American Realism and American Drama, 1880-1940 : Cambridge University Press : 9780521067669 : 0521067669 : 07 Oct 2008 : In American Realism and American Drama 1880---1940, Professor Brenda Murphy investigates the connectionbetween the leading theorists of realism in the United States---nineteenth---century writers William Dean Howells and Henry James---and the American dramatic realism that developed after the turn of the century. In doing so, she attempts four major tasks to describe the dramatic theory the American realists developed in their drama criticism and clarify it in the context of contemporary dramatic theory; to show it s immediate impact on the theater in the realists' drama that resulted, which flourished during the period between World War I and World War II The author analyzes the substantial body of critical writings on the drama by writers such as James, Howells, Hamlin Garland, Brander Matthews, and James A. Herne, as well as an even more substantial body of plays