Dyke