Howells contemplates and disrupts his own recommendations established in Criticism and Fiction throughout his short story Editha. Furthermost, after reading Howells Criticism and Fiction, it is evident that his short story Editha appears somewhat hypocritical. Throughout Criticism and Fiction Howells proclaims that the European style of writing romance novels fails to provide substance in reality however it inclines to romanticize human experiences. He states “The love of the passionate and the heroic, as the Englishman has it, is such a crude and unwholesome thing...” (367). He conforms to this writing style in the foundation of Editha’s character, which is grounded in the perception that all American women need to be won over by their husband.
